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HEALTH AND MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE LAW AUSTRALIA
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PSYCHIATRY and HEALTH LAW NEWS TOPICS
25.05.07
Quadriplegic negligence case dismissed A man left quadriplegic after falling from a tree in an aborted suicide attempt has failed in his bid to sue a hospital for not properly treating his mental health problems. Timothy Walker fractured his spine after falling from a tree in the backyard of his Glenbrook home in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, in March 2001. The then 19-year-old climbed the tree to hang himself just 11 days after being discharged from the Pialla Unit, a psychiatric wing of Nepean Hospital, following a previous suicide attempt. He claimed the hospital should have prescribed him anti-depressant or anti-psychotic medication, counselled him and detained him as an involuntary patient for at least two weeks for assessment. But NSW Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Simpson on Friday dismissed the negligence lawsuit, ruling that Sydney West Area Health Service staff had not failed to act "in a manner that ... was widely accepted in Australia by peer professional opinion as competent professional practice". Justice Simpson found hospital doctors had assessed Mr Walker and decided not to give him anti-depressants because he refused to give up drinking alcohol, which could cause a reaction with the medication. She also found the health service conducted home visits after his discharge, during which he reported feeling better. Justice Simpson ordered Mr Walker to pay the health service's legal costs. Source: SMH 25.05.07 17.04.07
SYDNEY WEST AREA HEALTH SERVICE IS BEING SUED Source: A MAN who was discharged as a teenager from a psychiatric unit without treatment or medication after a suicide attempt, only to try again days later, is suing an area health service for negligence. He was admitted to the psychiatric unit at Nepean Hospital as a voluntary patient. Days after he was discharged, he again felt suicidal and climbed a tree. He slipped, fell, and became a quadriplegic. His lawyer, Don Grieves, QC, yesterday told the court his client stayed there six days but was given no counselling, psychiatric treatment or medication. "He was treated with appalling indifference," Mr Grieves said. Mr Walker said that after days of asking for medication or treatment, he was assessed by a doctor. He was feeling depressed, lonely, scared, confused, frustrated and angry, but told the doctor he was OK. The doctor recommended his discharge. "I didn't know what they were going to do for me. I just thought I was wasting my time," Mr Walker said yesterday. Eleven days later he climbed a tree during another suicide attempt and fell, injuring his spine. After the injury he received psychiatric treatment and has responded well to a combination of antidepressants and antipsychotic medication, Mr Grieves said. Lawyers for the Wentworth Area Health Service - now part of the Sydney West Area Health Service - said the treatment Mr Walker received was acceptable practice. One expert will give evidence that no treatment was likely to improve his condition. The lawyers also said that because Mr Walker had drunk alcohol on the night of the accident, he contributed to the fall. Source: Brisbane Times
08.10.06
Call for tighter laws As the law stands, anyone can call themselves a counsellor, psychotherapist, life coach, psychoanalyst or therapist.
AMA president Mukesh Haikerwal said it time regulations covered these practices (Sunday Herald Sun, 8 October 2006)
06.10.06
Disgraced psychiatrist loses appeal over deregistration A former Launceston psychiatrist has failed in his bid to overturn his removal from the medical register. Ian Anthony Martin was found guilty of professional misconduct last year and struck from the register. The Medical Complaints Tribunal found that he had had a sexual relationship with the woman between January and March 2004. (ABC News, 6 October 2006) 06.10.06
Mental health bed crisis lingers: report
20.09.06
Release of psychotic man 'ignored reality' RELEASING a psychotic and aggressive man from state care "simply did not reflect the reality" of his dangerous mental state, a coroner's inquiry heard yesterday. In an expert assessment suppressed by the State Government until yesterday, psychiatrist Professor Robert Goldney told Coroner Elizabeth Sheppard the treatment of a mentally ill patient - who fatally stabbed a man just days after his release - was based on "flawed assumptions" and "absolutely inadequate knowledge". Professor Goldney told the inquiry the best way to combat such errors was for senior practitioners to create concise patient summaries, available 24 hours a day to authorities. He said psychiatrists in the public health system were overworked and lacked the time to assess properly patients who had committed crimes. "As soon as a patient's case notes get to 15cm in height, they should be reviewed and summarised by someone with sufficient experience," Professor Goldney said. Full story by Sean Fewster, (Advertiser, 20 September 2006)
12.09.06
Psychiatrist loses licence over sex affair payment A PSYCHIATRIST who paid a former patient $100,000 not to report their seven-year sexual affair has lost his medical licence. Dr John Honey was found guilty of serious unprofessional conduct yesterday, after the Medical Practitioners Board ruled he had paid the woman, partly to keep their relationship quiet. The Footscray doctor was banned from practising for at least two years after his conduct was deemed a "breach of trust, misuse of power, and exploitation of a former patient's vulnerability".
07.09.06
Mental patient walked free then killed A PSYCHIATRIC patient threatened to murder someone just days before he was released and within two weeks he stabbed a man to death, a court has heard. During an inquest into the deaths of two men who were killed by recently released psychiatric patients, details about one of the killer's behaviour in hospital in the week leading up to his release emerged. (Advertiser, 7 September 2006)
30.08.06
Medico in death probe article by Leanne Edmistone (Courier-Mail, 30 August 2006) A DISGRACED Rockhampton psychiatrist and would-be politician banned last year from practising after a patient sex scandal faces fresh allegations he was responsible for another patient's death from a drug overdose. Christopher John Alroe, 50, had his medical licence cancelled for four years by the Health Practitioners' Tribunal in May 2005 after he was found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct for a sexual relationship with a registered nurse he had treated for a bipolar disorder. Alroe, who twice stood for the federal seat of Capricornia, was criticised by the tribunal for preying on the woman's vulnerability and for his "predatory and exploitative conduct". He appealed the tribunal's findings unsuccessfully. New allegations have surfaced this week that Alroe prescribed an excessive amount of medication for a patient with a history of drug abuse and significant mental illness without proper supervision measures being put in place. The male patient died four days later from what a coronial inquiry found was an overdose of methadone. A referral notice filed by the Medical Board of Queensland with the Queensland District Court on Monday stated Dr Alroe's actions in August 2003 constituted unsatisfactory professional conduct. The document said Alroe treated the male patient a number of times in 2003 knowing he had a significant history of drug abuse and significant psychiatric illness and had not complied with medication in the past. But on August 19 of that year, Alroe prescribed a number of controlled and restricted drugs for the patient, including 20 tablets of methadone. The patient died of an overdose on August 23. It was alleged the treatment was inappropriate because the prescription was excessive in the circumstances, and that Alroe did not ensure the patient was on a methadone program or that each dose was dispensed by a pharmacist or drug rehabilitation clinic. He also did not ensure the patient was well enough to use the medication without supervision. Steps were allegedly not taken to ensure there would be no misuse of the methadone, and Alroe did not ensure the patient received ongoing care. A directions hearing into the matter had yet to be set by the Health Practitioners Tribunal. Alroe's solicitor Damien Alroe, of Alroe and O'Sullivans solicitors, yesterday said there would be no comment until the matter was dealt with.
26.08.06
Patient welfare under scrutiny
Almost 40 per cent of men and over 75 per cent of women who kill themselves have had contact with a mental health service within the final month of their lives.
In an official submission to a coronial inquiry, Public Advocate Michelle Howard recommends that suicide risk assessment be carried out before discharge. She says patients' family, carers or support networks should be briefed on the discharge process and given support in caring. This is especially important for medication, follow-up medical appointments, and risks of suicide or self harm. Ms Howard also recommends Queensland Health develop a statewide framework to guide staff in suicide risk assessment, as in NSW. (Courier-Mail, 26 August 2006)
23.08.06
The 'mentally disordered' provisions of the New South Wales Mental Health Act 1990: their ethical standing and effect on services 'Sent suicidal man to jail' Glenside Hospital clinical director Professor Norman James yesterday stood by his decision, telling State Coroner Mark Johns he did not believe Neil James Brooks, 43, would commit suicide.
Professor James was giving evidence into the death of Brooks, who suffocated himself with a plastic bag five months after he was detained at the remand centre in December, 2002. The inquest - which is examining the transfer of mental health patients between hospitals and the corrections system - continues. (Advertiser, 23 August 2006)
19.08.06
Challenging the system A PROFESSIONAL woman has complained that a government mental health worker advised her to "cut" herself to relieve her suicidal thoughts. The woman, 41, who suffers from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, also claimed to the Queensland Health Quality and Complaints Commission that she was subjected to verbal abuse by a psychiatric worker at Cairns Base Hospital and given an Involuntary Treatment Order despite agreeing to be admitted to the mental health unit. "Alexis", who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution, said this week she had moved to Cairns in early 2004 but rang the hospital's crisis line in July that year because she was "really struggling". She said she was shocked when the mental health worker told her: "You should cut yourself." "I became very upset and he said, 'Well, it makes people feel better' ". Alexis said a community health group wrote a letter of complaint on her behalf to the Cairns Integrated Mental Health Service. She received no reply but says she was subjected to verbal abuse by a psychiatric worker when she went to the hospital on January 19 last year after a suicide attempt. She said the worker described her as a "difficult patient" who would need two staff to escort her to the ward because she had "assaulted staff in the past". She left the hospital but was admitted two days later after taking an overdose. She was then given an Involuntary Treatment Order to transfer from intensive care to the Mental Health Unit, despite agreeing to go voluntarily. Upon discharge, she complained to the hospital and the then health minister, Gordon Nuttall, about her treatment, calling for an audit of the unit. Alexis said she was shocked to discover that her complaint had been shown to the mental health team, contrary to protocol. Hospital records viewed by The Courier-Mail this week record Alexis in the Cairns emergency department on January 19 last year after a suicide attempt. The emergency department doctor noted that her behaviour was "co-operative/pleasant". A few days later, on January 24, the notes show that intensive care unit nurses wrote at 11am that she was: "Unwilling at first to go to Mental Health. Spoke to nursing staff, care manager and friends and is now willing to go voluntarily." But at 11am, the notes also record a psychiatric worker committing her to the unit under an Involuntary Treatment Order. The Health Quality and Complaints Commission is expected to report soon on her complaint. (Courier-Mail, 19 August 2006)
NSW Mental Health Bill 2006 Exposure draft August 2006.
10.08.06
Board faces multi-million-dollar payouts over bogus psychiatrist - Vincent Berg THE advisory board that allowed rogue surgeon Jayant Patel to operate is now facing multi-million-dollar lawsuits over the treatment of hundreds of patients by a bogus Russian psychiatrist. In the first court case against the Medical Board of Queensland arising out of the so-called Dr Death scandal, three patients of Vincent Berg are seeking damages over his counselling and the medication he prescribed for their conditions. In the court action, the Medical Board has been accused of failing to check that Mr Berg's qualifications, purportedly from a Russian university, were "true and not forgeries". The Medical Board is charged with checking doctors' qualifications before registering them for practice. The lawsuits were filed this month. Mr Berg, 54, is undergoing treatment at a psychiatric ward on the Gold Coast. A teenager who is one of the claimants in the civil action was diagnosed as having a mental condition by Mr Berg during a home visit to his mother. Mother and son have claimed they were prescribed dangerous and inappropriate drugs by Mr Berg, who treated 259 patients during his year's employment at Townsville hospital in 2000. Despite hospital authorities learning that Mr Berg's Russian qualifications were fake in late 2002, his former patients were informed only through the Morris and Davis inquiries that arose out of the Dr Death scandal. The inquiries heard that authorities took the decision not to tell patients about Mr Berg because they feared it could lead to them stopping their medication and counselling or even attempting suicide. A Queensland Health spokesman said an immediate review was launched of "all of Mr Berg's patients that could be found". The three former patients - one of whom claims she has attempted suicide three times as a result of Mr Berg's treatment and medication - are seeking more than $1 million in damages. It is understood more of Mr Berg's former patients are also considering legal action. Any payouts would come from Queensland Government's insurance fund. Source: Michael McKenna The Australian 10.08.06
23.07.06
Anger as child-shock doctor avoids scrutiny Controversial child psychiatrist Selwyn Leeks, who used a bizarre form of electric-shock therapy to punish young children, has escaped scrutiny by promising never to practise again, a day before the start of a long-awaited investigation into his work. (Sunday Age, 23 July 2006)
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