Medical Act Amendment Act 1981 (Qld)

249 itcEii 1 a it r ANNO TRICESIMO ELIZABETHAE SECUNDAE REGINAE No. 37 of 1981 An Act to amend the MedicalAct 1939-1980 in certain particulars [ASSENTED TO 20TH MAY, 1981]

250 Medical Act Amendment Act 1981, No. 37 BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:- 1. Short title and citation . (1) This Act may be cited as the r%iedical Act Amendment Act 1981. (2) In this Act the Medical Act1939-1980 is referred to as the Principal Act. (3) The Principal Act as amended by this Act may be cited as the Medical Act1939-1981. 2. Commencement of Act. (1) Section 1 and this section shall come into operation on the day this Act is assented to for and on behalf of Her Majesty. (2) Except as is provided in subsection (1) the provisions of thi, Act shall come into operation on a date to be appointed by Proclamation. 3. Amendment of s. 2. Parts of Act. Section 2 of the Principal Act is amended by adding at the end of the section the following words:- " PART X1-MEDICAL COMPANIES (Sections 80-86) -". 4. Amendment of s. 4. Meaning of terms. Section 4 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting after the definition " Medical call service the following definition:- Medical company "-A company incorporated in Queensland that is authorized by its Memorandum or Articles of Association to engage in providing any medical or surgical advice, service, attendance, treatment, or operation and, where it does so engage, does so by way of a medical practitioner or medical practitioners only:". 5. Amendment of s. 16. Power to make by -laws. Section 16 of the Principal Act is amended by, in subsection (I), adding at the end of the subsection the following paragraph:- (ix) Providing for and regulating advertisements and notices concerning the provision of professional services by a medical practitioner and the use by a medical practitioner of any mode or form of advertising, either generally or in a particular case; prescribing the minimum requirements for any such advertisements or notices that the Board may require to be undertaken or given by a medical practitioner, either generally or in a particular case; prescribing the modes and forms of advertising and the practices associated with advertising by a medical practitioner that are prohibited.". 6. Amendment of s. 48. Power of medical practitioner to recover his fees etc . Section 48 of the Principal Act is amended by- (a) in subsection (1), inserting after the word " attendance, " the word " treatment, ";

Medical Act Amendment Act 1981, No. 37 251 (b) in subsection (5), (i) omitting the words " police magistrate or clerk of petty sessions wherever they occur and substituting in each case the words "'stipendiary magistrate or clerk of magistrates courts "; (ii) omitting the words " " The Official Inquiries Evidence Acts, 1910 to 1929," " and substituting the words " The Commissions of Inquir.r Acts, 1950 to 1954 "; (c) in subsection (6), inserting after the word " attendance, wherever it occurs the word " treatment, ". 7. Amendment of s. 75. General penalty. Section 75 is amended by inserting after the words " is provided " the words " or any requisition of the Board made under this Act ". 8. Repeal of and new s. 78. Unqualified person prohibited from recovering medical fees . The Principal Act is amended by repealing section 78 and substituting the following section:- 78. Unqualified person prohibited from recovering medical fees. (I) Subject to section 85, a person other than a medical practitioner is not entitled to demand, claim, accept, receive or retain, or sue for, counter-claim for, set off, or recover by any means (judicial or non judicial) any remuneration in respect of any medical or surgical advice, service, attendance, treatment, or operation rendered or performed by him or for any medicine or drug that he has both prescribed and supplied. (2) Subsection (1) shall not be construed to prejudice or affect the right of a person registered as a pharmaceutical chemist from recovering the price of any medicine or drug compounded, dispensed, or supplied by him in the ordinary course of his business as a pharmaceutical chemist.". 9. New Part Xl. The Principal Act is amended by.inserting after section 79 the following heading and sections:- "PART Xl-MEDICAL COMPANIES 80. Application of Part VII to medical companies . The provisions of sections 48, 49 and 50, with any necessary adaptations, apply in relation to a medical company as if the expression " medical company " appeared therein in lieu of the expression " medical practitioner " except in paragraphs (b) and (e) of section 48 (6) where the expression " medical practitioner " shall be construed as a reference to the medical practitioner who renders or performs the medical or surgical advice, service, attendance, treatment, or operation on behalf of the medical company. 81. Application of Part VIII to medical companies . In the case of a medical practitioner issuing a certificate referred to in section 51 on behalf of a medical company it shall be sufficient compliance with

252 Medical Act Amendment Act 1981, No. 37 that section if the certificate bears in legible characters the name of the medical company, the address of a place where its business is carried on, and is signed by the issuing medical practitioner. 82. Power to regulate advertising etc. by medical companies. The power of the Board, conferred by section 16, to make by-laws includes power to make by-laws of a description referred to in paragraph (ix) of section 16 (1) in relation to medical companies and for that purpose the paragraph shall be construed as if the expression " medical company " appeared therein in lieu of the expression " medical practitioner ". 83. Regulation of company names . (1) The Board may, by notice in writing, require a medical company to take all steps necessary to alter its name to an approved name according to law, (2) The Board may, by notice in writing, require a medical company or a medical practitioner who proposes to establish or join in establishing a medical company to submit to the Board a list of names, in a number specified by the Board, for the medical company or proposed medical company. From a list of names submitted in respect of a medical company or proposed medical company the Board may select one or more names acceptable to it as an approved name, and, upon doing so, shall inform the medical company or, as the case may be, the medical practitioner of its selection. (3) In this section the expression " approved name " means a name that- _ (a) is approved by the Board; and (b) is approved by any other person or authority that under a law other than this Act is required to approve the name of a medical company. 84. Presumed contracts with medical practitioners acting for medical companies . Where by reason of an agreement between a person and a medical company a medical practitioner, acting on behalf of the medical company, renders or performs medical or surgical advice, service, attendance, treatment, or operation to or in relation to any. person (whether a party to the agreement or not) it shall be deemed- (a) that an agreement exists between such first-mentioned person and such medical practitioner for the rendering or performance of the medical or surgical advice, service, attendance, treatment, or operation agreed by the medical company to be rendered or performed; or (b) where more than one medical practitioner so acts on behalf of the medical company, that an agreement exists between such first-mentioned person and each such medical practitioner for the rendering or performance of that part of the medical or surgical advice, service, attendance, treatment, or operation agreed by the medical company to be rendered or performed that is rendered or performed by that medical practitioner.

Medical Act Amendment Act 198I, No. 37 253 85. Medical company may recover medical fees . Notwithstanding the provisions of section 78, a medical company is entitled to demand, claim, accept, receive or retain, or sue for, counter-claim for, set off, or recover by any lawful means (judicial or non judicial) remuneration in respect of any medical or surgical advice, service, attendance, treatment, or operation rendered or performed by a medical practitioner on its behalf or for any medicine or drug that a medical practitioner, acting on its behalf, has both prescribed and supplied.".