Mandatory Reporting Laws
The law requires the health practitioner to mandatory report all forms of 'notifiable conduct’ undertaken by another health practitioner. Notifiable conduct means a health practitioner has:
- practised their health profession while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs
- engaged in sexual misconduct in connection with the practice of their profession
- placed the public at risk of substantial harm in the practice of their profession because of an impairment
- placed the public at risk of harm by practising their profession in a way that constitutes a significant departure from accepted professional standards
We believe that these mandatory reporting laws actively discourage medical practitioners with an impairment or drug or alcohol problems from seeking the help they need from a fellow doctor. If the medical practitioner in need seeks help from another medical practitioner, that practitioner really has no choice but to report the practitioner under mandatory reporting laws. This also has an impact on the confidential relationship a doctor has with their patient.
These mandatory reporting laws have an impact on both the patient and the doctor in the sense that the patient is at risk of being treated by a doctor who has themselves been left untreated.