PhD Candidate, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne.
Associate Professor, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.
J Law Med. 2020 Dec;28(1):244-269.
"Immediate action" is a powerful regulatory tool available to Medical Boards. It protects the public from harm by restricting a medical practitioner's registration after allegations have been made, but before wrongdoing is proven. This article charts the development of these coercive powers in Australia and examines the legal, socio-political and ethical justification for supplementing a well-defined "public risk" test with a broad and controversial "public interest" test that leaves medical practitioners vulnerable to inconsistent decision-making. Compared to overseas jurisdictions, immediate action powers in Australia offer fewer procedural protections. The regulatory response to perceived threats to public trust and confidence in the medical profession needs to be proportionate, transparent, effective, and consistent, to protect the public while also being fair to practitioners.
“立即行动”是医学委员会可用的一种强大的监管工具。在指控提出但违法行为尚未被证实之前，通过限制医生的注册，可以保护公众免受伤害。本文概述了这些强制性权力在澳大利亚的发展，并审查了用广泛而有争议的“公共利益”测试来补充明确的“公共风险”测试的法律、社会政治和伦理依据，这使得医生容易受到不一致的决策的影响。与海外司法管辖区相比，澳大利亚的即时行动权力提供的程序保护较少。对公众对医疗行业信任和信心受到威胁的监管反应需要具有相称性、透明度、有效性和一致性，既要保护公众，也要对从业者公平。
