Abuse victim to countersue ACC doctor

A news report from the New Zealand Herald by the NZPA

A sexual abuse victim says she will take legal action against a senior ACC employee who had lodged a defamation case against her over comments she made on an internet blog.
Dr Peter Jansen, a sensitive claims clinician with ACC, began legal action against the woman after she questioned his competence on her internet blog. He sought $200,000 in general damages, and an additional $50,000 in aggravated damages.
However, ACC Minister Nick Smith told Radio New Zealand this morning Dr Jansen would not be continuing with the action because the comments had been removed from her blog.
The comments were still online this morning when NZPA visited the website.
The woman, identified only as "Jax", said she had no intention of taking down the comments and was now considering countersuing Dr Jansen. She would not say on what grounds, but said she had received several offers of legal support.
Dr Smith said the doctor's lawyers had written to the woman in December, asking for the comments to be removed from the website.
"The material was still up this week and that is what led Dr Jansen's lawyers to take action," he said. "I spoke with Dr Jansen last night, he noted that the material had subsequently been taken down from the web, he has said that he will be withdrawing the legal action."
Dr Smith said there were two sides to the case.
"I can understand why Dr Jansen, as a well-respected and capable medical practitioner, was offended by the material that was put up on the net about him," Dr Smith said. "He became aware of the material on the web last November, he's never wanted money from the person, all he's simply wanted is for the highly defamatory material about him personally to be taken down."
Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni raised the case in Parliament yesterday when she questioned Dr Smith about how victims of sexual abuse were treated by the organisation. Ms Sepuloni also asked whether the minister would investigate how Dr Jansen had accessed private information about the woman to initiate legal action.
Answering on behalf of the minister, Cabinet Minister Tony Ryall said Dr Smith was always concerned about the victims of sexual abuse, and if Ms Sepuloni provided him with information about the case Dr Smith would address it.
"It is completely unacceptable if ACC staff have not been dealing with the victims of sexual abuse in a sympathetic and professional way," Mr Ryall said.

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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10719434

ACC employee sues sexual abuse victim

An article from the NZPA

A senior ACC employee is suing a sexual abuse victim over comments she made about him on an internet blog, Parliament was told today.
Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni raised the case when questioning ACC Minister Nick Smith about how victims of sexual abuse were treated by the organisation. "Does he think fair treatment includes a senior medical adviser at ACC, Dr Peter Jansen, suing an ACC claimant, a victim of sexual abuse, for $250,000 for speaking her mind on a blog about the appalling treatment of sexual abuse victims under his watch?"
Ms Sepuloni also asked whether the minister would investigate how Dr Jansen had accessed private information about the woman to initiate legal action.
Answering on behalf of the minister, Cabinet Minister Tony Ryall said Dr Smith was always concerned about the victims of sexual abuse, and if Ms Sepluloni provided him with information about the case Dr Smith would address it.
"It is completely unacceptable if ACC staff have not been dealing with the victims of sexual abuse in a sympathetic and professional way," Mr Ryall said. "I invite the member to immediately bring the information and concerns that she has to the minister's attention."
Ms Sepuloni was denied permission to make public a letter from Dr Jansen's legal representative to the woman accused of defamation.
A spokesman for Dr Smith said the minister had no knowledge of any legal action being taken by Dr Jansen until today, and that he had asked for an urgent report from ACC on the matter.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10719315

Question to Minister: ACC sensitive claims clinical pathway - fairness of treatment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Zxo0MlibI

Carmel Sepuloni to the Minister for ACC: Is the Minister confident that victims and survivors of sexual abuse are getting fair treatment from ACC?
Hon Tony Ryall (Minister of Health) on behalf of the Minister for ACC: I am advised that since introducing the 16 hours of support sessions recommended by the independent review of the clinical pathway, there has been a good uptake of these sessions, and ACC has made positive gains in this area. ACC has also engaged Dr Barbara Disley, who chaired the initial review, to perform a 6-month progress report on ACC’s implementation of the recommendations, and that report is expected shortly. The Minister is confident that this progress review will confirm that ACC has made positive gains.
Carmel Sepuloni: Does he think fair treatment includes a senior medical adviser at ACC, Dr Peter Jansen, suing an ACC claimant, a victim of sexual abuse, for $250,000 for speaking her mind on a blog about the appalling treatment of sexual abuse victims under his watch?
Hon Tony Ryall: I would say the Minister for ACC is very concerned about the victims of sexual abuse, and he goes to great lengths to see that ACC handles them sympathetically and fairly at all times. If the member has some information that she would like me to raise with the Minister, I would be more than willing to do that.
Carmel Sepuloni: Will he investigate how Dr Peter Jansen accessed private information about a victim of sexual abuse and used it to initiate legal action?
Mr Speaker: If this is a matter where legal action has been initiated, I think we need to be fairly careful about that. I do not believe I should allow that question.
Hon Trevor Mallard: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I think the matter is relatively simple as to whether the matter is before the court. If it is not before the court, it is my understanding that it has been the practice of the House for a question to be allowed on an issue. If it is before the court, I think the practice has been developing, at least, of your being consulted before the matter is brought up.
Mr Speaker: That seems to be a reasonable argument. I will allow the Minister to answer.
Hon Tony Ryall: I know the Hon Nick Smith is always concerned about the victims of sexual abuse. If the member has information that she would like to bring to me on that case, I am sure the Minister will deal with it. It is completely unacceptable if ACC staff have not been dealing with the victims of sexual abuse in a sympathetic and professional way.
Carmel Sepuloni: Does he think it is fair treatment for a senior adviser at ACC not to have the resourcing to provide counselling to a victim of sexual abuse, but to have the resources to sue her for a quarter of a million dollars?
Hon Tony Ryall: I have no information about who is funding any of the suggestions that the member opposite is making in respect of legal action. I do know the Minister is very concerned to make sure that all victims of sexual abuse are dealt with sympathetically and professionally by the ACC.
Carmel Sepuloni: Does the Minister think it is fair treatment for ACC claimants to be subjected to that type of legal action by ACC employees, and can other ACC complainants expect the same “fair” treatment if they dare to speak out?
Hon Tony Ryall: I invite the member to immediately bring the information and concerns that she has to the Minister’s attention. The Minister is always concerned to make sure that the victims of sexual abuse are dealt with sympathetically and professionally by the ACC. If she can show that that is not the case, I am sure the Minister will seek to take action.
Carmel Sepuloni: I seek leave to table a letter by the legal representation for Dr Peter Jansen to the sexual abuse victim accused by Dr Jansen of defamation, dated 12 April 2011.
Mr Speaker: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? Did I hear objection? There is objection.

http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/QOA/d/1/f/49HansQ_20110414_00000011-11-Accident-Compensation-Sensitive-Claims.htm

Question to Minister: ACC - pre-existing and/or degenerative conditions

Hon Jim Anderton (Leader - Progressive) to the Minister for ACC: Does he have any concerns about the way ACC in general and claims general manager Denise Cosgrove in particular is interpreting ACC legislation regarding personal injury claims, which are being declined on the basis of degeneration or pre-existing conditions?
Hon Tony Ryall (Acting Minister for ACC) : No, I have no concerns about any individual Accident Compensation Corporation employees. However, I have stated my concern as to the number of complaints I receive from members of Parliament and the public, and I have given ACC very clear instructions that where elective surgery is required as a consequence of accidents, it needs to fairly meet those legislative obligations. ACC has commenced an internal review of the decision-making process. This review will include consultation with key external stakeholders and is expected to conclude in March next year.
Hon Jim Anderton: Will claims by specialist orthopaedic surgeons that ACC uses a group of retired or general surgeons to decline claims on the basis of pre-existing conditions or degeneration, based on X-ray or scan results only and without ever seeing the patient, be part of the ACC review process?
Hon Tony Ryall: I am not able to give that detail to the member, other than to say, of course, that often clinical judgment is involved. We have gone from a situation where the amount of elective surgery paid for by ACC rose between 2005 and 2009 from $130 million to $240 million, and clearly the accident rate did not double in that period.
Hon Jim Anderton: Will the fact that the ACC injury claims of young New Zealanders are being eliminated on the grounds of pre-existing conditions and the claims of older New Zealanders on the grounds of degeneration, and the threat this fact poses to the credibility of the accident compensation scheme itself, be part of the ACC review process?
Hon Tony Ryall: I know that part of the ACC review process will be reviewing the various trends. I am able to advise the member that 80 percent of such claims are accepted, and ACC expects to fund over 37,000 elective procedures this year.
Hon Jim Anderton: Will the findings of District Court judge Beattie that ACC is in a significant number of appeal cases quick to seize on degeneration as a reason to refuse claims, his action in quashing ACC’s decision to decline, and his awarding of $2,500 costs against ACC be part of the internal ACC review process?
Hon Tony Ryall: I am sure a number of factors will be taken into account in the ACC review. The fact that between 2005 and 2009 the cost of elective surgery on ACC increased from $130 million to $240 million should also be taken into account; I think the member would accept that there was not a proportionate increase in accidents during that period.
Lynne Pillay: Given that Denise Cosgrove was one of the people who insisted that ACC was correct when for nearly a year it turned down 90 percent of sexual abuse claims, and that the Minister admitted months later that ACC had handled the issue badly, will he say in several months’ time that ACC has handled surgery claims badly as well?
Hon Tony Ryall: That is a hypothetical question. We need to make sure a review tries to understand why in 2005 we paid about $130 million for elective surgery and 5 years later levy payers were paying $240 million for elective surgery, yet the accident rate certainly had not grown by that amount.

http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/QOA/8/8/0/49HansQ_20101215_00000011-11-Accident-Compensation-Pre-existing-and.htm