Professional Indemnity

The parents of a NDIS client lodged a complaint with their state disability commission regarding the conduct of their son’s disability support worker. The complaint consisted of several parts:

• On one occasion, the support worker agreed to purchase Pokémon cards valued at $700 for the son without informing his parents, who serve as his legal guardians and financial administrators. The son had agreed with the support worker that his parents would cover 50% of the expense, resulting in significant financial strain for the family.
• On another occasion, the son was admitted to hospital. The support work attended the hospital without being asked to and attempted to have the son discharged and moved to another hospital without discussing this with the son’s parents. The support worker also expressed their opinion that the son should not be on such a high dosage of prescribed medication.
• Finally, the son’s parents asked the support worker to teach him how to catch a bus to attend TAFE. However, the support worker did not do this.

The disability support worker’s Professional Indemnity insurer appointed a legal representative to act on their behalf.

No monetary payment was made to the parents in respect to the complaint. However, the insurer did settle the claim, which allowed the support worker to obtain registration as a disability support worker without any problems. The insurer also paid $7,790 in defence costs.

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