Exposing a hospital and government cover-upMedical Error Action Group was founded in August 1996 by Lorraine Long following a 2 year coronial investigation into her mother's sudden unexplained death at The Alfred Hospital in Prahran, Victoria. In June 1994, June Long was admitted to hospital following an asthma attack. 14 hours later, on 29 June, she was dead. Not from asthma, but from clinical incompetence. Three doctors misdiagnosed her condition. The hospital covered up the cause of death and clinicians knowingly and intentionally issued a false Death Certificate and failed to report the death to the Coroner breaching its statutory duty. The Alfred Hospital classed her death as "routine" but not before it had contacted its lawyers and insurers first. June Long's husband was not notified she had died, alone, for another 1 hour 40 minutes. If lying to the family wasn't enough, the hospital then lost her body and engaged in hostile obstruction and deceit beyond belief. In August 1994, the VIC Minister for Health, pre-empting the Coroner's inquiry, announced to the media that an internal peer review by the Alfred Hospital into the treatment of Mrs Long had not uncovered any errors. The Alfred Hospital informed the Minister that the clinical decisions that were made were the right ones in the circumstances. Right ones? June Long ended up dead! Circumstances? She was in a hospital! The Minister also stated she was at ease with the government inquiry. Government inquiry? There wasn't one! Only an exercise by public servants spending a lot of public money covering-up unacceptable levels of public safety. Medical records were tampered with and withheld from the State Coroner of Victoria and the Long family. During the wait for the Coroner's Inquest, the Long family began receiving anonymous letters post-marked from around country Victoria with information on the day she died. Besides The Alfred's hostility, the Long family endured its legal antics with its Director of Medical Services falsely informing the media that the Long family didn't want the Coroner investigating. The Director also wrote to the Coroner claiming that The Alfred had implemented system changes that would see it never happened again and as a result a Coroner's Inquest was unnecessary. What a whopper! It took the hospital 9 years to make some half-hearted system changes the Coroner recommended. About the same length of time it took to get the false Death Certificate corrected. During the March 1996 Inquest <1> the State Coroner criticized the hospital for the lack of medical information provided to him <2>. The hospital refused to hand over its file and withheld its audit of the death claiming it was protected by legislation even though that didn't apparently apply to the Minister of Health who had spoken about it to the media. Outside the courtroom on Day 1, the shenanigans continued in the men's lavatory with The Alfred's lawyers threatening a young doctor that if he spilled the beans his medical career would be over. Members of the Long family overheard it from the adjoining women's lavatory. Thankfully for the Long family, this young doctor did spill the beans and he was the only one who did. In August 1996 State Coroner of Victoria Graeme Johnstone found Melbourne's Alfred Hospital contributed to June Long's death. The family's dogged pursuit for the truth was justified. Then the final insult. The Alfred offered to make a "compassionate" contribution to go halves in the coffin. With the hospital's deceit uncovered, Lorraine sought out other families and discovered that “adverse events” were not rare events and any untimely death in a hospital should be reported to the Coroner. Medical Error Action Group <3> was thus established to educate others on how to seek the truth and hold hospitals to account. As its profile rose, mutual outrage and horror was shared by thousands of families around Australia and continues to this day. For 11 persistent years, Medical Error Action Group has brought the scale of medical error and hospital disasters to national attention.
The do-nothing health-o-cratsIn Nov 1995 the Final Report of Compensation and Professional Indemnity in Health Care made 169 recommendations. Nothing was done. In June 1996 the Final Report of the Taskforce on Quality in Australian Health Care made 56 recommendations. Nothing was done. Along comes Jan 2000 and Aust Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care to rehash what's already been done and recommended spending $90 million plus doing it. Then what?In Dec 2000 we provided a report, "Medical Adverse Events and Families", which apart from commonsense solutions outlined the scope of tormented families and a system so ruthless in silencing individuals and trusting patients ending up dead, health-o-crats then went on to announce in Feb 2002 that 'very little is known about the patient's experience of adverse events'! Are they listening now? No. Case in point: Bundaberg Base Hospital and its infamous 'Dr Death'. Then what? In Jan 2006 the Safety & Quality Council folded and a Safety & Quality Commission was formed. Seen any difference? The only priority government gives medical disasters is covering them up. Medical boards/health complaints "the watchdogs" have failed dismally to protect the public. The evidence is monumental.
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