This book brings together some of the most respected Asian and Australasian experts on medical liability to provide insightful perspectives on civil and criminal law from selected Australasian jurisdictions. It focuses on the idiosyncrasies of the existing law and case law in this part of the world with regard to medical liability, adopting a comparative and critical perspective. The aim is to provide an overview of the basic elements of medical liability in Asian and Australian jurisdictions, as well as the latest developments and general trends in jurisprudence. Given the broad range of jurisdictions covered, the book offers lawmakers, health administrators and practitioners, both in law and medicine, an alternative approach to the delivery of health care. Further, it is essential reading for all those (academics, lawyers, judges, researchers, practicing doctors and those involved in the growing area of legal medicine) working in medical liability, specially in the Australasian context.

This monograph is the most comprehensive comparative law study of legal responsibility arising from medical care presently available. It is written for doctors as well as health care administrators and legal professionals. Focusing on the problems of civil liability, it presents the development, points of contact with, and differences between the modern law of medical liability stemming from both the Common Law and Civil Law traditions of England, Scotland, Eire, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, South Africa, France, Belgium, West Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. It demonstrates the extent to which both problems of medical law and trends towards their solution are already familiar in these legal systems. The work describes principles and trends, not by confronting the reader with national reports' and separate chapters on different legal systems; rather, the relevant legal problems are analyzed from an integrative, comparative viewpoint. The main thrust of the presentation is the analysis of numerous court decisions -- the number of which is rising ominously in the United States -- on the civil liability of doctors and hospitals for damages arising from substandard treatment or inadequate disclosure of information to the patient. References to the legal and medical literature, indexes, and a refined system of cross-references, together with an important collection of appendices covering legal and ethical declarations make this work accessible as a handbook and reference work for the legal and social problems encountered today in the wide area of law, ethics, and medicine.

Getting the right diagnosis is a key aspect of health care - it provides an explanation of a patient's health problem and informs subsequent health care decisions. The diagnostic process is a complex, collaborative activity that involves clinical reasoning and information gathering to determine a patient's health problem. According to Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, diagnostic errors-inaccurate or delayed diagnoses-persist throughout all settings of care and continue to harm an unacceptable number of patients. It is likely that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences. Diagnostic errors may cause harm to patients by preventing or delaying appropriate treatment, providing unnecessary or harmful treatment, or resulting in psychological or financial repercussions. The committee concluded that improving the diagnostic process is not only possible, but also represents a moral, professional, and public health imperative. Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, a continuation of the landmark Institute of Medicine reports To Err Is Human (2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001), finds that diagnosis-and, in particular, the occurrence of diagnostic errorsâ€"has been largely unappreciated in efforts to improve the quality and safety of health care. Without a dedicated focus on improving diagnosis, diagnostic errors will likely worsen as the delivery of health care and the diagnostic process continue to increase in complexity. Just as the diagnostic process is a collaborative activity, improving diagnosis will require collaboration and a widespread commitment to change among health care professionals, health care organizations, patients and their families, researchers, and policy makers. The recommendations of Improving Diagnosis in Health Care contribute to the growing momentum for change in this crucial area of health care quality and safety.

Health Care and the Law 4th Edition is recognised as one of the leading texts setting out the basic principles of health care law in New Zealand. This book is an easy-to- understand, practical and uncomplicated account of health care law, making it an essential text for health practitioners, lawyers and students. Since 2004 when the 3rd edition of this book was published, there have been a number of legislative changes in the area of health law. This edition keeps you current with these changes, with updates made to all chapters. The inclusion of relevant case law also provides readers a greater understanding of the practicalities of the law, how it has been applied and how it may relate to them.

'Proving' the cause of the plaintiff's injury in personal injury litigation often entails significant challenges, particularly when science cannot identify the cause of a biological phenomenon or when the nature of this cause is debatable. This problem is frequently encountered in medical malpractice cases, where the limitations of scientific knowledge are still extensive. Yet judges must decide cases, however uncertain the evidence with regard to proof of causation. Reluctant to leave patients without compensation, courts have in some cases challenged their traditional approach to causation through recourse to such techniques as reliance on factual presumptions and inferences, the concept of loss of chance, and reversal of the burden of proof. This book analyses and criticises the use of these various techniques by the courts of England, Australia, Canada, France, and the civilian Canadian province of Quebec in confronting evidentiary causal difficulties caused by the uncertainties of medical science.

Annotation. HEALTH LAW IN AUSTRALIA 2ND EDITION is Australia's leading text in this area and was the first book to deal with health law on a comprehensive national basis. In this important field that continues to give rise to challenges for society, the book takes a logical, structured approach to explain the breadth of this area of law across all Australian jurisdictions. By covering all the major areas in this diverse field, HEALTH LAW IN AUSTRALIA 2ND EDITION enhances the understanding of the discipline as a whole. The work begins with an exploration of the general principles of health law, including chapters on "Negligence", "Children and Consent to Medical Treatment", and "Medical Confidentiality and Patient Privacy". The book goes on to consider beginning-of-life and end-of-life issues, before concluding with chapters on emerging areas in health law, such as medical research, genetic technologies and biotechnology. The contributing authors are national leaders who are specialists in these areas of health law and who can share with readers the results of their research. HEALTH LAW IN AUSTRALIA 2ND EDITION has been written for both legal and health audiences. It is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers and scholars in the disciplines of law, health and medicine, as well as health and legal practitioners, private health providers, and government departments and bodies in the health area.