Fwd: Duty of Care- MBBSI
Dara Sutherland
From: Malcolm Parker <m.pa...@uq.edu.au>
Date: Thu, May 28, 2009 at 8:55 AM
Subject: RE: Duty of Care- MBBSI
To: Dara Sutherland <daravi...@gmail.com>
Dear Dara,
You don’t have to have all types at once, although it usually works out that you do, in some sense, have them all. In most medical cases, you will have physical proximity, eg the surgeon operating on the patient is obviously physically proximate. Circumstantial proximity in this case would simply amount to the fact or circumstance that this is a doctor operating on a patient, and that this is a situation in which it is well recognized that a duty of care exists. See my cohort email from yesterday, particularly in relation to causal proximity.
An example of where you don’t have to have them all, although it is not a medical case, is where news of their son’s disappearance and subsequent death in the outback was conveyed to the parents, who then suffered harm in the form of nervous shock, and took action against the people responsible for their son’s welfare. The parents of course were nowhere nearby, or proximate, but suffered harm nevertheless.
Kind regards,
MP
Malcolm Parker I Associate Professor of Medical EthicsI The University of Queensland School of Medicine l 288 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006 l ( +61 7 3365 5049 l M +61 0407068113 I 7 +61 7 3365 5522 l : m.pa...@uq.edu.au I 8 www.som.uq.edu.au I CRICOS Provider No: 00025B
From: Dara Sutherland
[mailto:daravi...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, 28 May 2009 8:28
AM
To: Malcolm
Parker
Subject: Duty of Care- MBBSI
Hi Dr. Parker,
I have run into a problem with proximity in relation to duty of care. When establishing a relationship of proximity, do all three types of proximity need to be met in order to establish a duty of care (in addition to the requirement of reasonable forseeability) or is it just one of causal, physical or circumstantial? I've gotten mixed messages from my tutors and can't find complete clarification in the notes.
Thanks so much,
Dara Sutherland
