The new statutory tort, introduced under the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024, has been added as Schedule 2 to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). It is a significant shift – especially for sectors like healthcare, where personal information is routinely...
On 30 May 2025, Ahpra and the Dental and Medical Boards of Australia issued a joint statement expressing serious concern about reports of patients experiencing financial harm after accessing substantial superannuation funds for treatment. Practitioners were warned...
Nemes v South Eastern Sydney Local Health District [2025] NSWSC 418 concerned the 2016 birth of a baby boy, Benny, at the Royal Hospital for Women. Benny later developed infantile seizures and global developmental delay. His parents brought proceedings against the...
Two documents have now been published in advance of the 2 September 2025 commencement date: Guidelines for registered health practitioners who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures and Guidelines for practitioners who advertise higher risk non-surgical cosmetic...
This case involved a senior doctor who reported to Perth Children’s Hospital in early 2024 that he may have unintentionally caused injury to his infant son while attempting to relieve constipation. The child was found to have bruising and fractures. The doctor was...
Complaints and legal claims can add stress to the practitioner’s life, disrupts and detracts from the provision of services, adversely affects the practice’s reputation and the legal costs in responding to the complaints and / or legal claims often exceeds the fees...
Western Australia has now adopted the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, set out in the Schedule to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 (Qld), as it stood on 10 October 2023 with modifications, as a law of Western Australia. The...
It has been reported that numerous complaints were anonymously made, and some related to online posts within private or closed groups. While every complaint is required to be investigated by Ahpra, it has indicated that none of its investigations (at the time of...
The Emotional Cost Seeing your name on the initial claim or complaint associated with alarming legal terms like negligent, below standard of care or unprofessional may cause a roller coaster of emotions: shock, anger, fear and anxiety, guilt, shame, defensiveness,...
The revised code will come into effect on 29 June 2022 and applies to the following National Boards: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Chinese Medicine Chiropractic Dental Medical radiation practice Occupational therapy Optometry Osteopathy...