The Statutory Standard of Care in Australia and its Application to Experimental Medical Practice

Clinical innovation is essential in the development and improvement of interventions used to treat medical conditions. In Australia, the States and Territories have statutorily reintroduced the Bolam principle in a modified form which provides a defence for medical practitioners who have practised in a manner that, at the time, was widely accepted in Australia by peer professional opinion as competent professional practice. This article explores whether the standard could be successfully pleaded as a defence by experimental practitioners. In doing so, the obstacles to an experimental practitioner's ability to rely on the statutory defence are analysed. It finds that the standard effectively entrenches established practices without sheltering legitimate efforts to advance medicine.