Kirby Oration

AABHL Kirby Oration

2019

Joanna Manning
“Fair, simple, speedy and efficient”? Barriers to access to justice in the Health and Disability Commissioner’s Complaints Process in New Zealand

Given the absence of a civil damages action for personal injury, the Health and Disability Commissioner’s (HDC) complaints process occupies a pivotal role in New Zealand’s medico-legal regulatory arrangements. It is designed to address complainants’ non-financial motivations in making a complaint after an adverse event in their health care. Professor Manning asks whether the HDC complaints process accords its users, particularly complainants and consumers, acceptable and effective legal mechanisms for asserting their legal rights and securing just outcomes. The process is assessed against the original statutory aims of the complaints process (“fair, simple, speedy, and efficient resolution of complaints”). Quantitative and qualitative evidence is marshalled in support of the conclusion that unacceptable barriers to accessing justice are embedded in the complaints process, as currently designed and operationalised. Of particular note are the lack of any means for a complainant to seek review of the merits of a Commissioner’s decision to take no further action on a complaint, and for either party to challenge the outcome of an HDC investigation. Manning considers four reform options and advocates the inclusion of a mechanism for external review or appeal of adverse HDC decisions.

2018

Anne-Maree Farrell
Regulating human tissue in Australia: Principles, institutions and politics

Sponsored by the Australian Centre for Health Law Research

Since the mid-twentieth century, there has been an exponential growth in the use of human tissue for use in medicine and research. Regulatory regimes have been developed at local and international levels to manage the donation, supply and use of human tissue in therapeutic settings, whether on their own or as part of a range of health technologies. This presentation examines the principles, institutions and politics that have influenced the way in which we regulate human tissue for use in such settings in Australia, with a particular focus on blood, organs and replacement tissue. It draws on findings from interviews conducted with stakeholders working in these areas. What is clear is that while there is commonality across a number of ethical, social and risk-based issues, there are also important differences in how specific types of human tissue are regulated. In turn, this may impact upon options for policy and law reform, including whether a more unified national regulatory approach is desirable or appropriate