The Medical journal of Australia
-
To describe professional discipline cases in Australia and New Zealand in which doctors were found guilty of professional misconduct, and to develop a typology for describing the misconduct. ⋯ Disciplinary cases in Australia and New Zealand have features distinct from those studied internationally. The recent nationalisation of Australia's medical boards offers new possibilities for tracking and analysing disciplinary cases to improve the safety and quality of health care.
-
We report a case of compassionate use of a haemoglobin-based oxygen carrier in a severely injured Jehovah's Witness patient, for whom survival was considered unlikely. Severe anaemia and cardiac hypoxia were reversed after slow infusion of this agent. No vasoactive side effects were associated with the treatment, possibly due to the slow infusion, and the patient survived.
-
Despite "safe-hours" campaigns and doctors health programs, "at-risk" behaviour and suicides still occur in junior doctors. A recent national survey found that 46% of junior doctors believed that their hospital administration was not supportive. ⋯ Patient and individual doctor safety is paramount, and confidential collaboration between medical workforce and medical education structures, clinical supervisors and the Victorian Doctors Health Program is required. The boundaries of the hospital's "duty of care" for those who do not want assistance is unclear, and balancing increased supervision within a limited workforce is challenging.
-
This article critically analyses the prospects for introducing United States anti-fraud (or anti-false claims) laws in the Australian health care setting. Australian governments spend billions of dollars each year on medicines and health care. A recent report estimates that the money lost to corporate fraud in Australia is growing at an annual rate of 7%, but that only a third of the losses are currently being detected. ⋯ Australia still suffers from the absence of any comprehensive scheme that not only allows treble damages recovery for fraud on the public purse, but crucially supports such actions by providing financial encouragement for whistleblowing corporate insiders to expose evidence of fraud. Potential areas of application could include direct and indirect government expenditure on health care service provision, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, defence, carbon emissions compensation and tobacco-related illness. The creation in Australia of an equivalent to US anti-false claims legislation should be a policy priority, particularly in a period of financial stringency.
-
To examine the trends in the uptake of laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer. ⋯ The use of laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer has increased throughout Australian hospitals. Our findings provide the data necessary to ensure adequate resource allocation by the appropriate medical bodies to achieve optimal success in the uptake of laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer in Australia.