Carol has over 20 years of experience in the health law industry and the advantage of a clinical background.
Having qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1984 at a tertiary Queensland Public Hospital, Carol’s clinical experience offers a unique understanding of the environment in which health operates. She has the credibility to meaningfully confer and empathise with staff, factors appreciated by her clients and their employees when an incident arises.
Carol has been independently recognised by her peers as one of Australia’s leading lawyers in the area of Health and Aged Care and Medical Negligence since 2008.
Carol was previously a Clerk to Master W Lee of the Supreme Court and an Associate to Mr Justice W Lee of the Supreme Court. She has served as a member of the Chiropractors and Osteopaths Board of Queensland, the West Moreton Ethics Committee, and the Selection Assessment Panel of General Practice Training Queensland. Carol currently holds an appointment as a sessional legal member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal of Queensland.
Key deals
Coronial investigations and inquests
Acted for a tertiary facility at separate coronial investigations and inquests into the deaths of three patients by suicide, including advising the facility simultaneously in relation to an external investigation and mandatory reporting obligations.
Acted for a paramedic at an inquest into the death of a Queensland man in circumstances where the patient was in a drug induced state, and restrained by police.
Medical Board of Australia investigation
Acted for a cosmetic doctor in a multifaceted investigation by the Medical Board of Australia and referral to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Compensation claims were managed simultaneously for patients who suffered personal injury as a result of suboptimal surgical outcomes.
Regional facility claims
Acted for a regional facility in the defence of a Supreme Court claim involving delayed diagnosis and treatment of an evolving epidural abscess, resulting in paraplegia. Issues surrounding appropriate triaging decisions in the ED together with access to MRI and O.T. at the receiving tertiary facility, were all relevant to the issue of causative liability.
Acted for a regional facility in the defence of a Supreme Court claim involving delayed referral of an expectant mother to a tertiary foetal maternal unit in circumstances where her pregnancy was complicated with Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, resulting in the death of one twin and neurological injury to the other.
Tertiary facility claims
Acted for a tertiary facility in the defence of a claim for the unnecessary performance of a significant surgical procedure (Whipples) on the basis of an incorrect cancer diagnosis.
Acted for a tertiary facility in the defence of a claim regarding the failure to refer a patient for radiotherapy following removal of a squamous cell carcinoma to his lip, resulting in invasion to surrounding tissue and bone and worsening the prognosis.