Bill Madden (LexBlog Australia)

Callan v Medical Board of Australia [2024] NSWSC 336 (link to Caselaw). With thanks to Ada Lim for drawing the decision in this matter to my attention. The following is drawn from the headnote provided by the Court. Background The plaintiffs seek judicial review of a decision of the Medical Board of Australia to issue...

Al Muderis v Nine Network Australia Pty Limited (No 2) [2024] FCA 136 (link to Federal Court) This is an interlocutory application brought by the respondents seeking orders to set aside two subpoenas issued by the applicant (Dr Al Muderis) to persons said to be confidential sources of Charlotte Grieve, a journalist who is a respondent in this case. In addition, the respondents objected to the...

Reimers v Medical Board of Australia [2023] NSWCATOD 192 (Link to Caselaw). Dr Reimers, a former anaesthetist, has a long history of conduct decisions dating back to 2003 when he was found guilty of professional misconduct and his name was removed from the Register of Medical Practitioners. The Tribunal also ordered that any application for...

The National Safety and Quality Cosmetic Surgery Standards (Cosmetic Surgery Standards) aim to protect the public from harm and improve the quality of cosmetic surgery in Australia. The Cosmetic Surgery Standards were launched on 14 December 2023 and are available online here. The Cosmetic Surgery Standards are comprised of seven individual standards. The Clinical Governance...

Thomson Reuters. Released on 17 November 2023 was a new edition of Health Law in Australia, edited by Ben White, Fiona McDonald, Lindy Willmott and Shih-Ning Then. The table of contents is as follows: Chapter 1 Health Law: Scope, Sources and Forces Chapter 2 Medical and health ethics Chapter 3 The Legal Framework of the Australian Health System...

Graham v Peabody Energy Australia Pty Ltd [2023] NSWSC 1087 (on Caselaw). Cavanagh J. The plaintiff’s claim was in respect of alleged severe personal injury in the nature of a psychological illness. The defendant sought an order that the plaintiff attend a medical appointment arranged by the defendant with Dr Jane Lonie, who is a neuropsychologist. The application...

Final report (online). The Royal Commission has made 222 recommendations on how to improve laws, policies, structures and practices to ensure a more inclusive and just society that supports the independence of people with disability and their right to live free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. The Final Report consists of 12 Volumes plus an...

Stradford (a pseudonym) v Judge Vasta [2023] FCA 1020 (on the Federal Court website) Wigney J A novel matter in which the applicant was applicant was imprisoned for contempt in matrimonial proceeding in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, for purported non-compliance with disclosure orders. He sued a judge of the Federal Circuit Court, the Commonwealth and the State of Queensland...

The High Court of Australia will make available to the public a live stream of its special leave hearings from August 2023. The live stream will be accessible via the High Court website (https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/cases-av/sla-live-streaming). Conditions attaching to accessing the live stream are published on the live stream page. Audio-visual recordings of the special leave hearings...

BTM1 v Scout Association of Australia New South Wales Branch (No.2) [2023] NSWSC 806 (on Caselaw). Garling J. Following a permanent stay order the defendant obtained an order for costs. The plaintiff sought to modify such an order on five grounds, summarised as follows: the plaintiff was within his rights to commence proceedings in this Court in...

In May 2024 the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Supreme Court of Tasmania will mark their bicentenaries as the oldest courts in Australia. These courts were created by the Third Charter of Justice promulgated at Westminster in October 1823. There are few courts in the world with an uninterrupted and independent existence...

Dean v Pope [2023] HCA Trans 88 (on AUSTLII). Ada Lim & others have kindly drawn my attention to the recent special leave application arising from the NSW Court of Appeal decision of Dean v Pope [2022] NSWCA 260. The special leave issue that arose in this case was a question of the construction of...

Lexis Nexis has kindly published a new edition of our book, which is due for release in early June. Online pre-orders from the Lexis Nexis website presently provide a 10% discount on the usual price. (See link below) Institutional abuse of children: Legal remedies and redress in Australia, 2nd edition. The chapter list for the...

BTM1 v Scout Association of Australia New South Wales Branch [2023] NSWSC 431 (on Caselaw) The defendant sought a stay of proceedings in relation to a claim by BTM1, who alleged abuse by a scout leader in 1979-1982. The defendant satisfied the court that the circumstances were so exceptional as to require an order that...

A very interesting article by Neera Bhatia & Lily Porceddu has been published in the Adelaide Law Review dealing with emerging trends and legal implications of internet services in the creation of “non-traditional” families in Australia. The article is available on an open access basis here: Donors and Dads online. [BillMaddensWordpress #2114]

Published in an open access supplement to the Medical Journal of Australia sponsored by the Queensland University of Technology is a series of articles coordinated by Professor Ben Mathews, arising from an Australian Child Maltreatment Study. This supplement introduces the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS), the first national survey in the world to study in...

Fowkes v Boston Scientific Corporation [2023] FCA 230 (on JADE). With thanks to Justine Anderson for drawing attention to this ruling, in which Lee J held that the settlement sum seemed to be within a fair and reasonable range (albeit at the lower end of the range). Accordingly, it qualified for approval pursuant to s 33V(1) of...

Medical Board of Australia v Saunders [2023] WASAT 8 (on Austlii) In this conduct matter from Western Australia, it is unusual to see an order made that a member of the Medical Board of Australia attend a proposed mediation. The order was made despite the the limited information that the parties were able to provide...

RC v The Salvation Army (Western Australia) Property Trust [2023] WASCA 29 (on eCourts). With thanks to Nicholas Bentley for drawing attention to this decision, which arose from a stay order. The alleged abuse arose in 1959/1960, the person to whom the abuse was said to have been reported died in 1968 and the alleged...

Australia’s health practitioner regulator has outlined a blueprint to better protect patients from sexual misconduct in healthcare, as well as a range of broader reforms to keep patients safe. To improve it’s handling of sexual boundary matters, Ahpra and National Boards will: Commence a public review of the Criminal History registration standard which applies to all...

The third edition of this text Professional Liability in Australia was written in 2015, so it is pleasing to see a new edition released in late 2022. Responsibility for the comprehensive medical chapter, previously written by Stephen Walmsley, has been assumed by Richard O’Keefe. As before, this is a detailed book with chapters as follows:...

The Medical Board of Australia has reviewed its existing Guidelines for technology-based consultations and an Information sheet – Inter-jurisdictional technology-based patient consultations. The Board is consulting (until 17 February 2023) on proposed updated Guidelines: Telehealth consultations with patients. [BillMaddensWordpress #2083]

Waine v Carnival PLC t/as P&O Cruises Australia [2022] NSWDC 650 (on Caselaw) The plaintiff suffered a miscarriage during and after a cruise supplied by the defendant, Carnival PLC trading as P&O Cruises Australia. She suffered heavy bleeding and discharge of the products of conception whilst in Auckland Airport on her way to Australia, which resulted in her being hospitalised in Auckland...

Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced the appointment of Justice Jayne Jagot to the High Court bench, replacing the retiring Justice Patrick Keane. Justice Jagot has been serving on the Federal Court since 2008, and before that was a judge of the New South Wales Land and Environment Court. When she takes her place on the...

Dental Board of Australia v Nairn [2022] WASAT 86 (on JADE). With thanks to Enore Panetta for noting this matter., where a dental practitioner had been convicted of offences under the Emergency Management Act 2005 (WA) for failing to self quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic. That failure appears to have followed periods of interstate travel...

This is not intended as an advertisement. It is interesting to note however the proposed launch of Uber Health in Australia. The service appears aimed at health professions who wish to provide access to care for those who need it by requesting efficient transportation and coordinating same-day deliveries using the Uber Health dashboard. The Sydney Morning...

Kikuyu v Hazzard (No 2) [2022] FCA 812 (on Federal Court of Australia) The applicant sought declarations that certain public health orders made by the first respondent (Minister), and a determination made by the second respondent (Secretary), are invalid. The sole ground advanced was that the State provisions authorising those instruments are inconsistent with Part 2 of Chapter 8 of the...

Medical Board of Australia v Lee (Review and Regulation) [2022] VCAT 667 (on AUSTLII). A medical practitioner has had his registration cancelled for conduct that was ‘outrageous’ and ‘far beyond the standards expected’ of the profession. Dr Lee admitted to making social media posts that were ‘utterly unacceptable’ and agreed that his conduct amounted to...

Knowles v Commonwealth of Australia [2022] FCA 741 (on AUSTLII) The pleadings in this matter alleged the invalidity of certain measures relating to Covid restrictions. The respondents (being the Commonwealth, the State of NSW, the State of Victoria and others successfully sought to have the claim struck out. The respondents discharged their burden of proving...

Knowles v Commonwealth of Australia [2022] FCA 741 (on AUSTLII) The pleadings in this matter alleged the invalidity of certain measures relating to Covid restrictions. The respondents (being the Commonwealth, the State of NSW, the State of Victoria and others successfully sought to have the claim struck out. The respondents discharged their burden of proving...