Biomaterial Database

No fault compensation for personal injury in New Zealand: some implications for anaesthetists. 1987

J M Gibbs

In recent years, there has been an increase in medico-legal and disciplinary actions against doctors, some involving anaesthetists. While this has occurred at a time of increasing questioning of doctors' decisions, in New Zealand there has been the added dimension of a major change in the law related to personal injury. Under the provisions of the Accident Compensation Act there are no grounds for a civil action against a doctor in respect of a medical misadventure. The only provision for recompense is through the Accident Compensation Corporation. With the removal of the punitive aspect of civil actions against doctors, there has been an increase in complaints through other channels. The anaesthetist is particularly vulnerable because of the immediacy with which an adverse event is likely to cause obvious harm to a patient. This can only be countered by high standards of practice, together with careful record keeping.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007351	Insurance, Liability	Insurance against loss resulting from liability for injury or damage to the persons or property of others.	No-Fault Insurance,Insurance, No-Fault,Liability Insurance,No Fault Insurance
D007883	Legislation, Medical	Laws and regulations, pertaining to the field of medicine, proposed for enactment or enacted by a legislative body.	Medical Legislation
D009520	New Zealand	A group of islands in the southwest Pacific. Its capital is Wellington. It was discovered by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642 and circumnavigated by Cook in 1769. Colonized in 1840 by the New Zealand Company, it became a British crown colony in 1840 until 1907 when colonial status was terminated. New Zealand is a partly anglicized form of the original Dutch name Nieuw Zeeland, new sea land, possibly with reference to the Dutch province of Zeeland. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p842 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p378)
D010344	Patient Advocacy	Promotion and protection of the rights of patients, frequently through a legal process.	Patient Ombudsmen,Patient Representatives,Clinical Ombudsman,Patient Ombudsman,Advocacy, Patient,Ombudsman, Clinical,Ombudsman, Patient,Ombudsmen, Patient,Patient Representative,Representative, Patient,Representatives, Patient
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000059	Accidents	Unexpected and unintentional events, typically resulting in ACCIDENTAL INJURIES.	Accident
D000776	Anesthesiology	A specialty concerned with the study of anesthetics and anesthesia.
D014947	Wounds and Injuries	Damage inflicted on the body as the direct or indirect result of an external force, with or without disruption of structural continuity.	Injuries,Physical Trauma,Trauma,Injuries and Wounds,Injuries, Wounds,Research-Related Injuries,Wounds,Wounds and Injury,Wounds, Injury,Injury,Injury and Wounds,Injury, Research-Related,Physical Traumas,Research Related Injuries,Research-Related Injury,Trauma, Physical,Traumas,Wound