Tina Cockburn and Anne-Maree Kelly (both from QUT’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research) and I have written an article entitled ‘Patient care on the ramp: Who is legally responsible?’  The abstract says:

Ambulance ramping, the delay to transfer of a patient arriving at an ED by ambulance into an ED treatment space and handover of care to ED clinicians, is a problem in all Australian states and territories and New Zealand. It is a symptom of ED overcrowding and access block and has been associated with adverse health outcomes for some patient groups. The questions arise, who might be legally responsible for the care of patients who are ramped and does their physical location matter? The short answers are ‘everyone’ and ‘no’, however, whether there will be a breach of duty depends on the reasonableness of responses and resource allocation considerations.

The paper, has been published in the journal Emergency Medicine Australia. The citation is:

Eburn, M., Cockburn, T. and Kelly, A.-M. (2024), Patient care on the ramp: Who is legally responsible?. Emergency Medicine Australasia. 

You can read the final version here if you have access through your library or want to pay for the final version: https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.14541

A copy of the submitted paper (ie the paper we submitted, but not as it finally appeared after editorial and final proof reading) is available here:

Patient care on the ramp_FINALDownload

This blog is made possible with generous financial support from (in alphabetical order) the Australasian College of Paramedicine, the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW), the Australian Paramedics Association (Qld), Natural Hazards Research Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service Association and the NSW SES Volunteers Association. I am responsible for the content in this post including any errors or omissions. Any opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or understanding of the donors.

This blog is a general discussion of legal principles only.  It is not legal advice. Do not rely on the information here to make decisions regarding your legal position or to make decisions that affect your legal rights or responsibilities. For advice on your particular circumstances always consult an admitted legal practitioner in your state or territory.