Medicolegal Advice - Step 1 of 4
TO SAFEGUARD THIS WEB SITE FROM INTERFERENCE
Attachments to e-mails will, regrettably, not be read.
The advice offered is medical, and relates only as to whether there was an adequate standard of care in the treatment afforded.
Requests can only come from an adult who is the potential claimant, or a person with appropriate legal authority [e.g. Guardianship] to seek such an opinion. Guardians must send a copy of documentation by facsimile transmission to 03 9787 0900 proving their authority.
Persons making enquiries on behalf of others [e.g. a spouse] must have the written authority of the patient faxed to us also.
Medicolegal advice relates only to opinions concerning medical or surgical treatment given by other practitioners in the past. At present we are in no position to advise in obstetrical matters but we hope to recruit an adviser in due course. Advice for current or ongoing treatment or care is not offered from this website.
Nothing forwarded to this web site is disclosed to any other person without the written authority of the patient or the guardian.
- Two kinds of assessment are offered
- (1) a brief initial indicative assessments at minimal cost and
- (2) a full review of the case
THE REVIEW OF THE CASE.
You are entitled to obtain details about yourself from public hospitals through Freedom of Information. Case notes in the possession of practitioners in private practice and the records of private hospitals, may be more difficult to access. You will be required to pay for the costs of photocopying.
You can bypass the initial assessment, and seek a definitive opinion. The report can only be sent by mail to your solicitor, whose name and address you would need to supply. You can also instruct a solicitor to seek an opinion from us.
The purpose of a full review is to assist your solicitor in advising you whether to take legal action against a medical practitioner. It is medical, not legal, advice and offers an opinion about the standard of care and nothing else. It will make no comment about whether it is wise for you to take any legal action, or the chances of success, because many factors enter into whether a claim is worth pursuing. Your solicitor may, for example, advise that even if you succeed there will be little left after legal fees are paid, in which case he might advise you against making any claim. An unsightly scar on a leg in a coalminer could be in that category, while serious crooked union of the fractured bone underneath the scar might be worth looking into.
It is unusual for any claimant to receive an apology, no matter how serious the damage sustained, so you must focus on what will the outcome be in terms of compensation after that part of the legal costs you cannot recover are paid.
All relevant material that cannot be e-mailed, will need to be forwarded by mail to
MalpracticeAdvice
PO Box 774
Mount Eliza Vic 3930.
Originals should not be sent if at all possible – better to copy them and post the copies. Without the clinical data, x-ray reports and relevant test results, definitive medicolegal reports cannot be prepared.
Within one week your solicitor will receive an indication of any additional documentation needed, and an invoice setting out the cost of preparing a report and how long this will take.
The cost depends upon the volume of data [they can amount to kilograms of paper] and the complexity of the case. The cost of preparing such reports can vary from $660 to many thousands of dollars in complex cases. Full reviews of cases can only be sent by mail to your legal advisers. They will not be sent to any person other than a solicitor, acting in a claim concerning the injured patient.
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