Agenda

CONFERENCE DAY ONE
Thursday 29th March 2012

DAY ONE | DAY TWO

8:30 Registration and Coffee

9:00 Opening remarks from the Chair:
Bill Madden, National Practice Group Leader - Medical Law, Slater & Gordon

MANDATORY REPORTING

9:10 Current Developments in National Registration and Mandatory Reporting

• Current developments in current registration
• Mandatory reporting
• Latest tribunal decision
  

Michael W Gorton (AM), Principal, Russell Kennedy and Board Member of the Agency Management Committee of AHPRA

9:50 Protecting the Public: Notification of Improper, Impaired and Unprofessional Practitioners

• What is notifiable conduct?
• How does the national scheme manage notifications?
• How is the public protected?
• Is Mandatory reporting an opportunity to improve safe practice or a threat to health professional privacy?
• Is the regulated work force prepared to meet their statutory obligation for notifying poor practice and impaired practitioners?

Linda Starr, Associate Professor and Dean, Nursing and Midwifery, Flinders University

10:30 Morning Tea

E-HEALTH ISSUES

11:00 The PCEHR from a Medical Defence Perspective: Potential Risks and Benefits

The implementation of the national PCEHR system creates opportunities for improved patient care and a potential for reducing certain medico-legal risks for medical practitioners. However there a number of issues arising from the system that also have the potential to increase the medico-legal risk for participating medical practitioners especially for those acting as a nominated provider. This session will provide an overview of those potential challenges from a medico-legal perspective.

Andrew Took, National Manager - Medico-Legal Advisory Services, Avant Law
Dr. Penny Browne, Medical Advisor, Avant Mutual Group Limited

11:40 PCEHRs: what are they, what do they offer, and how are they regulated?

• Common misconceptions about what PCEHRs offer
• The PCEHR Bill and its interaction with existing privacy laws
• Are PCEHRs a cost-saving mass scale invasion of privacy or the silver bullet for fragmented health care?
• Comparisons with PCEHR systems in other jurisdictions

Geoff Bloom, Partner, HWL Ebsworth Lawyers

12:20 Lunch

1:20 Breach of Privacy in Health: Is there a Cause of Action?

• Health care professionals and the duty of confidence
• When is disclosure permitted?
• How will E- health work to protect privacy?
• Should there be a statutory cause of action for serious invasion of privacy?
• Current remedies for breach of privacy
• Reform proposals

Elizabeth Kennedy, Corporate Counsel, Epworth Hospital

NATIONAL INITIATIVES

2:00 Developing a "National Framework for Advance Care Directives": One Step Towards Improved Advance Care Planning in Australia

In 2008, Australian Health Ministers charged a Working Group with developing nationally consistent guidelines for Advance Care Directives, recognising the diversity of legislated and common law advance directives around Australia and concerns with provision of end of life care inconsistent with individuals wishes.

This presentation will discuss:

• Other drivers for why these were developed now;
• A number of contentious issues surrounding use of advance care directives addressed in developing the guidelines;
• Key positions taken and what these mean for individuals and their families, health and legal professionals, and the health system; and
• How these guidelines are one component of broader changes needed to improve the care and management of those with loss of decision-making capacity, in particular at end of life

Julie Letts, Principal Policy Analyst (Clinical Ethics), Research, Ethics and Public Health Training, NSW Ministry of Health

2:40 A National Disability Insurance Scheme

• Why do we need it?
• Who will it cover?
• How will it work?
• How will it interface with the tort system?
  

Dr Andrew Pesce, Immediate Past President, Australian Medical Association & Obstetrician, Westmead Private Hospital

3:10 Afternoon Tea

DISCLOSURE and INFORMED CONSENT

3:30 Disclosure of Adverse Events in Healthcare: A Duty of Candour?

• Open Disclosure in Australia from policy to practice
• Ethics, Good Medical Practice and Health Care Rights
• Consequences of failure to engage in open disclosure
• Reform proposals: a statutory duty of candour?
  

Tina Cockburn, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology

4:10 What Happens when the Informed Consent Process Breaks Down?

A vast literature in law, ethics, and medicine addresses informed consent. Yet there remains remarkably little empirical information on how the consent process actually functions in clinical practice, including the circumstances in which the process goes awry. This session will present the results of a landmark Australian study of over 450 negligence claims and conciliated complaints involving informed consent, with a focus on:

• The frequency, characteristics, and outcomes of legal disputes over informed consent
• High risk areas for breakdowns in the informed consent process
• Lessons for care improvement

Dr Marie Bismark, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne, Centre for Health Policy, Programs and Economics

4:50 Panel Discussion: Informed Consent

Facilitator:

• Bill Madden, National Practice Group Leader - Medical Law, Slater & Gordon
  

Panellists:

• Marie Bismark, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne
• Dr Andrew Gogos, Neurosurgical registrar, Royal Melbourne Hospital
• Alison Biscoe, National Director, Avant Law

5:30 IIR invites all speakers and delegates to an informal networking drinks reception

CONFERENCE DAY TWO
Friday 30th March 2012

DAY ONE | DAY TWO

HEALTH REGULATION

9:00 Opening remarks from the Chair:
Colin Thomson, Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Wollongong

9.10 Health: To Litigate or Mitigate?

• Health Complaint Commissioners (HCC) - what we do
• What are the complaints about
• Assessment, mediation and conciliation - how do they work?
• Relationship between HSSs and AHPRA Boards
• Health Information/Privacy Protection

Beth Wilson, Health Complaints Commissioner, Victoria

9.50 Implications of Qui Tam Laws for Fraud in Medico Legal Practice in Australia

• Introduction to US Qui Tam anti-fraud laws
• Applications of Qui Tam laws to US medico-legal practice
• Potential applications of Qui Tam laws to Australian medico-legal practice:
  - Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Industries
  - Private Health Insurers
  - Medical Indemnity Insurers
  - Private and Public Hospital Settings
  - Public Health Programs

Thomas Faunce, Professor, College of Law & College of Medicine, Biology and the Environment, Australian National University

10:30 Morning Tea

11:00 Organ Donation and Transplantation: Continuing Legal and Ethical Complications

• The statutory regime
• The ethical and professional guidance
• Consent of donors the status and use of the AODR
• Consent for donors who can consent and in which terms
• Coronial responsibilities
• Complications in donation after cardiac death (DCD):
  - Withdrawal of treatment decisions
  - Ante-mortem interventions
  - Determining death
• The urgent need for national reform

Colin Thomson, Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Wollongong

11:40 Medico-liability Issues in the Emergency Department: Junior Medical Officer Supervision

• Particular focus on aspects pertaining to the ED
• Supervision and;
• Examination of recommendations raised by the recent Clinical Excellence Commissions paper on Clinical Supervision at the Point of Care

Dr Andrew Cooke, Advanced Trainee in Emergency Medicine, St George Hospital

12:20 Lunch

1:20 Regulating Health Practitioner Misconduct and Patients Rights

• Actions for professional misconduct under the National Regulatory Scheme are now starting to create nationally consistent approaches, tariffs and procedures
• In addition it is now clear that ethical and disciplinary influences are being exerted across professions, as well as the potential for Australian decisions to look for instance at comparable and accessible decisions in the United Kingdom and New Zealand
• While such actions brought by National Health Registration Boards against registered practitioners have the potential to impact upon practitioners future conduct, it does little to assist patients who have been adversely affected. However, it can create a ready path for civil litigation to provide redress to patients
• Another important development in regulation of health practitioners is the use of consumer protection legislation by the ACCC and Offices of Fair Trading to protect the interests of vulnerable patients. This will be evaluated as an adjunct to proceedings under the National Regulatory Scheme

Dr Ian Freckelton SC, Barrister, Crockett Chambers

2:00 Coronial Snapshot: The Role of the State Coroner

• The Coroners Act 2009
• What deaths are reportable to the Coroner?
• What is a health related procedure?
• Post Mortem orders/objections
• Determining a matter for inquest or dispensing matters
• Findings and recommendations

Scott Mitchell, Deputy State Coroner, Coroner's Court, NSW

2:40 Afternoon Tea

CASE STUDIES

3:00 Protecting the Best Interests of the Child in a Clinical Setting

Overview of the legal issues that arise during the provision of clinical care to children and adolescents in the acute care setting

• The rights of the child versus parental rights
• Dealing with parental refusal of treatment
• Applications for special medical procedures and court orders
• Parens patriae applications risks and rewards
• Child protection issues challenges in keeping the child safe
• Working with the independent childrens lawyer for family court matters
• Shortcomings and frustrations in legal measures to protect children

Denise Bowen, Manager Mediation & Legal Support Services, Child and Adolescent Health Service, Subiaco

3:40 Interesting Cases in a Busy Tertiary Hospital in Queensland

• Supreme court order in relation to giving baby a Hep B immunoglobulin and vaccination
• Surrogacy case

Humsha Naidoo, Deputy Executive Director Medical Services, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital
Sonja Read, Senior Associate, Minter Ellison

4:20 Closing remarks from the Chair

4:30 Close of Congress

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