Enore Panetta

Lawyers Enore Panetta and David McMullen explain how to manage the legal risks of telehealth during COVID-19 and beyond. Since March 2020 (and, at the time of writing, continuing at least until the end of the year) temporary telehealth items have been made available on the Medicare Benefits Schedule in response to COVID-19. Whether due to pandemics or as a product of new and evolving technologies, it seems telehealth is going to play a growing role in the healthcare of the future.

The NSW Court of Appeal recently overturned the decision of a judge who found that a doctor was negligent for failing to prescribe gentamicin as part of an antibiotic regime for a child with a fractured thumb. The child’s thumb developed gangrene and was later amputated, after which his father brought a negligence claim against the relevant health district over the treatment.