Victorian Numbered Acts

MENTAL HEALTH ACT 2014 (NO. 26 OF 2014) - SECT 77

    (1)     A health practitioner may perform medical treatment on a patient without obtaining the informed consent of the patient or a person specified in section 75 if the health practitioner is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the medical treatment is necessary, as a matter of urgency—

        (a)     to save the patient's life; or

        (b)     to prevent serious damage to the patient's health; or

        (c)     to prevent the patient from suffering or continuing to suffer significant pain or distress.

    (2)     A health practitioner who, in good faith, carries out, or supervises the carrying out, of medical treatment in the belief on reasonable grounds that the requirements of this section have been complied with is not—

        (a)     guilty of assault or battery; or

        (b)     guilty of professional misconduct or unprofessional conduct; or

        (c)     liable in any civil proceedings for assault or battery.

    (3)     Nothing in this section affects any duty of care owed by a health practitioner to a patient.