Hemmant’s List member Ryan Nattrass appeared for the applicant hospital in an application heard in the Supreme Court of Queensland in July 2024. The application sought orders under the Court’s parens patriae jurisdiction and was in relation to the termination of a pregnancy and the insertion of an intrauterine device for a person under a legal disability.
The application was brought on an urgent basis and required evidence to be led from various witnesses (both expert and factual) about both the competency of the subject person to consent to the procedures herself and, if not, whether the orders were within her best interest.
For those interested in this area of health law the decision has been published recently and is accessible at: Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service v D [2024] QSC 300