Insights

Case note | NSW Supreme Court reaffirms expert witnesses are immune from suit

Hastwell v Parmegiani [2023] NSWSC 1016 In Hastwell v Parmegiani [2023] NSWSC 1016, the NSW Supreme Court reaffirmed the immunity of expert witnesses. In the following case note, we examine this decision more closely and provide further clarification on the witness immunity rule in Australian law.  Key Findings Even when it is alleged that an […]

Can a patient under 18 provide informed consent?

There is no clear yes or no answer. As we explain, consent will depend on the individual. In any case, understanding your rights and the rights of your patient is imperative. Defining informed consent Put simply, informed consent is a patient’s voluntary decision to agree to treatment after being informed by a practitioner of all […]

Convicted health professionals may face registration suspension

Case note: Health Care Complaints Commission v FLJ [2023] NSWCATOD 7 Key takeaways Health professionals convicted of serious criminal charges, such as domestic violence, may have their medical registration suspended. This applies if their offending conduct demonstrates traits that are inconsistent with the values of the medical profession and brings the medical profession into disrepute. Health […]

New regulations are now in force for all health practitioners and organisations in NSW

If you operate a health service, or are a health practitioner working in NSW, you need to be aware of a regulation that came into effect on 1 September 2022 being the Public Health Regulation 2022. The regulation sets out prescriptive obligations for all health practitioners and health organisations, be they public or private. For […]

NCAT overturned Medical Council’s decision to suspend medical student’s licence

Case: Hyland v Medical Council of New South Wales [2021] NSWCATOD 199 The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (“the Tribunal”) set aside the Medical Council of New South Wales’ (“the Council”) decision to suspend Mr Hyland’s registration as a medical student. Background The Council considered that it was appropriate to suspend Mr Hyland’s registration “in […]

Real time prescription monitoring: assisting practitioners to make better informed prescribing decisions

Real Time Prescription Monitoring (RTPM) is a national digital health system which was established by the Commonwealth Government. Each state and territory will implement their own local version of the RTPM system by their respective state and territory health instrumentalities. There will be core features and functionality to enable national consistency. The need for such […]

Three years on from the chaperone review, AHPRA celebrates changes to the regulatory landscape of sexual boundaries notifications

In 2017 Professor Ron Paterson delivered the Independent review of the use of chaperones to protect patients in Australia report (the Chaperone Report), which made 28 recommendations to AHPRA and the Medical Board of Australia (the MBA) for improving the handling of sexual boundary notifications in Australia. Among other things, the Chaperone Report recommended that […]

Listen to the experts: Chatoor v Health Care Complaints Commission of NSW [2020] NSWCA 111

The NSW Court of Appeal (“NSWCA”) recently overturned a decision of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (“the Tribunal”) in relation to two complaints concerning Dr Roger Chatoor (a cardiologist). Dr Chatoor appealed the Tribunal’s findings of unsatisfactory professional conduct on the primary basis that it had failed to correctly apply the relevant statutory test […]

Private Health Insurer audits – a reminder to exercise caution and to ask for help

The world of private health insurance is becoming increasingly competitive. As the marketplace burgeons with new providers, so too does the number of private health insurance audit requests issued to the health practitioners who service their members. Meridian Lawyers regularly assists practitioners to respond to requests for information from private health insurers (PHIs), which has […]

Health practitioner seeks help from the Federal Court to uncover identity of negative Google reviewer

Meridian Lawyers regularly assists health practitioners to respond to queries or complaints by AHPRA about their online advertising. In the process of providing this assistance, we are often asked by practitioners whether anything can be done about unfair testimonials that may be made about them on independent online platforms like Google. In an age where […]

Dentist seeks help from the Federal Court to uncover identity of negative Google reviewer

Meridian Lawyers regularly assists health practitioners to respond to queries or complaints by AHPRA about their online advertising. In the process of providing this assistance, we are often asked by practitioners whether anything can be done about unfair testimonials that may be made about them on independent online platforms like Google. In an age where […]

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