A finding of mental impairment under s 5 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) does not require a formal DSM diagnosis; evidence of a paranoid condition falling on a spectrum is sufficient. A specialist tribunal with medical members is entitled to draw on its own expertise in assessing whether a practitioner's conduct and demeanour during proceedings is consistent with expert psychiatric opinion. The costs discretion under Sch 5D, cl 13 of the National Law must be exercised from the starting point that costs follow the event, not that each party pays its own costs.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 101 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 101 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.