Author: rogermagnusson
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Medical treatment in the best interests of the child: onshore, and offshore
There are troubling disparities between the medical treatment that children receive, depending on whether they live onshore – in Australia, or offshore – in immigration detention in places like Nauru. But do these disparities have a legal basis? Medical treatment and the best interests of the child: onshore Exercising their parens patriae jurisdiction, Australian Supreme…
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The World Health Organisation, the International Health Regulations, ebola and other pandemics: seminar announcement
The International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) are the primary global instrument for responding to, and seeking to prevent and limit the impact of public health emergencies of international concern, including communicable diseases with pandemic potential. The International Health Regulations are legally binding on all World Health Organization (WHO) Member States, including Australia. The IHR were…
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The people’s award for undermining taxpayer-funded health promotion messages goes to…
(drum roll) The people’s award for undermining taxpayer-funded health promotion messages goes to… Mars Wrigley Confectionary, makes of Maltesers, a confectionary multinational who have just launched this Maltesers-inspired chocolate bar into Australia. You’ll want to sit down for this, it urges in billboard advertising. Clearly something momentous. A new chocolate bar. With Maltesers. Call…
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Verifying IVF births involving donated sperm, eggs or embryos: changes to the law in New South Wales
A previous post discussed the case of Natalie Parker, an Australian mother of two young boys who, following the conclusion of IVF treatment, donated three spare embryos to a woman she met on the Embryo Donation Network, a place where donors and recipients can advertise and make contact. Parker was prepared to donate the embryos,…
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Why the media gets it wrong on obesity
“I’m not overweight”, writes columnist Katrina Grace Kelly in The Australian. “I’m just the helpless pawn of a vicious corporate conspiracy”. Amusing read, but it also illustrates why public health researchers are failing to cut-through with governments and the broader community on obesity. “The ‘obesogenic environment’ is the culprit here, apparently”, Kelly writes, referring to…
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Beyond the “hot tub”: Australia’s runaway obesity epidemic
How sure are you that you won’t lose your feet or toes to diabetes? According to a new report by the Obesity Collective, based at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney, obesity in Australia is getting much, much worse. Between 2014-15 and 2017-18, the obesity rate in Australian adults rose from 27.9%…
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Put another Winfield on the Barbie
Having actor Paul Hogan headline Cure Cancer’s “Barbecure” makes no sense to me. Put another shrimp on the barbie, I get it. But so what? Hogan may regret the staggeringly successful “Anyhow, have a Winfield” advertising campaign he headed in the 1970s, but his presence in a cure cancer campaign is inept. It muddies the…
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Manslaughter by gross negligence, or systemic failure? Implications of the Dr Hadiza Bawa-Barba case for Australia
Sydney Law School and the Menzies Centre for Health Policy at the University of Sydney are co-hosting an evening seminar entitled “Manslaughter by gross negligence, or systemic failure? Implications of the Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba case for Australia”. This event will be held at the Law School on Thurs 8 November, 6.00-7.30pm. You can register here.…
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Update and summary guide to the WHO report: Advancing the right to health: the vital role of law
In September 2018 the World Health Organisation published an Update and Summary Guide to the report Advancing the Right to Health: the Vital Role of Law. [See here for a previous post on the full report]. The summary Guide, like the full report, was a collaboration between the World Health Organisation, International Development Law Organisation,…
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First, protect the child, then worry about the penitent sinner: South Australia’s new mandatory reporting legislation
South Australia is on a collision course with the Catholic Church hierarchy following passage of the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017. Chapter 5, Part 1 (ss 30-31), deals with reporting of suspicion that a child or young person may be at risk. These sections come into effect on 22 October 2018, and impose…
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Public health law in the USA: What can Australia learn?
SEMINAR ANNOUNCEMENT: Public Health Law and Health Leadership in the United States: What can Australia learn? Thursday 19 July, 6.00-7.30pm, Sydney Law School In 2016, life expectancy at birth in the United States fell for the second year in a row. Since his inauguration in 2017, President Trump and his administration have taken a number…
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Trump: the war on breastfeeding
The New York Times reports that US officials threatened to unleash trade sanctions and withdraw military aid from Ecuador unless it withdrew a resolution at May’s World Health Assembly calling on governments to “protect, promote and support breast-feeding”. The article is worth reading in its entirety. As the father of a currently breastfeeding infant, I…
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Sparks v Hobson must go to the High Court: here’s why
In NSW, Section 5O of the Civil Liability Act provides a defence to a doctor or health professional who is defending a negligence claim. Under s 5O, a person will not be liable “if it is established that the professional acted in a manner that (at the time the service was provided) was widely accepted…
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What becomes of a country that cannot protect its young?
March for our lives, Washington DC, 24 March 2018 It’s too early to say if the grassroots social movement initiated by students who survived the gun massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida will be successful in nudging America’s gun laws in the direction of rationality and evidence. After killing 17…
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NSW Law Reform Commission recommends far-reaching reform of guardianship legislation
In 2016, the New South Wales Law Reform Commission was asked to review the Guardianship Act 1987 (NSW), having regard to UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and a variety of other matters. With the submission date for comments on the draft proposals now closed, we look forward to the final report. The Commission’s…
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A Foundation for a smoke-free world…funded by a cigarette multinational: more smoke and mirrors?
The Swiss like butter on both sides of their toast. Headquartered in Lausanne, half an hour’s train ride from the World Health Organisation in Geneva, you’ll find the headquarters of the world’s most profitable tobacco company, Philip Morris International (PMI). Makers of Marlboro and other global brands. A few years ago, at the end of…
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IVF stuff-ups and tort liability for loss of genetic affinity
Most of us know Singapore for its excellent airport, excellent food and other diversions. But a recent decision of Singapore’s Court of Appeal, ACB v Thomson Medical, deserves attention. The case is noted here. In this case, a mistake was made in the process of an in vitro-fertilisation procedure involving a Singaporean Chinese woman and…
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Announcement: Sydney Law School, QUT combine in hosting health law masterclass
Sydney Health Law, the focal point for health law teaching and research at Sydney Law School, and the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at QUT, are co-hosting a health law masterclass at Sydney Law School on Friday 6 October, 9.00am-4.00pm. Click here for registration, and a preview of the program and of the presenters.…
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Liability for failure to effectively manage morbidly obese patients: it’s time to look again at Varipatis v Almario – here’s why
What should a GP do with a morbidly obese patient who is in denial about their weight problem? Although it involved a complex set of facts, it’s time to revisit Almario v Varipatis (No 2) [2012] NSWSC 1578, reversed on appeal (Varipatis v Almario [2013] NSWCA 76). Doctors should take no comfort in the fact…
Sydney Health Law 