Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) Act 2010

A medical practitioner who is not a member of a surgical class must not knowingly or recklessly do any of the following—

take or use the title "surgeon";

take or use a title, name, initial, symbol, word or description that, having regard to the circumstances in which it is taken or used, indicates or could be reasonably understood to indicate the practitioner is a member of a surgical class;

claim to be, or hold out as being, a member of a surgical class.

Maximum penalty: $60 000 or 3 years imprisonment or both.

A person must not knowingly or recklessly do any of the following in relation to a medical practitioner who is not a member of a surgical class—

take or use the title "surgeon" in relation to the practitioner;

take or use a title, name, initial, symbol, word or description that, having regard to the circumstances in which it is taken or used, indicates or could be reasonably understood to indicate the practitioner is a member of a surgical class;

claim the practitioner is, or hold the practitioner out as being, a member of a surgical class.

Maximum penalty:

in the case of an individual—$60 000 or 3 years imprisonment or both;

or

in the case of a body corporate—$120 000.

Subsections (1)(a) and (2)(a)—

apply whether or not the title "surgeon" is taken or used with or without any other words and whether in English or any other language; but

do not apply to, or in relation to, a medical practitioner who is not a member of a surgical class if the practitioner—

holds registration in the dentists division of the dental profession; or

is permitted under this Law, or another law of a State or Territory, to take or use the title "surgeon" for practising a profession other than the medical profession.

Before making regulations prescribing a class of medical practitioner as a surgical class, the Ministerial Council must have regard to—

any advice the National Board for the medical profession gives to the

Ministerial Council about prescribing the class; and

the surgical training required to be undertaken by members of the proposed class.

In this section—

surgical class means the following classes of medical practitioners—

a medical practitioner holding specialist registration in the recognised specialty of surgery;

a medical practitioner holding specialist registration in the recognised specialty of obstetrics and gynaecology;

a medical practitioner holding specialist registration in the recognised specialty of ophthalmology;

a medical practitioner holding specialist registration in another recognised specialty in the medical profession with the word

"surgeon" in a specialist title for the specialty;

another class of medical practitioner prescribed as a surgical class by regulations made by the Ministerial Council.