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References

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  7. Remarkably, in a television news item, Anaesthetists' Society President Dr Hugh Clarkson answered the interviewer's question ‘are some people dying because they're not getting the treatment they need?’ by stating ‘yes, this has happened’. TV One News, 31 October 1993.

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  10. McMullin,Report on ss 155 and 156 of the Crimes Act 1961, at p4 of Summary. The judge's concern does not appear to be substantiated by the evidence: in 1994, 65% of newly registered medical practitioners came from overseas (personal communication from Dr Robin Briant, former Chair of the Medical Council of New Zealand, 26 September 1995).

  11. Section 5.

  12. Section 14.

  13. As confirmed in McKenzie v Attorney-General [1992] 2 New Zealand Law Reports 14, 21, per Cooke P.

  14. Pursuant to the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994, ss 52(2), 57(1)(d).

  15. McMullin,Report on ss 155 and 156 of the Crimes Act 1961, at p6 of Summary.

  16. Misadventures of manslaughter,New LJ, 8 October 1993, 1413 at 1415.

  17. The offence is punishable by up to one year's imprisonment: s 145(2).

  18. See, for example, Criminal Law Reform Committee New Zealand (1976).Report on Culpable Homicide, paras 45–48.

  19. An example of such a hierarchy may be found in the Crimes Bill 1989, cls 130–132.

  20. The endangerment offences proposed in the Crimes Bill 1989 were widely criticised for their complexity and uncertainty: see, for example, Cooke,The Crimes Bill 1989: A Judge's Response [1989] New Zealand Law Journal 235 and Brown,Culpable Homicide, Endangerment and Aggravated Violence: New Crimes for the Times? [1989] New Zealand Law Reports 299.

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  23. Under s 56(1) of the Transport Act 1962.

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  4. See, for example, s 36,Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) (maliciously causing a grievous bodily disease); s 19A,Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) (intentionally causing a very serious disease, exclusively defined as HIV/AIDS); s 201,Crimes Act 1961 (NZ) (wilfully causing a disease).

  5. The ingredients of the offence were most recently reviewed in R v Shorrock [1993] 3 WLR 698 (Court of Appeal, England).

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  11. In Australia, similar concerns prompted the Legal Working Party of the Intergovernmental Committee on AIDS to conclude that criminal law sanctions, whether general or specific, should be used judiciously because of the risk of stigmatising already alienated groups: LWP/IGCA,Legislative Approaches to Public Health Control of HIV Infection (1991) at p36 andFinal Report (1992) at p22.

  12. In England, the Court of Appeal held that to be guilty of public nuisance the person must have known orought to have known that there was a real risk that his or her conduct would endanger the public: Shorrock [1993] 3 WLR 698 at 708 (emphasis added).

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  14. National HIV/AIDS Strategy: A Policy Information Paper (AGPS, Canberra, 1989) at para 3.3, p24.

  15. These offences carry penalties of up to $10 000 and/or up to three years' imprisonment; see, for example, s 7Blood Donation (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) Act 1985 (ACT).

  16. Although public health statutes contain extensive powers to control individuals infected with contagious diseases, thecommunication of disease does not constitute an offence. However, s 17 of thePublic Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (UK) does make it a summary offence knowingly to expose another person to the risk of infection from a notifiable disease by presence or conduct in a public place.

  17. For an excellent review of Australian public health powers in the context of HIV/AIDS see Godwin, J.et al (1993)Australian HIV/AIDS Legal Guide, 2nd edition, Federation Press, Sydney.

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Health care law. Health Care Anal 4, 45–64 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02251147

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