MDA is an Australian television series that aired between 2002 and 2005 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It concerned the day-to-day operation of legal firm MDA, which specialised in medical defence.
Ella Davis' long time friend Olga Stiles, an obstetrician, is facing charges in the Supreme Court for contributing to the massive brain injuries of a young woman, Kim Cusack, following complications with her Caesarean delivery. Opposing counsel Richard Savage employs a dramatic, emotive tactic to win the hearts of the jury, forcing Ella and Happy to call an adjournment to rethink their options. Meantime, Caitlin cuts her teeth on a case of surgery politics involving two doctors at each other's throats. The resolution for this one will need some truly lateral thinking. Jamie enlists Caitlin's help in some hands-on sleuth work to discover the truth about a woman's claim of sexual misconduct. As they prepare to enter final negotiations on the Cusack case, Richard confronts Ella with information that forces her to draw on all her resources to balance her own emotions with the tragedy suffered by a young couple.
Ella must get to the bottom of a tragic case in which an elderly man dies inexplicably, while the young doctor on duty insists he can't be held responsible for the death. Caitlin gets her day in court, when she refuses to be intimidated by a violent ex-crim, who wants to be compensated because his doctor didn't keep his tonsils for him after they were removed. A psychiatrist performs surgery on a young ballerina with disastrous consequences and turns to MDA for help. Happy must convince the president of MDA to extend indemnity to the doctor. Nick, Ella's partner, is offered a lucrative research position in Philadelphia and tries to use it to lure Ella back to him. Hoping to heal some of the damage done by his affair, Nick promises Ella greater commitment to their relationship.
When a GP is caught having sex with a beautiful blonde patient in his surgery, Ella must make a decision about whether MDA should fight to save his practice. He claims it was a one-off but his devastated wife is sure he's been having an affair. As Ella battles to keep her own emotions out of the case, Nick surprises her with his decision about the job offer in Philadelphia in an emotional showdown at the MDA office. Meanwhile Happy and Jamie attempt to out-manoeuvre Richard in the case of a vain but popular gym complex owner whose cosmetic surgery resulted in some unusual complications. And Caitlin unravels the mystery of a woman who claims her doctor gave her unwanted tattoos.
A young mum is suing her doctor after losing the sight in her good eye following surgery on the other. Is the surgeon to blame for not warning her of the one in 14,000 chance of sympathetic blindness - an effect with no known cause? Both Ella and Richard compete to enlist the famous maverick surgeon, Jock McGeoghan to their side, unaware that the presiding judge has a few surprises of her own. Jamie takes up the challenge when an attractive psychiatrist is accused of providing financial advice to a delusional, schizophrenic patient. Caitlin is drawn towards Richard's distinctive professional style, and Happy must face a personal health crisis.
Deanna Raye, a very recent gender reassignment patient is rushed into Dr Ella Davis' hospital Emergency Department after a suicide attempt. Now Ella finds herself in a conflict of interest. Deanna claims that she was an inappropriate candidate for her procedure and is suing her surgeon, the apparently arrogant Mr Vince Phillips. Dr Jamie Lawless and Caitlin King take on the case, once again locked in conflict with Richard Savage. Happy Henderson and Ella, meanwhile, represent Dr Michael Forsythe, a country doctor being sued by a man he had thought of as an old mate for a post-operative hernia. Or is the old mate just trying to pay for his new fence - and ruining Dr Forsythe's reputation into the bargain?
Smooth, plausible psychiatrist Dr Oliver Maudsen is up before the Medical Practitioners Board on a charge of sexual misconduct. When a second victim comes forward, Ella clashes with Happy as she wrestles with the conflict between her duty to represent an MDA client and her personal morality. Richard Savage represents Tina Morello, who claims negligence for an ""unnecessary"" hysterectomy, but then refuses to settle - until Caitlin sees the reason why. And at the hospital's Accident & Emergency, cultural and procedural issues arise for Ella when some family members needing non-emergency medical attention visit intern Tony McKinnon.
Ella calls on the services of a long lost love Paul Bennett, a romance from Uni days to provide an Expert Opinion in the tragic case of a woman claiming damages because her doctor failed to diagnose one of her twin babies with Spina Bifida. Failure to detect spina bifida twelve years earlier has the mother, Kathy Langley, briefing Richard Savage to claim for negligence and financial hardship. Happy, preoccupied with his own imminent colonoscopy, tries to understand why an up-tight doctor would give a patient with a swollen ankle a vaginal examination. Meanwhile Caitlin and Jamie look into the case of the radiologist in trouble for a highly unusual practice involving his dog And Ella and Caitlin employ a creative tactic in an attempt to appease an angry man who wants to sue his doctor because his wife had an abortion behind his back.
Ella becomes increasingly ambivalent about fighting a case against the mother of twin boys, one of whom has spina bifida. Her expert witness, Paul Bennett, seeks to rekindle their med school relationship. At MDA, Happy, in high anxiety about the results of his colonoscopy, tries an unusual approach with a doctor who has had a Hepatitis C test done without his patient's consent. Meanwhile, Richard Savage tests Caitlin's career ambitions by getting her invited to a Law Society lunch; and Jamie falls for a heroic and beautiful young doctor facing a Coronial Inquiry and a possible manslaughter charge.
Happy represents Dr Wendy Rossi at the Coronial Inquest into the patient who accidentally died at her hands in ICU. Jamie is frantic: he's Wendy's case manager, but he's fallen in love with her too. As MDA's reinsurer goes bust, leaving the organisation financially exposed, Ella and Happy fight Richard Savage on behalf of a doctor who allegedly mismanaged a delivery, thus causing a child's spina bifida. Caitlin deals with the case of an obstetrician who let slip the sex of a baby, preventing the mother having a termination. And arrogant plastic surgeon Mr Phillips is in trouble yet again.
Caitlin and Jamie are in conflict when they represent a young anaesthetist, whom Caitlin is sure is not what he seems. For Ella and Happy, it's a feeling of ""here we go again"" with another psychiatrist accused of sexual misconduct, but luck, Ella's intuition and Happy's legal skills reveal the truth. Jamie guesses the real problem for a frisky senior citizen who claims he's shorter after a circumcision, but he's dubious when Ella suggests that the best lawyer to defend Wendy Rossi is Richard Savage.
All on the one night: As Ella and Tony deal with one emergency after another at St Albans Hospital, Layla makes her first public speech to first year med students - and wins a heart. Richard draws out a straightforward mediation till late at night to impress his client - but not Caitlin - and the mediator notices something going on between them. Back at MDA, the Board grapples with the collapse of their insurance company and whether MDA will defend Wendy Rossi on her manslaughter charge.
Ella persuades Richard to defend Wendy Rossi and takes on the case of neurosurgeon Dr Phil Jacobs, whose brain-damaged patient suffered an unknown trauma in a neuro recovery ward. Meanwhile, Tony and Ella face a Coronial Inquest over a head-injury patient who left Emergency after refusing treatment and died the next day. As Richard gears up to represent the dead man's family, Caitlin's affair with Richard is discovered and Happy explodes. Jamie sorts out the matter of a GP-acupuncturist who accidentally left a be-needled patient locked in her rooms.
Happy represents Ella and Tony at the Coronial Inquiry, discovering that Sam, Layla's med student boyfriend, witnessed the incident in question. But Happy also strongly suspects that Caitlin is leaking information to Richard Savage. While Jamie worries about Wendy and her imminent manslaughter trial, he also has to deal with case of a man suing over a pubic area shave. Ella and Caitlin advise a GP who thinks a child may be the victim of sexual abuse.
The MDA team have the strange experience of barracking for Richard Savage as he defends Dr Wendy Rossi against a charge of manslaughter. Just as Ella and Paul Bennett are drawing apart, she is drawn into a problem with Paul's father, an elderly GP who is treating Paul's mother and making dangerous mistakes. Ella's GP client discovers that what he thought could be child sexual abuse is chicken pox, but now the child's father is suing.
MDA and Richard Savage actually work together to sort out an angry and guilty young man, who is desperate to blame a palliative care doctor for the loss of his cancer sufferer father. Richard represents an aspiring model and actress against a plastic surgeon for an ""unnatural"" breast enhancement. Loser lawyer Helena finally gets a strong case of ""vicarious responsibility"" against a psychiatrist whose patient jumped from a window in her absence. Richard sets up a job interview for Caitlin with a prestigious law firm.
Richard goes up against MDA, representing a model and dancer who claims her breast enhancement looks unnatural. A country doctor mistakes pregnancy for menopause in an older woman. Meanwhile, Happy is a very anxious father when his misfit son Jason comes into MDA to fix the website. At the hospital, Tony suspects that a teenager's severe injuries are not accidental. MDA gets an audience with the Minister for Health over the medical indemnity insurance crisis. And pregnant Ed thinks about moving to the country.
As Happy is pre-occupied searching the city for his estranged son Jason, Caitlin takes over the breast enhancement case against Richard - with some surprise help from Jamie. A country GP, under-qualified in obstetrics, loses a mother after childbirth. Unfortunately, it's not his first disaster. Tony loses confidence and grows increasingly anxious over the impending civil action against him and Ella. She, meanwhile, is just beginning her battle for a top surgeon charged with misdiagnosis of cancer, amid huge and growing public sympathy for the dying woman.
Ella and the MDA team must move fast when the case of young mother Debbie Shanahan, dying of cancer, is brought forward. Richard Savage plays the sympathy card for all it is worth. Despite a clear conflict of interest, Happy persists in representing a psychiatrist whose patient committed suicide and was Happy's son's best friend. Jamie has to tell plastic surgeon Vince Phillips that he is in trouble yet again, and deal with an angry med student, who is already being sued.
Ella (Kerry Armstrong) must play medical fact against a tough judge and enormous public sympathy when the Debbie Shanahan (Suzi Dougherty) case against breast surgeon Teresa Commons (Toni Scanlan) goes to trial. Tony (Aaron Pedersen) is demoralised by the press coverage as he worries about the negligence writ against him and Ella. Layla (Petra Yared) tries an unusual way to reconcile Happy (Shane Bourne) and his estranged son, while Caitlin (Alice McConnell) and Jamie (Angus Grant) deal with an MDA member who wants a no claim bonus.
Jamie (Angus Grant) is dismayed when a very depressed Wendy Rossi (Daniela Farinacci), back in town for her Medical Board hearing, rejects his help. Ella (Kerry Armstrong) confronts the big problem of a country GP practising as an obstetrician without the proper training. A mother and then a baby have died in childbirth. But who else can deliver the region's babies? Vince Phillips (Steve Kearney), the subject of six negligence writs in the past year, but now a member of the MDA Board, makes a surprise revelation.
As Ella and Tony wait for the verdict in the negligence case against them, MDA receives a class action writ from 72 of their members, alleging MDA lied about the organisation's financial health. Jamie goes to a kids' soccer match to hear about a job offer, but gets stuck there when a boy is injured on the field. Meanwhile, Richard interviews a possible new client, a convicted murderer, who claims anti-depressants made him do it. Happy gets an unusual message from his son Jason.
Ella must talk inexperienced nurses in a remote rural area through life-saving procedures by phone. She and Caitlin clash with Richard (Jason Donovan) over the ethical issues involved in IVF. At the same time, Richard tries to calm his client Alison who's still angry after the verdict in her civil action against Ella and Tony Layla gets an unsettling e-mail from Vietnam, as Happy tries to secure indemnity cover for important but very experimental medical research. The class action and a flood of new claims puts MDA's future at risk, but new Board Member Vince Phillips is full of ideas.
