Page 216 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 February 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The report also recommends that legislation should be enacted requiring that in an action for damages for professional negligence, the courts should consider the guidelines in deciding whether a doctor has acted reasonably in relation to the provision of information.
Further and finally, the Medical Practitioners Act 1970, Victoria, the Medical Practitioners Act 1938, New South Wales, and the Medical Practitioners Act 1930, ACT, should, in the committee's view, each be amended to provide specifically that professional misconduct includes a failure to provide adequate information to a patient concerning a proposed treatment or medical procedure.
Mr Speaker, this is a far-reaching and historic document and I trust that it will attract the attention it deserves. The Government will examine the recommendations of this report in consultation with the Law Society, the medical profession and the community generally. I commend the booklet, entitled Informed Decisions about Medical Procedures to the Assembly. I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
Debate (on motion by Ms Follett) adjourned.
GUARDIANSHIP AND MANAGEMENT OF PROPERTY
Statement and Paper
MR COLLAERY (Attorney-General), by leave: Mr Speaker, I wish to table the following paper:
Law Reform Commission Act - Law Reform Commission - Report No. 52 - Guardianship and Management of Property.
The report by the Australian Law Reform Commission, entitled, "Guardianship and Management of Property", is another historic report. The Law Reform Commission has inquired into the desirability of new laws and procedures to provide for the guardianship and management of property of persons who are unable, wholly or in part, to manage their day-to-day affairs or property. The initiatives outlined in the commission's report are important and timely in overcoming the limitations of the present law in the ACT. Their operation would, in effect, avoid the stigma presently attached to the use of such archaic laws in this Territory as the Lunacy Act 1898 of New South Wales.
Members of the Legislative Assembly will be all too aware of the daily burden faced by some ACT residents in dealing with the problems associated with a family member or close friend who is mentally or emotionally incapacitated. Someone has to make day-to-day decisions for those who are
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .