Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

MEDICAL INDEMNITY (PRUDENTIAL SUPERVISION AND PRODUCT STANDARDS) ACT 2003 - SECT 26B

Offence--MDOs must arrange run - off cover

  (1)   A person (the organisation ) commits an offence if:

  (a)   the organisation is an MDO; and

  (b)   the organisation, or another MDO, has provided medical indemnity cover for a medical practitioner (the practitioner ) who is an eligible practitioner; and

  (c)   the organisation is not providing medical indemnity cover for the practitioner that complies with subsection   26A(4), or that would comply with that subsection if it were provided by a medical indemnity insurer under a contract of insurance; and

  (d)   there is no medical indemnity insurer that is obliged under subsection   26A(1) to provide medical indemnity cover for the practitioner; and

  (e)   the organisation:

  (i)   is the last MDO to have provided relevant medical indemnity cover for the practitioner in relation to incidents occurring during a medical practice period of the practitioner; or

  (ii)   has taken over that last MDO; and

  (f)   the organisation does not have an arrangement with a medical indemnity insurer under which the medical indemnity insurer is obliged to provide medical indemnity cover for the practitioner that satisfies all of the requirements of subsection   26A(4); and

  (g)   in a case where a termination date has been set for the purposes of subsection   34ZB(3) of the Medical Indemnity Act 2002 --the MDO's failure to have such an arrangement occurs before that date.

Penalty:   Imprisonment for 12 months.

  (2)   The medical indemnity cover referred to in paragraph   (1)(b):

  (a)   may be medical indemnity cover provided to the practitioner or to someone else; and

  (b)   need not be medical indemnity cover provided while the practitioner was an eligible practitioner.

When an MDO is taken over

  (3)   The reference in paragraph   (1)(e) to an MDO having taken over another MDO is a reference to it having assumed some or all of the financial responsibility for claims:

  (a)   that are claims in relation to incidents that occurred in the course of, or in connection with, the practitioner's practice as a medical practitioner; and

  (b)   with which the other MDO would, but for that assumption of responsibility, have been concerned because of the other MDO having provided medical indemnity cover to the person.

Definitions

  (4)   In this section:

"eligible practitioner" means a person to whom subsection   34ZB(2) of the Medical Indemnity Act 2002 applies.

"medical practice period" , of an eligible practitioner, has the same meaning as in section   26A of this Act.