Alternative Law Journal

Media Release

14 December 1998

Joint Issue

Law and Health

The range of issues covered in this joint issue of the Alternative Law Journal and Health Issues gives some indication of the extensive interaction between the law and health.

One of the key themes to come through in many of the articles is the increasing demand by the community for a more transparent and accountable health system.

Women are no longer content to be excluded from clinical trials of new pharmaceuticals or to live with the consequences of this exclusion for their treatment. Merle Spriggs argues for women's inclusion in drug trials stating: 'Prescribing drugs to women in which the safety and efficacy have not been tested in women amounts to post marketing experimentation'. Examples of gender differences in response to some treatments have been found in diverse areas where no differences had been expected.

The Coroner's office is examining who is responsible for monitoring deaths occurring in hospitals. The Victorian State Coroner investigates around 300 deaths associated with hospital treatment errors each year but figures obtained from various studies point to a far greater number of deaths resulting from an 'adverse event' in a hospital. David Ransom finds 'a certain irony in the fact that the individuals most under coronial scrutiny in a hospital death, the doctors, are the individuals who are mandated to report these deaths'.

Two articles deal with the way consumers are demanding legal rights of access to their records, and health laws that protect not only the confidentiality of records, but also the broader notion of consumer control of their privacy. These demands are becoming especially urgent in an electronic environment. Meredith Carter explores concepts such as the introduction of unique patient identifiers, smart cards and a national database of clinical records. Amanda Cornwall recommends development of a new regulatory infrastructure to protect health consumers' privacy.

The detention of individuals with infectious diseases, and the provision of services to the inmates of privatised prisons, and to people who require supported accommodation, are also subject to increasing scrutiny. The ethics of extracting a dead man's sperm for use by his widow is questioned by many. All these issues and more are addressed in this joint issue of the two journals.