Case Vignette – February 2022 The Features Some Plaintiffs Suffer I saw a fellow recently who had been working in western Queensland as a helicopter musterer for about 11 years. He had obviously started early because he was only 30 … Read More
General Advice – February 2022 The Plight of the WorkCover Patient I rarely perform IME’s for WorkCover, but regularly see plaintiffs being sent along for a second opinion after having received an unpleasant WorkCover settlement offer. Whilst the principal … Read More
Lead Article – December 2021 Beware the Recidivist Claimant Very few of us will ever lodge a civil claim for personal injury in our lifetime. A small proportion of us will have one claim and possibly two, although that would … Read More
Case Vignette – December 2021 It’s All a Matter of Scale I recently saw a young man who sustained an injury in the region of his cervical spine whilst playing touch football at an Army base in 2015. It appears … Read More
General Advice – December 2021 Fair Enough I understand that lawyers often take sides in matters. In fact, firms declare themselves as being either pro-claimant or pro-defendant. They wear it as a badge of honour. I sometimes try to put … Read More
Lead Article – November 2021 Personality Does Matter Over the last two months, I have seen two plaintiffs alleging medical negligence against a so-called “first surgeon”. Both patients had undergone total hip replacements by different surgeons. Let’s call them surgeon … Read More
Case Vignette – November 2021 Beware of Some Chiropodists There have been recent reports in “The Australian” newspaper about a patient who had undergone some form of “body modification” procedure by an unqualified practitioner. As I understand, a silastic compound … Read More
General Advice – November 2021 Some Things Never Change I have had an undying interest in medicolegal reporting for four decades. There have been some changes over that period and in particular, the Court processes do appear to have been streamlined. … Read More
Lead Article – October 2021 Who’s in Charge of Medicolegal Report Quality Control? I really don’t know! Medical graduates in Australia are subject to registration requirements imposed by the Medical Board of Australia and its administrative arm, the Australian Health … Read More
Case Vignette – October 2021 Sexual Boundary Violations I know, this is a very unusual topic for an Orthopaedic Surgeon to be exploring. The Notifications Committees of the Medical Board of Australia not infrequently deal with complaints of inappropriate behaviour … Read More