Legislation enacted between and by each Australian State and Territory reformed and partially codified the common law of personal injuries. This column examines the nature and history of damages for pain and suffering and analyses the approach taken by different Australian jurisdictions to compensation for non-economic loss.
Non-economic loss is generally composed of pain and suffering, loss of amenities of life, and loss of enjoyment of life some jurisdictions, e. New South Wales, also include disfigurement, and loss of expectation of life. Several jurisdictions have imposed thresholds that a claimant must meet as a prerequisite to suing for damages at common law. Draft statement on ethical conduct in research involving humans. The Northern Territory's euthanasia legislation in historical perspective.
Prevention of suicide: Police powers, parliamentary intent and judicialinterpretation. While in most countries suicide is no longer a crime, it is also acknowledged that the state has an interest in the preservation of human life, the prevention of suicide, and the protection of vulnerable persons from harming themselves.
In a civil, secular and democratic society, however, the public law principle of state protective powers has to be balanced against the private law principle of personal autonomy personal self-determination. Under the doctrine of autonomy, competent adults of sound mind can make legally binding voluntary choices, including the so-called death-choice refusal of life-sustaining or life-prolonging treatment as well as suicide.
To add to the complexity, whereas the powers of the state in relation to suicide and its prevention have been codified, the concepts of personal autonomy and personal liberty are grounded in common law.
Kirkland-Veenstra v Stuart [] Aust Torts Reports ; [] VSCA 32, which is at present being considered by the High Court of Australia, exemplifies tensions that arise in the suicide-prevention area of jurisprudence. This article explores the powers and duties of police officers in relation to suicide prevention and the notion of mental illness by reference to the Kirkland-Veenstra case, the relevant statutory framework and the common law.
Legal issues in medicine : an experiment in cross-faculty teaching. Psychiatric injury law in England and Australia Drawing closer together? Major differences developed between English and Australian psychiatric injury law from about onwards, particularly in secondary victim cases. The House of Lords endorsed the traditional restrictions of aftermath, direct perception and sudden shock, whereas the High Court of Australia adopted a more enlightened approach which relied chiefly on foreseeability of psychiatric injury.
In the last five years, there are indications that the gap has narrowed a little. The English courts, first in medical negligence cases but then more generally, have shown that they are now prepared to interpret the aftermath requirement more creatively. In Australia, by contrast, the codification of the law on mental harm has narrowed the law in certain respects, and there is scope for further restriction in the process of statutory interpretation.
This analysis assesses the significance of these developments and attempts to sum up the present position. Legal liability for pain management involving opioid medication: an American perspective. Disciplinary powers of medical practice boards and the rule of law. Quo Iure? HealthConnect and the duty of care: a dilemma for medical practitioners.
This article asks whether medical practitioners duty of care to their patients will encompass participation in the HealthConnect shared electronic records initiative. Medico-legal aspects of the HeathConnect scheme relating to the nature of shared electronic health record summaries SEHRS are examined.
The analysis is based on the premise that an incomplete and hence inaccurate shared electronic health record summary is clinically and legally more perilous than no record at all. The defendants' liability for negligently caused nervous shock in Australia - Quo Vadis? Australian tort law reform: statutory principles of causation and the common law.
This article focuses on codification of the law of causation as an element of the cause of action in negligence. Jurisprudential aspects of withdrawal of life support systems from incompetent patients in Australia. The medical duty of confidentiality in the hippocratic traditon and Jewish medical ethics.
Devaluation of a constitutional guarantee: the history of Section 51 xxiiiA of the Commonwealth constitution. The medical provision of hydration and nutrition: Two very different outcomes in Victoria and Florida. Decisions to withhold or withdraw medical hydration and nutrition are amongst the most difficult that confront patients and their families, as well as medical and other health professionals.
This article discusses two cases relating to lawful withdrawal and withholding of a PEG from incompetent patients with no hope of recovery. Victoria and Florida have statutory frameworks that provide for advance directives. The article analyses the two cases and their outcomes from legal, medical and ethical perspectives. Defendants liability for pure mental harm to third parties in Australia: Still a work in progress. In Australia, both common and statutory law allows compensation for negligently occasioned recognised psychiatric injury, but distinguishes between pure mental harm and consequential mental harm.
The analysis focuses on judicial approaches to determining liability in these cases, especially causation. Title Sort Sort by citations Sort by year Sort by title. Molecular genetics and metabolism 94 2 , , Medical Journal of Australia 8 , , International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 18 4 , , Ethics, Medicine and Public Health 3 1 , , Ethics, and Medicine October 10, International Journal of Law and … , Articles 1—20 Show more. Help Privacy Terms.
Historical evolution and modern implications of concepts of consent to, and refusal of, medical treatment in the law of trespass D Mendelson Journal of Legal Medicine 17 1 , , The expert deposes, but the court disposes: the concept of malingering and the function of a medical expert witness in the forensic process D Mendelson International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 18 4 , , Legal protections for personal health information in the age of Big Data—a proposal for regulatory framework D Mendelson Ethics, Medicine and Public Health 3 1 , , D Mendelson, G Wolf.
English medical experts and the claims for shock occasioned by railway collisions in the s Issues of law, ethics, and medicine D Mendelson Ethics, and Medicine October 10, Disciplinary powers of medical practice boards and the rule of law D Mendelson Journal of Law and Medicine 8, , HealthConnect and the duty of care: A dilemma for medical practitioners D Mendelson Journal of law and medicine 12 1 , ,
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