(1) Where liability at law is incurred in respect of the death of or
bodily injury to any person caused by or arising out of the use of a
motor vehicle, not being a motor vehicle in respect of which persons are
exempted by or under this Act from the provisions of section 7 (1), then:
(a)
if the person received, in respect of the bodily injury or the injury which
caused that person's death, treatment at a public hospital as an in-patient,
the proper officer may, in the name and on behalf of the person, and
notwithstanding that the person may be dead, recover for each day or part of a
day of the treatment of the person, an amount estimated by the Minister for
Health and last notified, as the daily average cost to that hospital of the
hospital treatment of in-patients,
(b) if the person received, in respect of
the bodily injury or the injury which caused that person's death, treatment at
a public hospital as an out-patient, the proper officer may, in the name and
on behalf of the person, notwithstanding that the person may be dead, recover
in respect of each separate treatment of the person, an amount estimated by
the Minister for Health and last notified, as the average cost to that
hospital, for each separate treatment, of the hospital treatment of
out-patients,
(c) if the person received, in respect of the bodily injury or
the injury which caused that person's death, treatment (whether as an
in-patient or as an out-patient) at a hospital other than a public hospital,
the proper officer may, in the name and on behalf of the person, and
notwithstanding that the person may be dead, recover an amount calculated in
accordance with a scale to be prescribed by the regulations, but not exceeding
a maximum amount (if any) so prescribed,
(d) if the person, as a consequence
of any such injury, was conveyed in any ambulance vehicle the proper officer
may, in the name and on behalf of the person, notwithstanding that the person
may be dead, recover an amount calculated in accordance with a scale to be
prescribed by the regulations, but not exceeding the maximum amount (if any)
so prescribed, and
(e) if the person received, in respect of any such injury,
reasonably necessary medical treatment by a legally qualified medical
practitioner, or reasonably necessary massage treatment by a masseur, or
reasonably necessary dental treatment (otherwise than as hospital treatment)
by a registered dentist, or reasonably necessary nursing (otherwise than as
hospital treatment) by a registered nurse, the medical practitioner, masseur,
dentist, or nurse, as the case may be, may, in the name and on behalf of the
person, and notwithstanding that the person may be dead, recover such amount
as is reasonably appropriate to the treatment or nursing afforded, having
regard to the reasonable necessity therefor and the customary charge made in
the community for such treatment or nursing.
(1A) Any amount recoverable
under subsection (1) may be recovered by way of damages from the
Government Insurance Office.
(3)
(a) No action under this section for the
recovery of any amount referred to in this section shall be commenced:
(i) in
any case where the Government Insurance Office has made a payment (whether or
not with an admission of liability) in respect of the death or bodily injury,
(ii) in any case where, in respect of such death or bodily injury, proceedings
have been taken for compensation under the Workers' Compensation Act 1926 , or
for the recovery of damages, unless and until such proceedings have been
dismissed for want of prosecution or otherwise discontinued,
(iii) in any
other case until 6 months at least after the occurrence out of which such
death or bodily injury arose.
(b) Where any such action has been commenced by
the proper officer, medical practitioner, masseur, dentist, or nurse, and
before such action has been completed proceedings are commenced by any other
person for compensation under the Workers' Compensation Act 1926 , or for the
recovery of damages, in respect of the death or bodily injury aforesaid such
action shall be stayed pending completion of the proceedings.
(3A) If as a
result of such proceedings compensation is paid or a payment is made under
section 25 such action shall abate.
(4) Any payment by the
Government Insurance Office in settlement of any claim made or in satisfaction
of any judgment recovered under this section shall be made direct to the
proper officer, medical practitioner, masseur, dentist, or nurse, as the case
may be.
(5) The estimated costs referred to in subsection (1) (a) and (b)
shall, in respect of any public hospital, be based, wherever practicable, on
the costs incurred by that hospital for the year which ended on 30 June next
preceding any date on which it is proposed to notify the costs, pursuant to
either of those paragraphs, in respect of that hospital.
(6) Any regulation
made in relation to any matter referred to in subsection (1) (c) or (d) may
prescribe different scales and different maximum amounts or different scales
or different maximum amounts in respect of different classes of hospital
treatment or conveyance or according to different circumstances.
(7) In this
section:
"notified" means notified in the Gazette by the Minister for Health.
"proper officer" means the officer or person generally or specially authorised
by law or by the person or body governing or controlling the hospital or the
ambulance vehicle, as the case may be, to conduct proceedings for the recovery
of any amount recoverable under subsection (1) (a), (b), (c) or (d).
