Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Workers Compensation Act 1958 - SECT 26

Liability for medical etc. services and burial etc. costs

26. Liability for medical etc. services and burial etc. costs



(1) Where-

   (a)  an employer is liable to pay compensation under any provision of this
        Act in respect of the death incapacity or disablement of a worker
        resulting from or materially contributed to by injury or disease; or

   (b)  the death of a worker results from or is materially contributed to by
        injury or disease and no compensation is payable under any other
        provision of this Act by reason only that the worker leaves no
        dependants; or

   (c)  a worker suffers injury and no compensation is payable under any other
        provision of this Act by reason only that the worker is not
        incapacitated either totally or partially for any period-

then the employer shall be liable to pay as compensation-

        (i)    the reasonable costs of the medical, hospital, nursing and
               ambulance services incurred by reason of the injury or (in the
               case of disablement caused by disease) by reason of the disease
               on and after the date of the disablement; and

        (ii)   where death results from the injury or disease-the reasonable
               costs of burial or cremation.

(2) In this section unless inconsistent with the context or subject-matter-

   (a)  ambulance service means the conveying of the worker by whatever
        reasonable means for the purpose of his receiving medical or hospital
        services or to his place of residence after receiving or seeking
        either of such services;

   (b)  hospital means-

   (a)  a public hospital, denominational hospital, private hospital or day
        procedure centre within the meaning of the Health Services Act 1988;
        or

   (b)  any hospital situated outside Victoria;

   (c)  hospital service includes maintenance attendance and treatment in any
        hospital and the provision by any hospital of medical attendance and
        treatment and of nursing attendance and of medicines and medical
        surgical and other curative materials appliances or apparatus and of
        other usual and necessary hospital services (whether with respect to
        the treatment of the injury or disease of the worker or with respect
        to the industrial rehabilitation of the worker) but does not include
        medical care and attention provided by a registered medical
        practitioner who is authorized to charge fees pursuant to the
        provisions of section 70A of the Hospitals and Charities Act 1958 or
        dental care or attention provided by a dentist who is authorized to
        charge fees pursuant to the said provisions;

   (d)  medical service includes-

   (i)  attendance examination or treatment of any kind by a registered
        medical practitioner registered dentist registered optometrist
        registered physiotherapist registered chiropractor or registered
        osteopath or registered podiatrist;

   (ii) the provision and the repair adjustment or replacement (as may from
        time to time become necessary) of skiagrams crutches artificial
        members eyes or teeth or spectacle glasses or hearing aids including
        (without limiting the generality of the foregoing) the repair or
        replacement of crutches artificial members eyes or teeth or spectacle
        glasses or hearing aids destroyed or damaged at the time of the injury
        giving rise to the claim;

   (iii) the provision to or for the worker otherwise than as a patient in a
        hospital of medical or surgical aids to rehabilitation or treatment or
        assistance for or with respect to his industrial rehabilitation or of
        curative appliances or apparatus;

   (iv) the provision by a registered pharmacist of medicines or curative
        apparatus appliances or materials; and

   (v)  the provision by a registered medical practitioner dentist optometrist
        physiotherapist chiropractor and osteopath or registered podiatrist of
        any certificate or report required by the worker or his legal personal
        representative or dependants for any purpose relating to the operation
        of this Act;

   (e)  nursing service means nursing service rendered by a registered nurse
        otherwise than at a hospital or as a member of the nursing staff of a
        hospital;

   (f)  reasonable, in respect of costs (other than burial and cremation
        costs) or claims, means reasonable having regard not only to the
        service or provision actually rendered but also to the necessity of
        that service or provision in the circumstances of the case and also to
        any regulations made under section twenty-three of this Act and also
        to any fees fixed by or under the Hospitals and Charities Act 1958.

(3) Any employer who has made adequate arrangements to provide workers in his
employment with gratuitous medical hospital nursing or ambulance services
shall, to the extent of the value of such services, be deemed to have
discharged his liability under this section.

(4) The payment of the reasonable costs of any service hereinbefore referred
to or of burial or cremation shall be made by the employer to the person or
body of persons lawfully entitled to payment therefor:

Provided that, if the liability to that person or body of persons has already
been discharged in whole or in part by a payment by the worker or any other
person (whether legally liable to make such payment or not) then the employer
shall pay the amount by which the liability has been so discharged to the
worker (or his legal personal representative or dependants) or to the other
person by whom the liability was so discharged (as the case requires).

(5) Where the worker or his legal personal representative or dependants by
reason of any prior contract agreement or arrangement made by the worker or by
reason of his being a contributor or subscriber to any institution fund or
scheme is or are entitled to any of the services hereinbefore referred to or
to the workers' burial or cremation free of charge or at a reduced rate or
charge, the payment by the employer in respect of the reasonable cost of that
service or burial or cremation shall not thereby be reduced, but, after
payment of the amount (if any) actually owing to the person or body of persons
lawfully entitled to payment therefor, the balance of the reasonable cost
thereof shall be paid to the worker or (as the case requires) to his legal
personal representative or dependants.

(6) The compensation payable under this section shall be in addition to any
compensation payable under any other provision of this Act, and no limit
imposed on the amount of compensation by any other provision of this Act shall
limit or in any manner affect the amount of compensation payable under this
section, nor shall the amount of compensation payable under any other
provision of this Act be limited or affected by reason only that compensation
is also payable under this section.

(7) Any question whether any claim for payment under this section is a proper
claim or as to the reasonableness of the amount of any such claim shall, if
not settled by agreement of all the persons affected, be determined by the
County Court or Administrative Appeals Tribunal upon the application of the
employer or any claimant, and the County Court or Administrative Appeals
Tribunal may order payment by the employer in accordance with any such
determination.

(8) Every order made by the County Court or Administrative Appeals Tribunal
under this section shall be deemed an award of compensation under this Act and
the provisions of this Act shall apply thereto accordingly.

(9) The payment of the whole of the reasonable costs of any service or burial
or cremation pursuant to this section, whether by agreement or upon an order
of the County Court or Administrative Appeals Tribunal, shall wholly and
finally discharge the worker or his legal personal representative or
dependants (as the case may be) and every other person from all liability
whatsoever in respect of the costs of that service or burial or cremation.

(10) The jurisdiction of the County Court or Administrative Appeals Tribunal
in respect of claims for payment of the costs of any service or burial or
cremation under this section shall be exclusive; and no action suit or other
proceeding by any person against the worker or his legal personal
representative or any of his dependants for the payment or recovery of any
costs which an employer is liable to pay under this section shall be
entertained by any court.

(11) The reasonable costs of burial or cremation of any worker shall not
exceed such amount or amounts as are fixed for the purposes of this section by
order or successive orders of the Governor in Council published in the
Government Gazette.





(12) Where a worker dies more than 80 kilometres from his usual place of
residence, notwithstanding subsection (11) the County Court or Administrative
Appeals Tribunal may, if it so determines order an amount to be paid by an
employer with respect to that part of the cost of transporting the body to the
burial or cremation that relates to transporting the body from the place of
death to 80 kilometres from that residence.

Division 5-Medical examinations of workers