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'Rights' stories out of the mainstream media.
(If you come across any don't hesitate to alert us!)
Tort Reforms Cost Health $10M
Financial Review. October 14, 2005.
Taxpayers are now paying medical expenses and social security
payments for injured people unable to claim compensation after
it was revealed that changes to tort law last year had deprived
the public health system of millions of dollars.
Read
Article
Tort Law Reforms Have Further To Go
Financial Review. September 23, 2005.
In a speech to the 14th Commonwealth Law Conference in London
on September 14, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of NSW,
Jim Spigelman, said, in regard to the recent tort law reforms
in Australia, "a number of persons, including myself [Spigelman],
have indicated that in various respects the statutory changes
have gone too far".
Read
Article
Law Changes Won't Curtail Damages Suit
The Australian. September 17, 2005.
Whether a scar too large, a diagnosis too late, or surgery gone
wrong, very often the patient's response is to sue, reports Clara
Pirani LAWYERS warn the number of malpractice claims against doctors
could continue to rise despite changes to civil injuries laws
over the past three years.
Read
Article
Doctors Unmoved by Insurance Blowout
The Australian. August 19, 2005.
FEARS that a substantial increase in medical insurance premiums
three years ago would prompt thousands of doctors and specialists
to resign have proved unfounded. A government report released
yesterday reveals Australia has more doctors and medical specialists
than ever, but they are working fewer hours.
Read
Article
Call to Toughen Insurance Industry Accountability
March 22, 2005.
The states say the Commonwealth has allowed the insurance industry
to "exploit" reforms to laws aimed at limiting personal injury
payouts. State and territory Attorneys-General have wound up a
two-day meeting on Queensland's Gold Coast.
Read
Article
Are the Government's Insurance Reforms Leaving
Legitimate Victims without Compensation?
Australian Broadcasting Corporation. February
11, 2005.
Last month, Caroline Moore became one of hundreds
of people hit by food poisoning after eating dips from these Turkish
restaurants in Brunswick. She says she endured a week of vomiting,
diarrhoea and cramping before ending up in hospital with bleeding
kidneys.
Read
Article
Hospital Mistakes
Australian Broadcasting Corporation. May 5, 2004.
Medical errors in Australian hospitals have left a long trail
of heartbreak and recrimination. Two weeks ago, this program detailed
a breakdown in procedure at Sydney's St George Hospital which
resulted in a pair of surgical scissors being left inside a patient's
abdomen for 18 months.
Read
Article
Patient Fights for Justice after Surgical Nightmare
Australian Broadcasting Corporation. April 19, 2004.
The NSW hospital system has been reeling in recent months from
a series of medical negligence cases. Symptomatic of the problem
has been a failure by medical staff to respond to patients' complaints.
In some cases, it's resulted in death.
Read
Article
Poisoned pork roll compensation pay-out could be last.
The Australian. August 13, 2003.
The Australian newspaper reported that under new laws the victims
of Victoria's largest food poisoning outbreak would be unable
to claim compensation for pain and suffering. The food poisoning
outbreak occurred when 213 fell ill eating pork rolls from a Vietnamese
restaurant. It was reported that "One man died and 22 people were
taken to hospital after falling ill with gastroenteritis when
they ate the contaminated rolls." The payouts ranged from $3000
to hundreds of thousands for the family of the dead man. The lawyer
representing the victims said that under the new laws none of
these people would receive any compensation for their pain and
suffering resulting from the food poisoning.
Brain damaged man receives compensation for future care.
Australian Financial Review. August 20, 2003.
A man who suffered severe brain damage after being struck by
a golf ball on the back of the head in 1994 was awarded $2.6 million
dollars in compensation to pay for his past and future medical
costs and attendant care. The man who struck the ball admitted
he was aware of rules about safe tee-offs. Ironically, insurer
QBE used the ruling to argue that 'tort reform' was necessary
because it would place greater responsibility on consumers, such
as the brain damaged man, for their actions. "QBE is supportive
of tort reform because it places a greater onus on the consumer
to take responsibility for their actions," he said.
A failed solution for medical negligence story from the US.
Trial, February 2003.
One of the men responsible for bringing about 'tort reform'
in the United States, Frank Cornelius, told Trial of how he had
become a victim of his own 'reforms.' In 1975 while working as
an insurance lobbyist he convinced the Indiana legislature to
pass a $500 000 cap on malpractice damages. He said, "I argued
successfully that such limits would reduce health care costs and
encourage physicians to stay in Indiana." After a routine knee
operation led to a series of medical mistakes he was left in a
wheelchair and required a respirator to breathe. He was forced
by his own lobbying to settle for $500 000 when the estimated
cost of lost earnings and treatment was $5 million. "All my suffering
might have been worthwhile, on some cosmic scale, if the law change
had accomplished its stated purpose. But it hasn't," he said.
Aquarium agrees to pay compensation for legionnaires outbreak.
Herald Sun, 3/2/2004.
The Melbourne Aquarium agreed to pay compensation to 144 people,
mainly elederly, who were victims of an outbreak of legionnaires
disease from one of the aquarium's air-conditioning cooling towers.
The outbreak had affected more than 170 people. The disease killed
four people, while 10 others died while waiting for compensation.
The lead plaintiff in the case spent 3 weeks in intensive care
and was still suffering the effects of the disease nearly 4 years
later.
Insurance companies "overstate" their case.
Herald Sun Editorial Feb 27, 2004.
In an Editorial in the Herald Sun the Australian insurance industry
was accused of overstating the case for 'tort law reform' to bolster
their profits. It said, "Premiums soared, sometimes tenfold or
more, and governments around the country were panicked into removing
centuries-old Common Law rights to sue for injury." "Promina lauded
the 'benign claims environment.' Code for we've managed to avoid
paying out on too many claims…There was always a suspicion insurance
companies were overstating their case. It was a handy excuse to
raise premiums and reduce the chance that somebody might actually
make a claim on their insurance. No doubt the public will be much
more sceptical the next time insurance companies cry poor."
Surgeons leave 17cm scissors in granny after surgery.
April 26th, 2004.
National coverage of 69 year old grandmother who was left with
an 17cm pair of surgical scissors in her abdominal cavity after
surgery. The grandmother experienced extreme pain for 18 months
after the surgery, but was told repeatedly by doctors that it
takes time to recover from surgery. Eventually a GP agreed to
X-ray the woman and the cause of the woman's torment was revealed.
The ABC reported "Pat Skinner still doesn't know the extent of
the damage caused by the scissors. But both she and her husband
know the mistake has for the past two years ruined their retirement."
Her husband said, "At our age there is a window of opportunity,
but it's pretty small - or it gets smaller. So in our minds, we
feel that we've missed this opportunity. That was two years or
more of our lives taken out through no fault of our own."
People dying from medical errors in crowded, overworked emergency
departments.
May 4th, 2004. The Australian.
In a special report it was revealed that Australian hospital
waiting rooms are in crisis, which is leading to fatal errors.
Overcrowded waiting rooms are responsible for misdiagnosis by
doctors and other significant medical errors that lead to longer
hospital stays, poorer health outcomes and in some cases death.
Hospital study finds no "culture of blame."
April 5th, 2004. The Australian.
A report on a the trial of an open-disclosure policy that allows
doctors to say sorry to patients without admitting liability.
The trial at Dandenong Hospital was discussed by Dr Michael Buist,
who himself lost part of his lung as a result of a medical mistake.
Dr Buist said, "The overwhelming thing that came out of the study
was that just by spending time talking to patients about their
adverse event, the patient had a forgiving view of the mistake
that was made. You can place a patient's health at risk with the
most stupid error and if you tell them about it, and tell the
truth, most people are very forgiving." This is a contrasting
picture to the one proposed by 'tort reformers' that Australians
are engaged in a "litigation explosion."
"Chemotherapy went wrong; Girl begged to be killed."
April 5th, 2004. The Herald Sun.
It was reported that a girl had a catheter inserted into her
chest incorrectly. When she received chemotherapy for Hodgkins
lymphoma 3 litres of liquid was poured into the lining of the
lungs, causing tissue damage. When the medical staff were trying
to drain the chemicals the girl reported that the pain was so
great that she screamed at the staff to kill her. Despite the
chemotherapy treatment being a success the mistake has left the
girl in almost constant pain, with shortness of breath and a lack
of energy. The report said that, "She suffered from nightmares
and flashbacks. She could no longer surf, play tennis or netball,
and could manage just six hours of work a week." The hospital
admitted breaching their duty of care, but question the extent
of her injuries.
"Sentinel events" report reveals medical errors.
May 2004. The Age.
The Victorian Government's "Sentinel Events" report was released
detailing some of the worst medical errors in the state's public
hospitals. Included in the report were "16 procedures involving
the wrong patient or wrong body part, and nine instances where
medical instruments or other materials were left in the patient
after surgery. There were five suicides in an in-patient unit,
and four cases of maternal death or serious morbidity associated
with labour or delivery." The report does not represent all medical
mistakes; only those that reflect hospital system and process
deficiencies.
Medical accident leads to hysterectomy.
May 26th, 2004. The Age.
A woman received damages compensation after a medical error
in a procedure to remove a dead foetus from her uterus led to
her being unable to have any more children. The paper reported
that, "According to the statement of claim, the registrar failed
to ascertain that the foetus was in the woman's left uterus and
instead introduced a suction curette into the woman's right, non-pregnant
uterus and perforated it. The woman started haemorrhaging and
later that day underwent an emergency total abdominal hysterectomy."
Malpractice Myths.
June 21, 2004. New York Times.
This story isn't Australian, but it was circulated widely in
Australia, so I've included it for interests' sake. The column
focussed on the myths surrounding medical negligence, many of
which Australia has inherited. This is an extract taken from the
New York Times column: "In looking at medical malpractice cases,
I've been amazed by the cold-blooded attitude so many people have
taken toward patients who have been seriously, and sometimes grotesquely,
harmed. Referring to a Wisconsin woman who had both of her breasts
removed after a laboratory mix-up mistakenly indicated she had
cancer, a doctor from South Carolina told a Congressional sub-committee:
'She did not lose her life, and with the plastic surgery she'll
have breast reconstruction better than she had before.'"
Punt on Promina pays off.
June 21, 2004. Herald-Sun.
A report in the Herald-Sun discussed the 133 per cent increase
in the share price of insurer Promina since they were issued in
May the previous year. In the article a stockbroking analyst was
quoted as saying, "They've been making good money because they
haven't received the level of claims they have in the past." That
is to say, they haven't paid out on the number of claims they
have in the past. This means one of two things; claims from policy
holders are down which means that the public is not seeking easy
money from insurers as their PR teams suggest, or that the insurer
is simply denying more claims than it has done previously.
"Insurers tipped to make record profits" again !
Australian Financial Review, 17/1/2005.
A report in Australia's leading business and finance newspaper
said that insurers are again expected to make record profits,
according to industry experts. "If they don't do record profits
there's something seriously wrong" a JP Morgan analyst said,
"It's built off the back of probably the most favourable
underwriting conditions the market has experienced in history."
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