The Phantom
Border Collie-wood
For a concussion, Melbourne would have been fined at least in this situation.I said “if” because we can only know what we saw and what is reported and I am not a doctor. I am not giving a formal legal advice - just sharing my thoughts on a footy forum watching this unfold from a distance.
I think a medical negligence claim is arguable and enough to get you out of the contract from what I can see.
Why?
The club and the doctor clearly owe him a duty of care. This is not only the law but specified in the the CBA.
For a doctor , this means that the doctor has a duty to provide medical care and carry out procedures with a reasonable level of competence and diligence.
Was there a reasonable level of competence and diligence?
My Dad is a doctor and says that it is a big miss to send someone back out there with a lacerated spleen and collapsed lung. He tells me a stethoscope check should have alerted the doctor to the possibility of a collapsed lung and he should have been sent to hospital at the quarter time break in any case. We also don’t know if he was given any warning about the risks of a shot in the context of internal injury or warned about risks of contact injury going back on the field
with internal injury. I am told pain injections and contact sport are contraindications for a collapsed lung and a significant risk.
Even if you gave the doctor the benefit of the doubt at the quarter time break, Petracca was clearly very unwell (white and doubled over in pain, clearly visible on the TV monitor the doctor can see). The duty of care continued during 20 minutes on field time and indeed they should have been keeping a very close eye on him. Was it reasonable to leave him out there? I would think not- certainly the Collingwood players did not think so.
Much has been made of him wanting to go back on. He clearly did not understand the gravity of the situation and the club and the doctor needed to intervene regardless. Every doctor knows this, especially in sport. Every concussion victim now in a class action wanted to go back on. They still have a claim.
Did he suffer harm as a result of the breach of duty ? This is the part where a medical professional needs to advise on the specifics. His injury is primarily caused by Darcy Moore’s knee but he appears to be indicating that at least his near death, pain and suffering and psychological trauma was caused by the club/ club doctor. Did he do more damage to his injury running around for 20 minutes in a contact sport ? Probably, especially if a collapsed lung could have been detected and he was told he was okay to go back on with pain relief. The fact these are contraindications is important as a competent doctor should know that. Under the CBA March day doctors are required to undertake emergency medical training on a regular basis.
There are a lot of questions. What was the impact of the delay in treatment? Did the doctor examine him properly? What medication did they give him to get him back on? Was there pressure applied by the coach?
Something has gone terribly wrong. The details are unclear but my sense is that more than one thing went horribly wrong and it ended up risking his life.
It is hard to know precisely but it does not look good and at a minimum is messy and very damaging for the doctor, the club and the AFL.
On the cursory information to hand, I think a negligence claim would be successful. His clear distress on national TV is certainly helpful.
Stuff ups happen all the time in healthcare which is why professional indemnity insurance is so expensive.
The President’s interview on SEN yesterday made me doubly suspicious that they are worried about this at Board level . She did not want to commit to knowing anything at all and appeared to be distancing herself as an instinct. It made her sound cold and uncaring but may have been a director indicating she was not on notice and trying to avoid personal liability.
Just a thought.
I am not here to give definitive advice, of course. I wanted to share my thoughts to try and see it through Petracca’s eyes and those of his family. There is a way out if he is determined to take it.
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They obviously have a responsibility here.
So to does any director.
Under this circumstance they have a duty to look after the best interests of the organisation which would clearly include investigating and issuing some please explain notices.
To get Trac out of his contract, a medical negligence claim, or indeed just a negligence claim, doesn’t even have to be absolute or winnable.
It just has to be factual, damaging and disruptive enough that manufacturing a release is preferable.
And that seems to be in process.
And Kudos to Trac and whoever the destination club is for staying mum.
Melbourne is doing an amazing job of blowing this up solo.