An ACC doctor threatened legal action against an Eastern Bay woman after correspondence between the two appeared on a website.© 2011 Whakatane Beacon
Last week it emerged that another senior ACC doctor had sued a Sensitive Claims Unit client for $250,000 over a satirical blog post she wrote about him in November last year.
The legal action was highlighted by Labour MP and victims’ rights spokeswoman Carmel Sepuloni in Parliament last week.
The doctor issued a statement saying it was not about money, but about his professional reputation and he would cease proceedings if the offending material was taken down and the blogger made a public apology, neither of which has reportedly occurred.
It was not the first time an ACC employee had threatened legal action against a victim of sexual abuse.
An Eastern Bay woman received a letter in July last year from a law firm representing a “third party assessor” doctor who had handled her case on behalf of ACC.
The lawyer alleged a letter, which the Sensitive Claims Unit client had written to the doctor, was derogatory and defamatory. The lawyer said it appeared the woman had published the letter on an internet ACC forum, but the woman denied she had.
In response to a demand the letter be removed from the internet within 12 hours the woman sent a message offline to the person who posted it asking them to remove it.
The letter said the woman should “not make any further attempt to publish your derogatory and defamatory comments” regarding the doctor.
It said the doctor “reserves her right of legal action, including seeking damages from you”.
No further action has been taken.
http://www.whakatanebeacon.co.nz/cms/news/2011/04/art10009142.php
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