BEYOND MISADVENTURE: COMPENSATION FOR MEDICAL INJURIES IN NEW ZEALAND

Abstract

The Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Act (No. 2) 2005 effected major changes to those provisions of New Zealand's no-fault Accident Compensation Scheme which deal with the adverse outcomes of medical treatment. The former statutory concept of ‘medical misadventure’ has been replaced by a new concept of ‘treatment injury’. The reform reflects broader developments in strategies for injury prevention, and casts light on the nature of the state's responsibility for unintended injury. New Zealand's no-fault Accident Compensation Scheme was established in 1974 following the recommendation of the Woodhouse Royal Commission, for whom the scheme rested on the fundamental principles of ‘community responsibility’ and ‘comprehensive entitlement’.1 The details of the scheme—generally known as ACC, after the Crown entity which administers it2—are too well known to require substantial repetition here.3 Suffice it to note that ACC provides compensation and additional rehabilitation entitlements to those suffering a ‘covered’...