Western Australian Consolidated Acts

HEALTH ACT 1911 - SECT 336B

336B .         Death of persons under anaesthetic to be reported to the Executive Director, Public Health

        (1)         Whenever any person shall die within the period of 48 hours following the administration of an anaesthetic agent or as the result of any complications arising from the administration of an anaesthetic, the fact of such death shall be reported forthwith to the Executive Director, Public Health by the person who administered the anaesthetic to the deceased.

        (2)         Where a medical practitioner who attended a person prior to the death of that person is of the opinion that anaesthesia or the administration of an anaesthetic may reasonably be suspected as the cause of death or as contributing to the cause of death of that person, that medical practitioner shall forthwith report to the Executive Director, Public Health that he has formed such an opinion.

        (3)         Upon receipt of a report made pursuant to subsection (1) or subsection (2) the Executive Director, Public Health shall, subject to subsection (4), by notice in writing signed by him direct an investigator appointed under the provisions of Part XIIIC to enquire into the circumstances of the death and if in the opinion of that investigator the death is likely to have been due to anaesthesia then he shall pursue the investigation and shall be required to present to the Chairman of the Anaesthetic Mortality Committee appointed under that Part, within a time to be specified in the notice, a full report of the investigation made by him, but if in the opinion of the investigator the death was not likely to have been due to anaesthesia he shall report his finding to the Executive Director, Public Health.

        (4)         Where the circumstances are such that an investigation is being or will be undertaken by the Maternal Mortality Committee in accordance with Part XIIIA then notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (3) the Executive Director, Public Health shall not be required to direct an investigation pursuant to this section.

        (5)         The report of the investigator presented to the Chairman shall be in the form of connected medical case history relating to the deceased person but shall not contain any particulars from which it may be possible to ascertain the identity of that person.

        (6)         For the purposes of this section all information, records of interviews, reports, statements, memoranda or other particulars obtained by the investigator during an investigation made by him pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be confidential and shall not be communicated or divulged, either in whole or in part, to any person other than the Chairman of the Anaesthetic Mortality Committee, or by the Chairman or any other member of the Committee, except for the purposes and in accordance with the provisions of Part XIIIC.

        (7)         Information, records of interviews, reports, statements, memoranda and other particulars referred to in subsection (6) are not admissible in any court or before any tribunal, board or person in any action, cause or inquiry of any kind whatsoever.

        (7a)         A person employed by or acting with or under the instructions or under the authority of the Anaesthetic Mortality Committee who exhibits, communicates or divulges in whole or in part any information, record of interview, report, statement, memorandum or other particular referred to in subsection (6) except for the purposes of, and in accordance with, Part XIIIC commits an offence.

        (8)         No person, corporate body, association, or institution shall be liable in any action for damages or other relief by reason of the furnishing to the investigator, or to the Anaesthetic Mortality Committee, of any information, record, report, statement, memorandum or particulars referred to in subsection (6).

        (9)         Nothing in this section shall prejudice or otherwise affect any of the provisions of the Coroners Act 1996 , or of any other Act so far as the same relates to prosecutions for indictable and other offences and the obtaining and adducing of evidence relative thereto, but this section shall be read and construed as separate and distinct from the provisions of those Acts.

        [Section 336B inserted by No. 47 of 1978 s. 35; amended by No. 28 of 1984 s. 45; No. 80 of 1987 s. 154; No. 2 of 1996 s. 61.]