The anaesthetist, who had worked at the Hospital for many years, claimed he had been bullied by two nurses at the Hospital in 2013 and 2014 and, as a consequence of his complaint to hospital management, he lost the opportunity to work on a particular surgery list...
Health Blog
AHPRA Annual Report for 2015/16
Highlights of the past year include: There were about 20,000 new registrants in the past year, with a total of 65,274 applications for registrations received across all professions. There was a tightening of the criminal history checking process, resulting in the...
Notifiable Data Breaches – New reporting obligations proposed for entities under the Privacy Act
The Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2016 (‘the Bill’) was introduced in the Australian Parliament on 19 October 2016 and is currently before the House of Representatives. The Bill proposes mandatory data breach notification provisions for agencies,...
Does a practitioner’s mental illness automatically mean impairment?
The practitioner had a long history of mental illness, with periods of hospitalisation and community treatment orders (CTO) dating back to 1998. She suffered from a serious chronic psychotic disorder characterised by paranoid delusions and disorganised behaviour. As a...
Epilepsy intervention study leads to $1.6M payout
The patient suffered from epilepsy due to an antenatal stroke. At age 21, she underwent telemetry testing to determine her eligibility for surgical intervention. The testing required her brain activity to be monitored during a seizure. Whilst under Hospital care and...
The duty of the court to self-represented litigants
In late 2008, the applicant noticed swelling on the left side of his face and neck extending along the jaw line to a point near the left ear. Following an ultrasound examination, the applicant was referred to hospital. He attended the hospital on 12 February 2009 and...
Professional Services Review Annual Report 2015-16
In 2015/16 there was an increase in the number of investigations of Chronic Disease Management and MBS Health Assessment items. Many practitioners providing high numbers of these services were found to use computer-generated templates leading to plans with minimal...
Fake Nurse convicted and ordered to pay over $40,000
Two separate actions were brought against Nicholas Crawford by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, one in Queensland and one in Western Australia in relation to 14 offences arising from his falsely claiming to be a registered health professional. Mr Crawford...
Doctor suspended for falsifying medical records
In a recent Tribunal decision, the Medical Board’s decision to take immediate action against a practitioner by suspending his registration was upheld because the Tribunal considered the practitioner’s dishonest and unethical conduct in falsifying medical records meant...
Bleach treatment of elderly patient leads to disciplinary action
A NSW Professional Standards Committee recently found a Registered Nurse guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct in relation to a complaint about her care and treatment of a patient in an Aged Care Service. The patient was an elderly lady with deteriorating...