QUESTION ONE

Your aunt Rose is taken to hospital with symptoms suggestive of kidney damage. This diagnosis is soon confirmed via laboratory tests.

When you visit her in hospital, she asks you to help her put together a recent medical history in order to plan a negligence action. You are really surprised at this request and ask why her GP isn't involved in doing part of it. 'Because he might be the source of the problem' she answers. The action in negligence would be brought against her GP.

In your discussion with her, you establish that the time-line of events is as follows:

Three months ago, Rose consulted her GP about abdominal pain.

At the consultation, her GP wrote a prescription for a drug, saying that it would help to address what he believed was a lower abdominal issue.

The drug was expensive in Australia, and so Rose decided to source it online from overseas. She put her prescription in an airmail package and sent it to the V-Cheap Pharmacy in Hanoi, paying by credit card online and requesting expedited service.

4 days later she received her medication and started the recommended regime, taking the entire course of medication aver the next 2 weeks.

10 days after completing the course of medication Rose experienced relief of her original symptoms, but she was beginning to have acute kidney pain; she also saw blood in her urine. The pain got so great she was admitted to hospital

a. Did Rose's GP owe her a duty of care to provide treatment at the appropriate standard of care?

b. If a duty was owed, then did the actions of the GP in prescribing the drug breach that duty? In other words, did his action fall below acceptable professional standards?

c.Is it clearly established that what the GP did, and/or did not do, caused the harm (the kidney damage) that brought Rose to hospital?

d. Is it the case that the damage Rose suffered was a reasonably foreseeable result of the GP's alleged breach?

e. If Rose cannot demonstrate thatwhather GP prescribed wasexactly whatthe V-Cheap Pharmacy provided, which of the elements of negligence in points (a) - (d) above will be hard to prove and why?

f. In a case like this, what standard of proof would Rose need to meet in order to succeed in her action against the GP?