Journal of law and medicine
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The New South Wales Supreme Court has examined the statutory and common law duties of the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission and the New South Wales Medical Board in the recent case of Attorney General (NSW) v Bar-Mordecai [2008] NSWSC 774. The judgment establishes that a professional practice body investigating the alleged misconduct of a doctor will rarely be liable under Australian statutory or common law duties to compensate that doctor for harm arising as a result of negligent investigatory practices. In particular, it establishes that such a body owes no duty to take reasonable care to avoid psychiatric injury to a medical practitioner against whom a complaint has been lodged and whom it is investigating. It is argued that the differing approaches to the tort of negligent investigation in Canada and Australia stem from differences not only in policy values but in the legal frameworks used in each jurisdiction to determine the existence of duties of care at common law.
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The NHS Redress Act 2006 (UK) is an example of a legislated compensation scheme for adverse health care incidents that aims to supplement the tort-based system of compensation, without going all the way to adopting a no-fault compensation system. It proposes an administrative method of providing speedier and more efficient and responsive remedies to adverse health care incidents than traditional legal proceedings. This article examines the detail of the United Kingdom policy arguments both prior to and since the passage of the legislation, as well as providing a detailed analysis of the original Bill, the parliamentary debates and the subsequent Act.
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In 1989 the first National Women's Health Policy was launched in Australia. Now, 20 years later, the Federal Government has announced plans for the development of a new National Women's Health Policy to address the health needs of Australian women. ⋯ It considers the relevance of regulatory frameworks for health research in supporting an evidence base for health interventions and analyses the requirement in the National Health and Medical Research Council's National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research for "fair inclusion" of research participants. The editorial argues for a holistic approach to women's health that includes regulatory frameworks for research, identification of funding priorities for research, and the need for a dedicated government department or agency to promote women's health.