A hospital is being charged over a patient’s suicide — but why under workplace safety laws?
Workplace safety authorities can punish hospitals when accidents are deadly for patients, but it is not always clear when it applies.
St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne was charged last month over its failure to prevent Makalie Watts-Owen, a 24-year-old Aboriginal woman, from taking their own life in the mental health unit in 2024.
Perhaps surprisingly, charges were pressed by the state’s employee safety body, WorkSafe Victoria.
The charges fell under Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety Act and a section on failing to ensure that persons other than employees are not exposed to health and safety risks.
Adjunct Professor Bill Madden, from Queensland University of Technology’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research, explains.
