Thousands of patients suffer serious injuries in the Australian healthcare system every year. But fewer than 1% have been shown to receive compensation[1]. To obtain compensation, an injured patient must sue the health professional or hospital. The litigation process is costly, time consuming, traumatic and unpredictable. In addition, for the last 20 years, the relevant statute law has been heavily weighted against injured patients. Not surprisingly, nearly half of all healthcare injury claims fail[2]. Please keep sharing this petition.
Injured patients may lose their livelihood and be left in lifelong pain. They rarely have the finances, energy or support to fight protracted legal battles. While some have access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), they still need acknowledgement of the injury and compensation for loss of income, pain and suffering. Without such acknowledgment, their medical records may remain unreliable.
It is time that Australia introduced a national no-fault compensation scheme for healthcare injuries. Such a scheme has been recommended twice: by the Woodhouse Committee in 1974[3] and the Productivity Commission in 2011[4]. Each time, the Labor government, first the Whitlam government then the Rudd government, lost power before the recommendations were implemented.
No-fault administrative compensation schemes have considerable advantages over negligence litigation. They are faster: claims are usually processed in less than a year. They are cheaper: claims are usually free for the injured patient, with administrative costs representing 12% to 18% of the spending, and the rest going directly to compensation. They are less stressful for both parties and less destructive of the doctor-patient relationship.
A number of other countries have no-fault compensation schemes for healthcare injuries:
· New Zealand (1974), Sweden (1975), Finland (1987), Norway (1988), Denmark (1992) and Iceland (2001) all have comprehensive no-fault compensation schemes for healthcare injuries.[5]
· France (2002) and Belgium (2010) have no-fault compensation for serious healthcare injuries not covered by fault-based liability.[6]
· Japan has no-fault compensation for vaccinations (1975), adverse drug reactions (1979), contaminated blood transfusions (2008) and birth-related injuries (2009).[7]
· In April 2022 a UK House of Commons committee recommended no-fault compensation for all injuries incurred in the National Health Service.[8]
We believe an affordable national no-fault compensation scheme that is simpler, fairer and less adversarial than the common law process would be in the interests of injured patients, defendant health professionals and patient safety generally. A scheme that neither breaks the bank, nor erodes the rights of injured patients to sue, should include a reasonable limit on what is compensable.
What matters is that any new scheme is fair, avoids the mistakes of other compensation schemes, and reflects an understanding of the impact of healthcare injury or death on individuals. To achieve this, we will need careful cooperation from all stakeholders and a willingness to arrive at a just solution.
If you agree that Australia needs national no-fault compensation for healthcare injuries, please share or donate a few dollars to help this petition grow.
We are so grateful for your support, Sarah and Vickie
REFERENCES
[1] Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health, 1995. Review of Professional Indemnity Arrangements for Healthcare Professionals: Compensation and Professional Indemnity in Healthcare, [Tito F, chairman]. Final Report.Canberra. https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/migrated/ftitopir.pdf.
[2] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2014. Australia’s medical indemnity claims 2012–13. Safety and quality of healthcare series no. 15. Cat. No. HSE 149. Canberra. https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/27797a0e-490e-4ef9-bf63-91917fca7208/17533.pdf.aspx?inline=true
[3] National Committee of Inquiry on Compensation and Rehabilitation in Australia, July 1974.
[4] https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/disability-support/report/disability-support-overview-booklet.pdf Accessed: 10.08.2022.
[5] Mello,M, Kachalia, A, Studdert, D: Administrative Compensation for Medical Injuries: Lessons from Three Foreign Systems, Commonwealth Fund: Issues in International Health Policy, July 2011 https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/documents/___media_files_publications_issue_brief_2011_jul_1517_mello_admin_compensation_med_injuries.pdf Accessed: 19.06.2022 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168851014002401 Accessed: 06.08.2022.
[6] Thouvenin, D, French Medical Malpractice Compensation Since the Act of March 4, 2022: Liability Rules Combined with Indemnification Rules and Correlated with Several Kinds of Proceedings, Drexel Law Review, 2011. Accessed: 19.06.2022. See also previous footnote.
[7] Leflar, RB: Medical Injury Litigation and Compensation Schemes in Japan, 11/14/2020 version. MEDICAL Liability in Asia and Australasia (V. Raposo & R. Beran eds., Singapore: Springer 2021). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3730549 Accessed: 19.06.2022. McCurry, J. Japan compensates some of its hepatitis C victims, World Report, The Lancet, volume 371, March 29, 2008. https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2808%2960469-9 Accessed: 09.09.2022 Correspondence from Fujiwara Y, Onda Y, Hayashi S, No fault compensation schemes for Covid-19 medical products, The Lancet, volume 397, may 8, 2021. https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2821%2900784-4 Accessed: 09.09.2022
[8] https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/22039/documents/163739/default/ Accessed 18.06.2022.