Medicos call for car crash cover switch
Senior health professionals are calling on the State Government to switch to a no-fault motor vehicle insurance scheme to ensure road trauma casualties are not left without rehabilitative care.
The heads of the Australian Medical Association WA and WA Australian Physiotherapy Association, chairman of the Trauma Committee College of Surgeons and disability advocates are due to meet ministers tonight to discuss no-fault motor insurance.
"The (WA) Motor Vehicle Act trails the rest of the country," AMA State president Richard Choong said. "We'd like to see a no-fault system . . . (where) regardless of your culpability in your accident you will still get the medical cover you need to return to the community."
In WA an at-fault driver's initial treatment was covered by the public system but their need for continuing treatment was often not met, Dr Choong said.
_"No one sets out to cause an accident," he said. "It just happens." _
APA branch president Tim Barnwell said a no-fault system was needed to support the National Injury Insurance Scheme cover for severe injuries.
He said the fault-based scheme led to extra costs because people had to hire lawyers to fight for compensation.
"It doesn't necessarily encourage people to recover quickly because there's a constant need to prove disability," he said.
Nic Emmerson, 18, sustained major brain trauma when his moped collided with a school bus in January last year. Wheelchair-bound and unable to speak, the Attadale teen spent a year in hospital and is having intensive therapy to try to walk and talk again.
His future is uncertain because he was not covered by third-party motor vehicle insurance after he was found to be at fault.
"Nic is going to need, when I'm gone, ongoing support and care," his father and full-time carer Roger said.
Transport Minister Troy Buswell said the Government supported a no-fault scheme in principle and was working on options that limited premium rises.
