46   Disclosure of pecuniary interests to patients

(1)  If a practitioner has a pecuniary interest in an establishment, the practitioner shall not:

(a)  advise a person to be admitted to the establishment, or

(b)  arrange the admission of a person to the establishment, or

(c)  provide medical, surgical or other treatment to, or arrange the provision of any such treatment to, any patient in the establishment,

      unless, before so doing, the practitioner has notified the person or patient, in the prescribed manner, that the practitioner has a pecuniary interest in the establishment.

Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units.

(2)  The regulations may prescribe, for the purposes of subsection (1), that the manner of notification shall be any 1 or more of the following:

(a)  a statement made by the practitioner,

(b)  a written notification given by the practitioner and, if required by the regulations, signed by the person to whom it is given,

(b1)  a notice displayed at the establishment,

(c)  a notice displayed in any surgery or other premises of the practitioner.

(3)  A person is not guilty of an offence under subsection (1) if the person proves that he or she:

(a)  contravened that subsection in the course of providing emergency medical, surgical or other treatment to a person, or

(b)  was not, at the time the contravention occurred, aware that he or she had a pecuniary interest in the establishment concerned.

(4)  For the purposes of this section, a practitioner has a pecuniary interest in an establishment only if the practitioner has an interest in the establishment which is prescribed by the regulations as a pecuniary interest in the establishment.

(5)  The regulations may prescribe an interest of a relative or associate of a practitioner as a pecuniary interest of the practitioner.