Makaroff v Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District is a recent NSWCA medical negligence decision.
Most of the decision involves a re-examination and somewhat surprisingly, a different conclusion as to liability on the part of the health service, with the…
Continue Reading NSW Court of Appeal – more uncertainty about peer practices!
Those acting for injured claimants over the last decade will have noticed significant “creep” in our Civil Liability Act’s threshold and deductible in relation to personal injury claims.
It occurs to me that absent any suggestion at the time this…
Continue Reading Too Little Compensation for Pain and Suffering?
An interesting recent development with the potential to increase the damages for which negligent health professionals (and so their medical indemnity insurers and medical defence organisations) will be liable, is the apparently growing trend by our WA public hospitals of…
Continue Reading Claim Values Increase: WA Government May Profit from Medical Claims
Ellis v East Metro Health Service [2018] WADC 91
I read with interest the latest instalment in Judge Gething’s decisions in relation to this contentious birth injury case. The substantive decision in the plaintiff’s favour is working its way at…
Continue Reading Agreeing Quantum in Complex Cases
In the decision Espinos v Popovic published by Judge Braddock on 8 August 2018, the run of successes by plaintiffs in medical negligence claims continued. Her Honour awarded damages to Mr Espinos in his claim against deceased neurosurgeon, Emile Popovic,…
Continue Reading Spinal Fusion surgery complications case won
I recently attended the AvMA conference in the UK. AvMA is one of the UK’s peak bodies in medical negligence (or clinical negligence as they call it), law.
I would recommend the conference to anyone working in this area on…
Continue Reading Bariatric Surgery in UK – different patients, different justification..
It is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words.
In the last week or so I have been reminded of this and the forensic usefulness of the modern era of smartphones and particularly phone cameras.
In…
Continue Reading Forget CSI … the humble smartphone: the medical lawyers new best friend!
I noticed with interest and some concern, recent media attention (see for example and a Herald Sun story in mid-May) concerning the number of Australians travelling to Asia to undergo cosmetic surgery. According to a recent report, this may be…
Continue Reading The Costs of Medical Tourism
I today presented a paper at conference providing a review of 10 recent Australian medical law cases since January 2016, which I found interesting.
Cases reviewed were: Coote, Bigg, Morocz, Westcott, Martin, Pierce, Sorbello, McManus and Stefanyszyn and Wright.
Although…
Continue Reading Case Review: 10 important medical cases since Jan 16
It is no doubt my age.. but I have an acute sense of deja vu!
As from 1 July 2016, we have ‘reverted’ to the old scheme of Boards of Management running our major hospitals (and geographic areas). See the…
Continue Reading Public Hospital Restructure (again!)
