Accident Compensation Act 2001

Cover - Key terms relating to cover

33: Treatment

You could also call this:

"What counts as medical treatment when you're injured"

When thinking about treatment injury, treatment includes many things. It's not just getting medical care. Treatment also means:

You get a diagnosis of what's wrong with you. This is when a doctor figures out what your medical problem is.

Someone decides what treatment you should have. This could even mean deciding not to give you any treatment.

If you don't get treatment, or if you have to wait too long to get it, that counts as treatment too.

Treatment includes getting your permission to do something to you. The doctor needs to tell you (or someone who can decide for you) what will happen so you can choose if you want the treatment.

Sometimes doctors give you medicine to stop you from getting sick. This is also treatment.

If any equipment or tools the doctor uses don't work properly, that's part of treatment. This includes things put in your body, like fake joints, unless they broke because of something else or just wore out over time.

Treatment also includes all the systems and rules that hospitals and doctors use to help give you care.

Remember, this explanation of treatment is used when figuring out if you've had a treatment injury. For other parts of the law, treatment might mean something a bit different.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM100942.


Previous

32: Treatment injury, or

"When medical care hurts you: Understanding treatment injuries"


Next

34: Cover for personal injury caused by medical misadventure before 1 July 2005, or

"Rules for injuries from medical mistakes before July 2005"

Part 2Cover
Key terms relating to cover

33Treatment

  1. For the purposes of determining whether a treatment injury has occurred, or when that injury occurred, treatment includes—

  2. the giving of treatment:
    1. a diagnosis of a person's medical condition:
      1. a decision on the treatment to be provided (including a decision not to provide treatment):
        1. a failure to provide treatment, or to provide treatment in a timely manner:
          1. obtaining, or failing to obtain, a person's consent to undergo treatment, including any information provided to the person (or other person legally entitled to consent on their behalf if the person does not have legal capacity) to enable the person to make an informed decision on whether to accept treatment:
            1. the provision of prophylaxis:
              1. the failure of any equipment, device, or tool used as part of the treatment process, including the failure of any implant or prosthesis (except where the failure of the implant or prosthesis is caused by an intervening act or by fair wear and tear), whether at the time of giving treatment or subsequently:
                1. the application of any support systems, including policies, processes, practices, and administrative systems, that—
                  1. are used by the organisation or person providing the treatment; and
                    1. directly support the treatment.
                    2. Subsection (1) does not affect the application of the definition of treatment in section 6(1) for purposes other than those stated in subsection (1).

                    3. Subsection (2) is for the avoidance of doubt.

                    Notes
                    • Section 33: substituted, on , by section 13 of the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Amendment Act (No 2) 2005 (2005 No 45).