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Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971

Offences - Miscellaneous offences

72: Endangering the health of members of the Armed Forces

You could also call this:

"Refusing medical treatment that puts others' health at risk in the Armed Forces"

Illustration for Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971

You can commit an offence if you are in the Armed Forces and you refuse medical treatment without a good reason. You must follow orders from a medical or dental officer to have treatment if it is essential for the health of other Armed Forces members. If you do not follow the order, you could be imprisoned for up to 2 years. You might be ordered to have treatment by a medical or dental officer, or by a competent officer who is following advice from a medical or dental officer. The treatment could be to prevent you getting sick, to protect you from getting sick, or to cure an illness you already have. If you refuse treatment, it could put the health of other Armed Forces members at risk. If you are charged with an offence for refusing treatment, you might have a defence if you can prove that you were not given the chance to get a second opinion, as set out in the Defence Force Orders relating to the right of a member of the Armed Forces to ask for a second opinion in cases involving curative surgery. This means you should have been allowed to ask for another doctor's opinion before having the surgery. You can find more information about the Defence Force Orders and the right to a second opinion in the relevant legislation, such as the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 and the Defence Act 1990.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM402777.

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Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawHealth and wellbeing > Public health
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Part 2Offences
Miscellaneous offences

72Endangering the health of members of the Armed Forces

  1. Every person subject to this Act commits an offence, and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, who, without lawful excuse, refuses or fails to submit himself to medical, surgical, or dental treatment or procedures by a medical practitioner or dental practitioner, as the case may require, after being ordered to do so—

  2. by a medical or dental officer who is a medical practitioner or dental practitioner; or
    1. by a competent officer acting on the advice of any such medical or dental officer—
        1. if any such treatment or procedure, whether preventive, protective, or curative, is stated by the medical or dental officer who gives the order or advice to be, in his opinion, essential in the interests of the health of other members of the Armed Forces, or to be such that refusal or failure to submit thereto would constitute a potential menace to the health of other members of the Armed Forces or would prejudice the operational efficiency of any part of the Armed Forces.

      1. In any proceedings in respect of an offence against subsection (1), where the order involves curative surgery, it is a defence to the charge if the accused proves that the provisions of Defence Force Orders relating to the right of a member of the Armed Forces to ask for a second opinion in such cases have not been observed.

      Notes
      • Section 72(1): amended, on , by section 175(1) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (2003 No 48).
      • Section 72(1)(a): amended, on , by section 175(1) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (2003 No 48).
      • Section 72(2): amended, on , by section 105(1) of the Defence Act 1990 (1990 No 28).