news.com.au reports that a woman is suing the St John Ambulance following her treatment at a surf carnival (the report originally appeared in the The Brisbane Courier Mail but is no longer available there). The report says that she is alleging both negligence and that the treatment represented an assault, suggesting that she claims there was no effective consent. The case is in its early days and may of course settle out of court, but it will be interesting to see what the allegations are, and what the outcome is, should the matter proceed to a hearing.
Michael Eburn
22 February 2009
Australian Emergency Law 
If she caslled for their assistance, isn’t that considered consent?
A couple of points to make here. First we don’t know if she did call for assistance, we don’t know the facts in enough detail yet. Second, however, is that just because you go to a doctor for advice it doesn’t mean you consent to whatever they do and the same here, but if she cooperated that may be consent.
It is interesting to frame the cause of action in assault. Rogers v Whitaker, that famous medical case, said that where the allegation is inappropriate treatment the action is really negligence not assault. Without knowing the facts it seems hard to imagine how the action will proceed on the basis of an assault – an unlawful touching, so we will have to see how (and if) the case progresses.
Michael Eburn
I understand that this legal action is no longer proceeding, but whether it has been withdrawn or settled I can’t say. If it doesn’t proceed to a hearing we will never know exactly what was alleged or how the law is to be applied, but that is true of most court cases. Most don’t actually go before a court and even fewer end up in the appeal courts for a definitive ruling on the law.
Michael Eburn
3 December 2009