Lawyers acting for the beleaguered Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital have been asked to show compassion and fairness towards families harmed by alleged negligence.
Last Friday, state Health Minister Jill Hennessy said she had asked the state’s independent insurer, Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA), to behave as a “model litigant” and not engage in a “David-and-Goliath” legal battle.
“It’s very difficult, given the VMIA is an independent body, that we don’t have direct legal powers, but we’ve certainly communicated our expectation that people are treated fairly and with compassion,” Ms Hennessy said.
Earlier in the week, law firms Slater and Gordon and Maurice Blackburn, confirmed lawyers acting for the Bacchus Marsh hospital had contacted them offering to discuss patients’ complaints while under the hospital’s management.
“I have been practising in this area of law for over a decade and what we have seen with Bacchus Marsh is unprecedented and of great concern,” said Maurice Blackburn’s principal lawyer Dimitra Dubrow.
Meanwhile, Slater and Gordon principal lawyer Anne Shortall said dozens of families had contacted them.
Cases will be lodged separately, but families could receive up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation from the state government, she said.
with The Age
