The West Australian Medical Negligence Law Blog, published by Julian Johnson Lawyers, focuses on legal issues surrounding medical negligence and malpractice in Western Australia. It covers a broad range of topics including birth injuries, misdiagnosis, hospital negligence, surgical errors, radiology mistakes, and claims related to various medical specialties such as orthopaedics, neurosurgery, gynaecology, psychiatry, and dental malpractice. The blog discusses legal principles, case law developments, compensation issues, and procedural aspects of medical negligence claims. It also addresses emerging areas like mental health-related claims and the financial implications of medical negligence for public hospitals and insurers.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
