Doctors and nurse practitioners—failure to notify
102A Doctors and nurse practitioners—failure to notify
A doctor or nurse practitioner commits an offence if—
the doctor or nurse practitioner has reasonable grounds to believe that a patient has, or may have, a notifiable condition; and
the doctor or nurse practitioner fails to notify the chief health officer, in accordance with the applicable code of practice, about the patient’s notifiable condition as soon as practicable.
Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units.
A doctor commits an offence if—
the doctor has reasonable grounds to believe that a dead person had, or may have had, a notifiable condition at the time of death; and
the person was a patient of the doctor immediately before death, or was examined by the doctor after death; and
the doctor fails to notify the chief health officer, in accordance with the applicable code of practice, about the person’s notifiable condition as soon as practicable.
Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units.
An offence against this section is a strict liability offence.
It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against subsection (1) or (2) if the doctor or nurse practitioner proves that they believed on reasonable grounds that the chief health officer had already been told about the notifiable condition of the patient or dead person.
The statute text is free to read above. View subscription options to unlock the case-law research tools for each provision.