The recent decision by the Court of Appeal in Argo Managing Agency Ltd v Al Kammessy [2018] NSWCA 176 serves as a reminder that the duty of care owed by a contract cleaner in a shopping centre is not an expectation of “perfection”.

In our blog on 19 May 2018 we reported on a decision in which an orthopaedic surgeon and anaesthetist were both found negligent for failing to abandon surgery prior to the plaintiff suffering paraplegia.  

In a recent WA case the plaintiff alleged that the Hospital breached its duty of care to her by failing to recognise that she was suffering from evolving and detectable sepsis, and to commence antibiotic treatment in a timely manner. The Court was only asked to make a finding as to liability.

A medical specialist has been prosecuted for professional misconduct and had their registration suspended after forging consent forms for over 30 patients.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is the organisation responsible for the implementation of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme across Australia. 

On 15 March 2017 we were delighted to host our annual Health Law Forum. The Forum is designed to provide those working in the health care sector with a series of presentations from eminent speakers that address both legal issues and challenges facing the health sector generally.

A recent decision of the Federal Court of Australia determined the primary judge denied the appellant procedural fairness and allowed an appeal after considering the primary judge was wrong to dismiss a matter. The primary judge concluded there was an abuse of process in the appellant’s claim and she had been discriminated against after being denied the presence of a sign language interpreter to assist her husband with communication during the birth of their child.

The Victorian Government have released a position paper entitled ‘Simplifying medical treatment decision making and advance care planning’ in response to its commitment to give statutory recognition to advance care directives. 

This Supreme Court decision relates to a claim by a Gynaecologist and Obstetrician against a private hospital for contribution to damages arising out of the death of a patient following an elective hysterectomy.

On application by a Local Health District, the Supreme Court of NSW was recently required to consider whether orders should be made to deliver a baby with the knowledge that such action would likely result in the death of the baby. 

In our post of 3 September 2015, we reported the judgment in Wei Fan v South Western Sydney Local District, where a claim was made that three different hospitals were negligent for failing to diagnose acute cholecystitis (inflammation of the gallbladder), failing to investigate and manage his type 2 diabetes, allowing the plaintiff to fall out of the hospital bed and discharging him too early. He claimed that as a consequence he suffered very serious injuries including peripheral neuropathy, a fractured skull and traumatic brain injury.

A medical practitioner was recently found guilty of professional misconduct in relation to his assessment of a patient in an emergency department on one occasion, his prescription of schedule 4 drugs and his relationship with her during a subsequent 3 week period.

This Supreme Court decision relates to an application for leave to file and serve a Further Amended Statement of Claim by a self represented litigant. The defendants opposed the application.

The NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal recently announced changes to the review of The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 decisions and privacy matters.