Bill Madden

This website provides updates on medical law and related issues, mostly in Australia. It is maintained by Bill Madden.

He is a lawyer in private practice in Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and also an Adjunct Fellow at the School of Law and at the School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, an Adjunct Professor at the Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology and a Senior Fellow, Melbourne Law Masters, University of Melbourne.

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Writing for Australian Doctor newspaper, Antony Scholefield has drawn attention to a conduct decision of the Health Practitioners Tribunal (Tasmania): Medical Board of Australia v Dr Christopher Kwan Chen Lee [2019] TASHPT 3. At [7], the Tribunal noted that the relevant conduct consisted of making numerous inappropriate and offensive statements or comments online in public forums in which the respondent was readily identifiable from his own words and photographs as an Australian medical practitioner. The…
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Gris (a pseudonym) v Avila [2019] NSWDC 132 is a judgment in respect of an interlocutory dispute regarding subpoenas issued by the defendant,seeking family law documents from a solicitor and from the Family Court. The subpoenas were issued in the context of a claim under the Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 (NSW), alleging professional negligence against a general practitioner. The plaintiff claimed that incorrect information was provided by the general practitioner plaintiff’s adult daughter, which caused the…
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Nigel Poole QC (England) has drawn attention to a recent first instance decision of the England & Wales High Court: Mills v Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust [2019] EWHC 936 (QB). The defendant NHS Trust make an admission that “in advising the patient of the surgical debulking option, Mr Plaha provided advice regarding the surgical approach, intended benefits and risks that were associated with a minimally invasive endoscopically assisted open craniotomy technique and did not discuss…
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Health Care Complaints Commission v Silberberg [2019] NSWCATOD 56 is of interest for its consideration of professional conduct issues, where a practitioner admitted that her conduct prescribing for end of life patients constituted both unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct. Following receipt of a complaint in 2016, Anglican Retirement Villages conducted a review of Dr Silberberg’s practice, including a pharmacy review. That review disclosed prescribing for 14 patients, classified as “end of life patients”, significantly…
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The Morrison Government has commissioned the Australian Law Reform Commission toundertake a comprehensive review of the framework of religious exemptions in anti-discrimination legislation across Australia. A report has been requested by 10 April 2020. The terms of reference for the review are available online, but include the following: REFER to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) for inquiry and report, pursuant to subsection 20(1) of the Australian Law Reform Commission Act 1996 (Cth), a consideration of what reforms…
Yesterday the High Court published its reasons for judgment in the matters of Clubb v Edwards; Preston v Avery [2019] HCA 11. It is a long decision and the court seems to have departed from its recent trend towards single judgments or few judgments. However all members of the Court ultimately dismissed the appeals, with differing approaches. Section 185D of Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic) and s 9(2) of Reproductive Health (Access to …
Ronald Sackville AO QC has been appointed the Chair of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. He will be assisted by Barbara Bennett PSM, Rhonda Galbally AC, Andrea Mason OAM Alistair McEwin and John Ryan AM. People with disability is defined to mean people with any kind of impairment, whether existing at birth or acquired through illness, accident or the ageing process, including cognitive impairment and physical, sensory, intellectual and psycho-social disability.…
Turner v Blackstock [2019] NSWDC 102 provides an assessment of damages against a medical practitioner for adverse result from breast augmentation surgery, following entry of a default judgment. Dr Stapleton’s opinion was critical of the defendant for “the unprofessional manner in which he undertook the surgery, not having qualified as a surgeon. He was of the opinion that the defendant’s treatment of the plaintiff was unacceptable, unprofessional and incompetently performed. He was also critical of…
Turner v Blackstock [2019] NSWDC 102 provides an assessment of damages against a medical practitioner for adverse result from breast augmentation surgery, following entry of a default judgment. Dr Stapleton’s opinion was critical of the defendant for “the unprofessional manner in which he undertook the surgery, not having qualified as a surgeon. He was of the opinion that the defendant’s treatment of the plaintiff was unacceptable, unprofessional and incompetently performed. He was also critical of…