John Buntine is a specialist plastic surgeon and hand surgeon who assesses, with respect to the upper extremity and scarring, third party liability and provides AMA 4 assessments of permanent impairment for Victorian workers’ compensation insurers and the Victorian TAC and for solicitors acting for plaintiffs and defendants. He reports concerning nerve and tendon injuries at and below the level of the elbow including carpal tunnel syndrome, ulnar neuritis, de Quervain’s tendinitis, tennis elbow and trigger finger and thumb. He assesses fractures, ligamentous and soft tissue injuries affecting the hand, wrist and forearm (excluding the elbow joint). He assesses scarring of all parts of the body including tight or hypertrophic scars and keloids. He also advises appropriate treatment relating to hand injuries and scarring.

Mr John Buntine acts as a consultant in relation to the diagnosis and treatment of all of the above conditions and, particularly, M. ulcerans disease (Buruli ulcer).

Mr John Buntine served as a tutor in neurophysiology at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, he is a past President of the Australian Hand Surgery Society and he has been in charge of the plastic surgery and hand surgery units of two Melbourne teaching hospitals (the Austin Hospital and later the Box Hill Hospital of Eastern Health). He was an active member of Victorian Medical Panels for over ten years, he is the President of the Australian Association of Surgeons, a councillor of AMA Victoria, a surgeons’ representative at national conferences of the Federal AMA and until recently his busy surgical public and private practice involved chiefly surgery of the hand and skin cancer. Mr Buntine’s formative years involved the extraordinary experience of working closely with Sir Edward (Weary) Dunlop, considerable involvement in neurology and neurosurgery and, exceptional for a surgical trainee, his public hospital experience included an involvement in psychiatry which has been invaluable in relation to some assessments of scarring and hand function.

Mr John Buntine provides independent opinions in the areas of his expertise as above, particualrly wth respect to third party liability for conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and other painful conditions affecting the hand and forearm.

Mr John Buntine does not report on cosmetic or aesthetic surgery.