Fed: Lawyers warns of problems with doctors policing themselves

AAP General News (Australia)
12-11-2003
Fed: Lawyers warns of problems with doctors policing themselves

CANBERRA, Dec 11 AAP - A NSW hospital scandal highlighted the problems that would occur
if the medical profession was given the opportunity to police itself, plaintiff lawyers
said today.

Australian Plaintiff Lawyers Association (APLA) chief executive Eva Scheerlinck said
the sacking today of the NSW Health Care Complaints Commissioner indicated the difficulty
of investigating negligence cases.

NSW Health Minister Morris Iemma sacked HCCC chief Amanda Adrian after the commission's
report into 17 deaths at two Sydney hospitals found massive flaws but did not find a single
individual responsible.

Mr Iemma said he had expected the report to provide findings and action but it did
not go far enough.

The APLA is concerned about recommendations in a medical indemnity report which has
gone to Prime Minister John Howard.

The report proposes the creation of medical assessment panels to make legally-binding
determinations on the clinical merits of a patient's claim.

"If the Health Care Complaints Commissioner has such trouble identifying the problems
and recommending appropriate action then it is going to be extremely difficult for doctors
to do something like that in relation to their own colleagues," Ms Scheerlinck said.

"I wouldn't recommend that anybody be judged by their own peers, I don't think it's
the right outcome for the consumer."

Ms Scheerlinck said the families of the patients who had died could also find it harder
to access compensation following changes to laws regarding negligence cases.

Another indemnity report recommendation was to implement last year's Ipp report which
called for further tort law reform.

Tort law refers to claims by an individual when they believe they have been wronged by another.

Ms Scheerlinck said the only way families could access compensation for the loss of
a loved one was through lodging a nervous shock claim.

"They have tightened up the law in relation to nervous shock cases so much that it's
unlikely that any of these families will receive compensation for something that was a
systemic problem," she said.

AAP so/sb/cjh/de

KEYWORD: HOSPITALS LAWYERS

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