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Medical Negligence and Mental Harm: Practitioner Perspectives on Challenges in Litigation and Mediation

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Medical Negligence and Mental Harm: Practitioner Perspectives on Challenges in Litigation and Mediation View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by RMIT Research Repository Medical Negligence and Mental Harm: Practitioner Perspectives on Challenges in Litigation and Mediation A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Martina Popa LLB (Hons) (VU), GDLP (LCI), LLM (Melb) Australian Lawyer, Supreme Court of Victoria Graduate School of Business and Law College of Business RMIT University January 2018 i DECLARATION I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis/project is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. I acknowledge the support I have received for my research through the provision of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Martina Popa January 2018 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Researching and writing this thesis has been a challenging and rewarding three year journey, and there are many people I would like to thank for their support and assistance. Thank you to my senior supervisor Associate Professor Kathy Douglas and my associate supervisor Dr Andrew Vaitiekunas for your guidance, feedback, support and mentorship. Your knowledge and experience has been invaluable in assisting me throughout my candidature. Thank you to my research participants who took time out of their busy schedules to speak to me. This thesis would not have been possible without your valuable insights into medical negligence practice. I am truly grateful. I acknowledge the editorial assistance of Dr Clare Coburn and Olivia Dean in editing this thesis. To my husband Branko Banda - Thank you for your unconditional love and support, and for being there to support me throughout the highs and the lows of this PhD journey. You saw the light at the end of the tunnel and the positive in every situation. Thank you to my parents, Danijela and Doru Popa, for instilling in me the ambition and determination to succeed academically. Paul Ryan, thank you for allowing me to draw on your knowledge and 46 years’ worth of legal experience at various times during my PhD journey, for your guidance on torts law principles and your bluntly honest feedback. Dr Ian Freckelton QC, thank you for inspiring me to research in medical negligence while I was undertaking my Master of Laws in 2014. I would like to acknowledge the helpful feedback provided by College of Business staff at my three PhD Milestones: Dr Paul Gibson, Professor Greg Taylor, Professor Penelope Weller, Dr Cameron Duff and Professor Sara Charlesworth. iii Thank you to Dr Paul Gibson for being an amazing HDR Coordinator and for your guidance throughout this journey. Thank you also to Kathy Graham for your administrative support. Thanks to the SGR team for your support and funding in my involvement in the 3 Minute Thesis competition, and to Dr Margaret Heffernan for your coaching assistance. The 3MT was an absolute highlight of my PhD candidature. A huge thank you to Professor Adela McMurray for your support as head of the Doctoral Training Centre. Thank you also to Professor Geoff Stokes for supporting my involvement in the HDR Leadership Team and the Doctoral Retreat. Steve Jasper, I wholeheartedly thank you for being the best friend and colleague a PhD candidate could ask for. People say doing a PhD can be a lonely ride, but you ensured I never felt alone throughout this journey. Thank you for being there to share many exciting, challenging and fun moments. I would also like to thank a number of RMIT colleagues and PhD candidates who supported me throughout my candidature: Dr Anne Kallies, Olivia Dean, Natalie McKenna, Jozica Kutin, Jess Pallant, Jess Bellingham, Michael Rowe, Sam Zhang, Nigel Palmer and the HDR Leadership Team - Suraiyah Akbar, Susanti Rachman, Xun Yang and Rezaul Shumon. iv LIST OF PUBLICATIONS Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles Tina Popa, ‘Criticising Current Causation Principles: Views from Victorian Lawyers on Medical Negligence Legislation’ (2017) 25(1) Journal of Law and Medicine 150 – 165. Tina Popa, ‘Practitioner Perspectives on Continuing Legal Challenges in Mental Harm and Medical Negligence: Time for a No-Fault Approach?’ (2017) 25(1) Tort Law Review 19 – 36. Tina Popa, ‘Righting Wrongs: Lawyers’ Reflections on the Amendments to the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) on Medical Negligence and Mental Harm Claims’ (2017) 24(1) Torts Law Journal 64 – 82. Tina Popa, ‘All the Way with ADR: Further Endorsement of ADR in Litigation’ (2015) 26 Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal 218 – 225. Conference Papers Tina Popa and Kathy Douglas, ‘Are Plaintiffs in Medical Negligence Claims Being Heard in Mediation: A Lack of Procedural Justice?’, Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, 6 – 9 December 2017, Dunedin, New Zealand. Tina Popa and Kathy Douglas, ‘The Value of Mediation in Medical Negligence: Views from Senior Tort Lawyers’, ADR Research Network Roundtable, 4 – 5 December 2017, Dunedin, New Zealand. Tina Popa and Kathy Douglas, ‘Emotional Responses in Medical Negligence: Failing to Provide Emotional Closure?’, Non-Adversarial Justice Conference, 6 – 8 April 2017, Sydney. Tina Popa and Kathy Douglas, ‘Lawyer’s Role in Mediation: Reflections from Medical Negligence Lawyers’, Civil Justice Symposium, 15 – 16 February 2017, Adelaide. 3-Minute Thesis Competition Award Tina Popa, ‘Medical Negligence: Legal Challenges’, RMIT University winner and People’s Choice Award recipient, 25 August 2016, Melbourne. v TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... x LIST OF APPENDICES ........................................................................................................ xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................... xii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 4 1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND.................................................................................. 4 1.1.1 THE FIRST TRANCHE OF REFORMS: THE 2002-2003 IPP REFORMS........... 9 1.1.2 THE EFFECTS OF THE IPP REFORMS .............................................................. 13 1.1.3 THE SECOND TRANCHE OF REFORMS: THE VCEC REPORT AND THE 2015 VICTORIAN TORT REFORMS............................................................................ 15 1.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................. 16 1.2.1 CORRECTIVE JUSTICE THEORY ...................................................................... 18 1.2.2 ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY THEORY .................................................................. 21 1.2.3 COHERENCE AND REGULATION .................................................................... 23 1.3 MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE AND MEDIATION .......................................................... 24 1.4 RESEARCH MOTIVATION AND SCOPE ................................................................. 26 1.4.1 SCOPE OF RESEARCH ........................................................................................ 27 1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND QUESTIONS ......................................................... 27 1.6 RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................................................................... 28 1.7 RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS.................................................................................. 29 1.8 STRUCTURE OF THIS THESIS .................................................................................. 31 CHAPTER 2 – THRESHOLDS, CAPS AND CAUSATION IN MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE AND MENTAL HARM PROCEEDINGS .............................................. 34 2.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 34 2.2 BACKGROUND TO THE IPP REFORMS ............................................................ 36 2.2.1 OVERVIEW OF THE KEY AMENDMENTS ................................................... 39 2.2.2 RESPONSE TO THE IPP REFORMS ................................................................ 40 2.3 CAUSATION AND MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE ................................................... 46 2.3.1 PROBLEMS WITH CAUSATION ........................................................................ 47 2.3.2 ROGERS V WHITAKER....................................................................................... 50 2.3.3 CHAPPEL V HART ............................................................................................... 51 2.3.4 ROSENBERG V PERCIVAL ................................................................................ 53 2.3.5 ANALYSIS OF CASE LAW BETWEEN 1992 AND 2002.................................. 55 2.4 LEGAL CHALLENGES IN MENTAL HARM ..................................................... 55 vi 2.4.1 PROBLEMS WITH LEGISLATIVE
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