NSW - The peak
body of people with physical disability in NSW
said today that the crisis in Australian
Medical Indemnity Insurance must be resolved
urgently by the Commonwealth Government. The
Physical Disability Council of NSW (PDCN)
calls on the Commonwealth to re-consider the
worth of introducing "no fault compensation" to
take the unmet medical and community needs of
people who have experienced "catastrophic
injuries / disability" out the realm of
litigation.
PDCN recognises that the
issue of no fault compensation is not new. Since
1995, the Commonwealth Government has been
sitting on the report it commissioned, written
by Ms Fiona Tito, entitled Compensation and
professional indemnity in health care: a final
report. That report supported the introduction
of no fault compensation schemes that would
have, in part, avoided the current
crisis.
David Brice, President of
PDCN said:
"People with
physical disability who have significant
medical and community support needs face the
worst consequences if the current crisis in
Medical Indemnity Insurance is not quickly
resolved. Our needs are greatest of all yet
we face the prospect of becoming victims of a
fractured public health system, which will
only benefit those who can afford to
pay."
The Tito Report of 1995
showed how we can provide and pay for high
quality medical and community support to people
with some of the greatest needs.
Critics who argue
that such schemes create a burden on the
community fail to recognise that the
community will pay a far greater price if the
public health systems collapses which will
occur if medical specialist / surgeons
abandon the public system. By introducing no
fault compensation we can develop a rational
support system that will avoid this
catastrophe and bring an end to the
litigation lottery.
More information from Dougie Herd (PDCN
Executive Officer) on 02 9552 1606
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