Insights Sectors: Health

R v Tavistock, Gender Dysphoria and Children: puberty blockers “interlinked” with cross-sex hormones such that informed consent extends to understanding future physical consequences of treatment; under 16s “highly unlikely” to be Gillick competent. Introduction In R v Tavistock[1], The UK High Court has held that treatment for Gender Dysphoria (“GD“) is contingent on court approval […]

In 2016, the Victorian government introduced the Health Complaints Act 2016 (Vic) (the Act) which launched a new framework for managing and resolving complaints regarding all Victorian health service providers. As part of these reforms, the office of the Health Complaints Commissioner (the HCC) was established, replacing the former office of the Health Services Commissioner. […]

The roll-out of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has begun. Generally, the advertising of vaccines to consumers is prohibited in Australia, however some exceptions are now in place to support the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines. To explain these exceptions, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has issued a fact sheet which shows how vaccine providers […]

Many pharmacists go into business with trusted friends or colleagues, and with a strong common vision for their business. In many cases, the pharmacy will run smoothly and the owners will simply agree on the many decisions that need to be made in the day to day running of the business. Despite this, we always […]

One of the intentions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) is to enable an effective credit reporting system while safeguarding the privacy of individuals. To ensure that credit providers are able to comply with their responsible lending obligations, Part IIIA of the Privacy Act sets out: the types of personal information that credit […]

Meridian Lawyers has published several Health Insights in the past about the importance of understanding and adhering to the advertising obligations set out under section 133 of the National Law. However, claims concerning advertising continue to be a recurring theme in our Health Law practice, indicating some persisting confusion about the boundaries of what is […]

Small and medium businesses will have the ability to collectively bargain with their suppliers once the first ever class exemption granted by the ACCC commences this month. Background and the ACCC’s class exemption power Since November 2017, the ACCC has had the power to make class exemptions for certain types of conduct which may otherwise […]

Meridian Lawyers often receives calls from doctors and other health practitioners requesting one-off advice relating to their day-to-day practice. Recently, we have received a number of requests for advice about patient privacy and more specifically about the circumstances in which a health practitioner might be permitted to discuss a deceased patient with their family. The […]

Meridian Lawyers often receives calls from doctors and other health practitioners requesting one-off advice relating to their day-to-day practice. One common and enduring theme of these requests for advice is death certificates – who can prepare them, and when? For example, if a patient dies in an aged care home, can a locum doctor certify […]

Professional Services Review (PSR) is a Commonwealth Agency whose objective is to protect the integrity of the Commonwealth Medicare benefits, dental benefits and pharmaceutical benefits programs and, in doing so, protect patients and the community from the risks associated with ‘inappropriate practice’, and protect the Commonwealth from having to meet the cost of medical and […]

The Victorian State Coroner recently issued Practice Direction 5 of 2020 – ‘Directions Hearings in Mandatory Inquests’, requiring that in all cases where an inquest must be held, and unless reasons exist otherwise, a Directions Hearing will be convened within 28 days of the death being reported to the Coroner. A mandatory inquest is required […]