LAW203 Torts Hypothetical Assessment

6 Pages • Essays / Projects • Year: Pre-2021 • Previously uploaded under: LAW203 - Torts

FACTS Fawna, a parks and wildlife ranger on Doom Island, was feeling ill, so she went to see Dr Quack at the Doom Island Family Medical Practice. Doom Island is part of NSW. Dr Quack diagnosed a bad case of the Doom Island Flu. He decided to prescribe Tzamaserin. Tzamaserin is one of the Tzamaseroid group of drugs. Fawna is strongly allergic to this group and Dr Quack should have realised this because there is an allergy warning on Fawna’s medical record. If Fawna took Tzamaserin it would poison her, possibly causing serious physical injury; it may even be fatal. Dr Quack did not tell Fawna the name of the medicine he prescribed; he simply handed her the prescription and said, “This will fix you.”. At the time Fawna was consulting Dr Quack, the computer system at the Doom Island Family Medical Practice was down, so Dr Quack wrote out the prescription by hand. His writing was very bad, indeed illegible. The other doctors at the Practice told their patients that they would print out the prescriptions when the computer system was running again and would forward these to the Frank Einstein’s Doom Island Pharmacy where the patients could pick up their medicine. Fawna took the prescription to the Frank Einstein’s Doom Island Pharmacy and gave it to the chemist, Frank Einstein (himself). Frank had a great deal of trouble deciphering the words on the prescription. After sometime scrutinising the writing, he decided that it read Nexitor. While Frank was filling the prescription he was listening to the news on the radio. That was when he heard Turkey was entering the EU. He immediately stopped what he was doing and phoned his broker: “Buy Euros! Buy! Buy! Buy!”. He then went back to finishing Fawna’s prescription. Unfortunately he failed to attach the warning sticker (which in big red letters reads): “THIS MEDICINE MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS. DO NOT DRIVE A MOTOR VEHICLE OR OPERATE MACHINERY WHILE TAKING THIS MEDICINE.”. (Tzamaserin, by comparison, does not have a soporific effect and therefore no warning is required.) As soon as she was outside, Fawna took a tablet. She then jumped in her 4-wheel drive and headed of down the Doom Island coastal road (known locally as “the Road to Doom”) to the Doom Island Devil Sanctuary. Fawna had never taken Nexitor before. Medicines can have idiosyncratic effects so it is always silly to do something that may harm yourself or others when taking a medicine for the first time. Soon Fawna fell asleep at the wheel and went over the side of the road and off the cliff into the deep blue waters of the Straits of Doom. The cold waters woke her and she escaped out the open window of the 4-wheel drive. In the distance she could see the Good Ship Neptune, skippered by Cap’n Tim. She decided to swim for it. Fawna was in considerable pain because she had two broken ribs and other physical injuries. As she neared the boat a great blue shark (which was passing by) bit off her right leg. Luckily, Cap’n Tim and his mate rescued her before the shark could come back for seconds. Since her accident Fawna has learnt that the Doom Island Family Medical Practice is owned by Dr Cutter who has eight doctors, including Dr Quack, working for him part- time. Dr Cutter has created a schedule which sets out the hours when each doctor sees the patients. He also determines when each doctor may take their holidays to ensure that the practice is never understaffed. Dr Quack is paid a fortnightly salary from which Dr Cutter deducts income tax. Ms Badpenny, a receptionist at the Doom Island Family Medical Practice, has told Fawna that on the day in question Dr Cutter had instructed the doctors not to write their prescriptions by hand. He especially addressed Dr Quack whose hand writing Dr Cutter knew was atrocious – but as Ms Badpenny said, “Dr Quack just ignored that. He was always doing his own thing.”. INSTRUCTIONS Advise Fawna of any actions in tort she may have available to her against Dr Quack as a result of these events, including any defences that may be raised by Dr Quack. Use the prompts below to guide you.

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