Medicine and Pharmacy Law & Lawyers

All health professionals are required to behave lawfully.

Each health profession that is part of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme is represented by a National Board.

While the primary role of the Boards is to protect the public, the Boards are also responsible for registering practitioners and students, as well as other functions, for their professions.

The 10 National Boards are:

1. Chiropractic Board of Australia
2. Dental Board of Australia
3. Medical Board of Australia
4. Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
5. Optometry Board of Australia
6. Osteopathy Board of Australia
7. Pharmacy Board of Australia
8. Physiotherapy Board of Australia
9. Podiatry Board of Australia
10. Psychology Board of Australia

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency

AHPRA is the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. It is the organisation that has supported National Boards regulating 10 health professions since 1 July 2010.

In March 2008 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) decided to establish a single National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for 10 health professions, for introduction on 1 July 2010. There is a National Board for each profession.

AHPRA is the single Agency that supports the Boards and the National Scheme, and has offices in each state and territory, with the head office in Melbourne.

The National Registration and Accreditation Scheme commenced on 1 July 2010 and Western Australia joined on 18 October 2010.

Since 1 July 2010, the following 10 professions have been regulated under the National Scheme:

• chiropractors
• dental practitioners (including dentists, dental hygienists, dental prosthetists & dental therapists)
• medical practitioners
• nurses and midwives
• optometrists
• osteopaths
• pharmacists
• physiotherapists
• podiatrists
• psychologists

Medication & Prescription Errors

Medication errors committed by doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals are a major problem and the source of many lawsuits. Medication error causes include prescribing the wrong type of drug, ordering an improper dose, giving a patient a drug that he or she is allergic to, or combining medications that are incompatible. These mistakes can lead to deadly consequences.

If you have suffered due to the negligence of a health care professional and would like legal help regarding your situation, then please complete your free legal enquiry form.

Pharmacy Malpractice Claim

Broadly speaking, in a pharmacist malpractice claim the elements of the case usually include the following:

• The pharmacist had a duty of care
• The pharmacist breached that duty of care
• The breach of that duty caused harm
• Damages

If you would like legal help regarding a potential pharmacy malpractice claim, then please complete your free legal enquiry form.

Pharmacist Duty of Care

Pharmacists have a duty of care to the people whose prescriptions they fill.  This means that if you had a prescription filled by a pharmacist, that pharmacist owes you a duty of care.  This is true whether the pharmacist is working at a drug store, hospital, clinic or any location.  This duty of care extends to the pharmacy, hospital or clinic where the pharmacist was working at the time the prescription was filled.  In a pharmacist error lawsuit, the attorney needs to prove that the person suing the pharmacist (and the pharmacy, hospital, etc.) was owed a duty of care.

Pharmacist Malpractice: Breach of Duty of Care

A pharmacist has a degree and holds himself or herself out as having the training and ability to accurately fill prescriptions.  Pharmacists are, therefore, held to a high duty of care (standard of care) that requires absolute accuracy in order processing. When a pharmacist makes a medication error while filling a prescription, there is a presumption of negligence (a breach of the duty of care). In a pharmacist malpractice lawsuit, the attorney needs to prove that the pharmacist gave the patient the wrong medication, the wrong dose of the medication, the wrong directions for taking the medication or some other error.

If you have suffered due to the negligence of a health care professional and would like legal help from a specialist lawyer regarding your situation, then please complete your free legal enquiry form.

Pharmacist error can come in many forms, including the following:

• The patient was given another patient’s prescription.
• The patient was given a medication that had a name similar to the prescribed medication.  This is one of the most common reasons for pharmacist error involving the dispensing of the wrong medication.
• The pharmacist misread the prescribing doctor’s handwriting.  This still happens, and both the pharmacist and the prescribing doctor can be found liable is these cases.
• A patient is given the wrong dose. 
• A patient is given a medication that has been compounded incorrectly.  Some medications are compounded by pharmacies.  A pharmacy error can occur if the medication has been compounded with a larger dosage of the medication than intended.
• The patient is given the right drug but the wrong directions

If you have suffered due to the negligence of the medical health care professional, then please complete your free legal enquiry form to discover your legal rights and entitlements.

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