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Speaker 1: My name is Hedley Thomas. Sick to Death is based

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Speaker 1: on my book of the same name, and it's the

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Speaker 1: true story of doctor Jayant Patel's lies and manipulation and

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Speaker 1: the herculean effort it took to finally stop him. We've

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Speaker 1: used voice actors throughout this series, and on occasion the

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Speaker 1: real people from the story have read their words for us.

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Speaker 1: It is brought to you by me and the Australian

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirty nine Strange Meetings. Three point fifty pm, seven

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Speaker 1: April two thousand and five. Tony Hoffman giggled nervously in

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Speaker 1: the foyer of the old orange brick Queensland Newspapers building

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Speaker 1: near the top of Campbell Street, Bowen Hills. She had

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Speaker 1: come from a conference in, of all places, the Clinical

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Speaker 1: Practice Improvement Center at the nearby Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.

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Speaker 1: I could see the massive complex from my desk. The

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Speaker 1: fortunate timing of the conference in Brisbane meant that she

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Speaker 1: had an opportunity to meet me while many of her

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Speaker 1: colleagues in Bunderberg were feeling severely bruised by Gordon Nuttle

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Speaker 1: and doctor Steve Buckland.

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Speaker 2: Karen is here to give me back.

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Speaker 1: Up, Hoffman explained, introducing her friend and colleague Karen Fox.

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Speaker 2: She doesn't trust journalists and she thinks I'm mad for

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Speaker 2: meeting you.

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Speaker 1: The blunt honesty moments after meeting at the front counter

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Speaker 1: was a good start. As a precaution, Hoffman elected to

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Speaker 1: sign the visitor's book as Jane English. Her friend signed

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Speaker 1: in as Sue James. They liked their assumed names. It

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Speaker 1: was a relief to leave my desk. My previous meeting

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Speaker 1: with an elderly man who had been battling his low

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Speaker 1: local council for a decade over the use of an

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Speaker 1: asbestos linked product in road base near his home was

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Speaker 1: heavy going. His story had potential, but I doubted it

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Speaker 1: would get a run unless there were people who could say,

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Speaker 1: I'm dying of mesothelioma now because my incompetent counsel put

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Speaker 1: this lethal stuff near my home despite the obvious risks.

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Speaker 1: That's because stories warning of safety risks paled beside stories

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Speaker 1: in which the result of unsafe practice was at once obvious.

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Speaker 1: I walked Hoffman around to the staff cafe, pointing out

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Speaker 1: departments on the way. She seemed keen to talk about anything,

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Speaker 1: perhaps just to lower her anxiety levels. Her friend eyed

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Speaker 1: me suspiciously and refused to utter a word. Can you

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Speaker 1: tell me about the complaints involving the surgeon, I asked.

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Speaker 1: Hoffman began talking in a rushing torrent of names, dates,

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Speaker 1: and medical terms. It was a struggle to keep up,

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Speaker 1: and then she went faster. Her nervousness was driving her

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Speaker 1: to try to spit out the entire two year debarcle

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Speaker 1: in a few frantic minutes. As Sky news blared on

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Speaker 1: the overhead TV and her friend stared daggers at me.

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Speaker 1: Something had to give. I started to wonder about her

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Speaker 1: state of mind. Clearly she was deeply agitated clumsily. I

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Speaker 1: tried to calm her down, but it sounded more like

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Speaker 1: a rebuke. Tony, can we do this slowly, one fact

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Speaker 1: at a time, please, I'm starting from a long way behind.

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Speaker 1: She paused and began again.

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Speaker 2: There were so many botch ups with the patients, and

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Speaker 2: it continued on and on until this one big incident,

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Speaker 2: the straw that broke the camel's back, and it took

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Speaker 2: five months after that complaint. The nurses from the renal

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Speaker 2: unit complained, the infectious control nurses complained. In between all

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Speaker 2: this we would be having the patients with complications coming

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Speaker 2: into the intensive care and pretty much on a daily basis,

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Speaker 2: we would have a patient in ICU with some stuff

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Speaker 2: up because of what he had done. Since his saw

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Speaker 2: came out in Parliament, the doctors have stood up and

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Speaker 2: defended him, and they were the ones who two days

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Speaker 2: before had been trying to get us to defend and

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Speaker 2: protect their patients. All we were trying to do was

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Speaker 2: to stop him from operating on patients and harming them.

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Speaker 2: He would tell us he was a cardiac, thoracic and

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Speaker 2: trauma specialist. When we looked him up on the web,

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Speaker 2: he just had an MBBS from a university in Pakistan.

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Speaker 2: He thought that he could do everything. Even an acting

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Speaker 2: Director of Medicine, doctor k Snidem, sent a letter saying

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Speaker 2: he had full faith in him and would allow him

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Speaker 2: to operate on his children. Peter Leck has got up

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Speaker 2: and said he was appalled that it had been leaked

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Speaker 2: and that it was not due process. But where was

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Speaker 2: the due process for the patients? The district manager stood

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Speaker 2: up for the hospital n items stood up for the doctors,

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Speaker 2: but the nurses were gagged. Nobody stood up for the nurses.

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Speaker 2: Jerry Fitzgerald when he interviewed me. Did not even have

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Speaker 2: a copy of the complaint. He had not read it.

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Speaker 2: His report is with the director general. Now, a physician

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Speaker 2: was hiding a patient in the intensive care so Patel

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Speaker 2: could not get to him. And this was just recently.

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Speaker 2: We literally were throwing ourselves across the patients to stop

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Speaker 2: him from getting to them. After all that, we were

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Speaker 2: seeing this guy got employee of the month. We were

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Speaker 2: seeing this guy being rewarded while we lied to families

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Speaker 2: and protected patients and felt sick about what was happening.

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Speaker 2: We've been crying for months. Patel had one hundred percent

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Speaker 2: complication rate with catheters. Every one of his patients got infections.

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Speaker 2: He used to lie in the patient's notes. One was

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Speaker 2: on one hundred percent oxygen and being kept alive with medication,

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Speaker 2: and Patel wrote that he was stable in his notes.

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Speaker 2: The nephrologists refused to let him operate on his patients.

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Speaker 2: The hospital knew that this was going on because they

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Speaker 2: had set up an alternative way for their fistialers and

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Speaker 2: vasque catheters to be put in.

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Speaker 1: Hoffman's account was shocking. We spoke about Patel's claim of

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Speaker 1: earning the hospital an extra five hundred thousand dollars a year.

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Speaker 2: To meet the budget and surgical targets. Hospitals have to

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Speaker 2: do a certain amount of surgery. Hospitals make money from

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Speaker 2: surgical procedures. Because he was turning through the surgery. He

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Speaker 2: was making them money.

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Speaker 1: Where is he now, I asked.

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Speaker 2: We've been told that Patel has left for good. Martin Carter,

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Speaker 2: the director of intensive care and anethesua. He called him

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Speaker 2: all the names under the son. He called him doctor death.

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Speaker 2: But when the chips were down, they supported him. The

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Speaker 2: doctors called for the whistleblower to be identified and made

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Speaker 2: an example of I was told that they perceived the

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Speaker 2: nurses have all the power and that they could be next.

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Speaker 2: Some of the patients really liked him because he talked

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Speaker 2: a lot. He was incompetent, and he had a God complex.

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Speaker 2: He was not malicious. He just did not realize how

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Speaker 2: incompetent he was. The system has failed us. It does

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Speaker 2: not allow us to be taken seriously.

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Speaker 1: At that moment, Hoffman's mobile phone began to ring. She

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Speaker 1: apologized and reached into her handbag. As she listened, her

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Speaker 1: face lost color and she bawled her free hand into

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Speaker 1: a fist. The caller was Gail Aylmer at the hospital.

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Speaker 2: I can't believe it, they said, what no.

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Speaker 1: Hoffman ended the phone conversation. The composure she had worked

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Speaker 1: hard to maintain in our interview was gone. She dabbed

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Speaker 1: her eyes.

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Speaker 2: The Director General and Gordon Nushall were just there, and

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Speaker 2: they said that seeing as it was sleeked, they're not

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Speaker 2: going to release the report. They had nothing to say

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Speaker 2: to vindicate the nurses.

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Speaker 1: The chance call to Hoffman's mobile clinched it for me.

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Speaker 1: The visit by Nuttle and Buckland to the hospital was

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Speaker 1: unusual and, to the best of my knowledge, had not

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Speaker 1: been foreshadowed in media releases. If the essence of the

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Speaker 1: stern talk by Nuttle and Buckland had been conveyed accurately

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Speaker 1: to Hoffman, it was I suspected a crude attempt to

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Speaker 1: contain the Pateel problem while waving a big stick at

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Speaker 1: any staff who might have been involved in the allegations

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Speaker 1: being aired. It felt like the start of a cover up.

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Speaker 1: I told Hoffman the issue of Betel's competence might take

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Speaker 1: ages to investigate, but the meeting today gives me an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to put the story back on the agenda. I'll

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Speaker 1: call Gordon Nattle's office and find out why they are

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Speaker 1: trying to shut this down. We walked back to the

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Speaker 1: foyer and resolved to stay in touch. Hoffman and Fox

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Speaker 1: were booked on the last Quantus flight back to Bunderberg.

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Speaker 1: Dan Bergen, one of the manager's for Queensland Health, remained

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Speaker 1: angry about the leaking. He emailed Peter Leck shortly after

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Speaker 1: five PM, as Steve Buckland stewed over the Patel negligence revelations.

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Speaker 3: Peter, is there a process going on involving internal order

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Speaker 3: to investigate.

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Speaker 1: This, Leck, still in the dark on Patel's United States

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Speaker 1: secret was uncertain how to manage the problem.

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Speaker 4: I must admit that I'm not entirely sure where to

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Speaker 4: go from here. In the meeting with the staff today,

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Speaker 4: the DG advised that we would not have a witch

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Speaker 4: hunt and that we needed to move on from this incident.

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Speaker 4: Bottom line is that, regardless of whether an investigation is

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Speaker 4: held or not, I don't believe the culprit who leaked

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Speaker 4: this information will be found. While on one hand, I

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Speaker 4: would like to send a strong message to the person

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Speaker 4: or persons concerned that they are on very dangerous ground

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Speaker 4: I am concerned that such an investigation could prove very destructive,

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Speaker 4: resulting in nurses and doctors going after one another. Perhaps

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Speaker 4: we have the audit team come up and deliver some

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Speaker 4: training sessions around the code of conduct and deliver some

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Speaker 4: firm and scary messages. I would welcome your advice, especially

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Speaker 4: if the Director General's office is expecting action in a

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Speaker 4: particular way.

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Speaker 1: Peter Chapter forty Fluke, six pm, seven April two thousand

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Speaker 1: and five. News coming out of left field late in

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Speaker 1: the day is always more difficult to place in any newspaper,

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Speaker 1: as the story has not been the subject of a

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Speaker 1: briefing in editorial conferences. It has to knock something else

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Speaker 1: out to get in. Unless it is momentous and urgent,

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Speaker 1: perhaps an aircraft crash or a political upheaval, its prospects

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Speaker 1: of a good rama poor. Such stories are often held

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Speaker 1: for the next day, and that can kill them slowly.

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Speaker 1: Stories held over can appear stale despite not having been run.

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Speaker 1: Something else invariably comes along to compete for the print

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Speaker 1: space in the newspaper, sometimes on a slow news day

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Speaker 1: or when the best laid plans go awry because the

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Speaker 1: promised stories have failed to materialize. The late and unexpected

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Speaker 1: ones are hailed as saviors, but most of the time

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Speaker 1: they are a nuisance. The Knight editor has to change

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Speaker 1: course and rebuild pages in the face of an unforgiving deadline.

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Speaker 1: I was keen to publish the story about Gordon Nuttle

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Speaker 1: and Steve Bucklan going to Bunderberg and telling staff nothing

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Speaker 1: would be done about Jayon Patel. It was breaking news.

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Speaker 1: It had been presented to me on a platter. A

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Speaker 1: few minutes after showing Tony Hoffman and Karen Fox out

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Speaker 1: of the building, I saw Graham Lloyd, the news editor.

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Speaker 1: Perfect After I explained the story, Lloyd suggested postponing.

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Speaker 5: It, mate, it's pretty tight, the paper's full. Do it

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Speaker 5: as part of your bigger young for Saturday, and it'll

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Speaker 5: get a much better run.

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Speaker 1: After working closely with Lloydy for six years, I had

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Speaker 1: enormous respect for his judgment and advice. We had jointly

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Speaker 1: delivered some powerful scoops from the newspaper's features section when

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Speaker 1: he was in charge of it. Although disappointed that Nuttle

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Speaker 1: and Buckland would be off the hook for the moment,

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Speaker 1: I figured it might make my scheduled lunch with the

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Speaker 1: Minister the next day, less uncomfortable. One of Gordon Nuttle's

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Speaker 1: closest friends, Brendan mckennery, had called me earlier in the

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Speaker 1: week to confirm the low key meeting at the Hellenic

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Speaker 1: Club in South Brisbane. When he first set it up, mckennery,

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Speaker 1: whom I knew through a mutual contact, explained that Nuttle

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Speaker 1: wanted to develop a working relationship with a few senior journalists.

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Speaker 1: Nuttle had big plans for Queensland Health. The private lunch

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Speaker 1: at the Hellenic Club would give him an opportunity away

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Speaker 1: from his minders and advisors, to set out its future.

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Speaker 1: I went back to my desk for my car keys

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Speaker 1: as David Fagan, the editor, wandered over. He was unhappy.

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Speaker 6: What a shocking day. We haven't got one story worthy

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Speaker 6: of putting on the front page. You haven't got anything

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Speaker 6: in your back pocket, have you.

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Speaker 1: He asked me. In the past six years at the

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Speaker 1: Courier Mail, neither Fagan nor his predecessor Chris Mitchell had

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Speaker 1: come to me to ask for a story late in

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Speaker 1: the day. They were too busy for a start. They

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Speaker 1: relied on their staff to talk about the big fish

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Speaker 1: in a news editorial conference after the reporters had reeled

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Speaker 1: them in. For David Fagan to come into our section

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Speaker 1: sometimes known as Writer's Block or Poet's Corner, he must

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Speaker 1: have been desperate. He was looking for a splash, the

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Speaker 1: major story for the front page. I've got a great yarn,

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Speaker 1: I told him, relating the suspected cover up in Bunderberg

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Speaker 1: and the meeting I had just had in the cafe.

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Speaker 1: All I need is confirmation from Gordon Nuttle's office. I've

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Speaker 1: got heaps of background. The doctor has left Queensland. Do

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Speaker 1: you want me to write it as the splash? Fagan

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Speaker 1: was noncommittal.

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Speaker 6: Possibly write it as soon as you can and we'll

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Speaker 6: take a close look at it.

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Speaker 1: I called David Potter's mobile phone, but it was turned off.

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Speaker 1: He was still in the air, en route from Bunderberg

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Speaker 1: to Brisbane. He would hear my message on landing. The

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Speaker 1: next call was to Cameron Milner, the son of the

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Speaker 1: former Queensland Labor Minister Glenn Milner. Cameron Milner was working

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Speaker 1: as Potter's pr sidekick in Gordon Nuttle's office. He's on

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Speaker 1: the plane, Milner said of Nuttle.

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Speaker 7: He went to open the Spring Shore Community Center and

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Speaker 7: on the way back he dropped into the Bunderberg hospital,

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Speaker 7: he spoke with staff before doing a tour.

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Speaker 1: The conversation became fascical when I asked about Jerry Fitzgerald's

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Speaker 1: clinical audit and report into Pateel's surgery at the hospital.

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Speaker 7: It's not a report into doctor Pateel, he said, It's

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Speaker 7: a clinical ordit to look at the range of services

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Speaker 7: and surgery done at the hospital to determine whether appropriate

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Speaker 7: surgery is being done there. The complaints about Patel were

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Speaker 7: about particular types of surgery he was carrying out.

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Speaker 1: Having heard at length from Hoffman about the surgeon's incompetence,

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Speaker 1: the deaths attributed to him, the work of Fitzgerald, and

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Speaker 1: the surprise visit that afternoon by Nuttle and Buckland, I

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Speaker 1: responded aggressively to the spin from Milner. It was nonsense

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Speaker 1: to suggest that Patel's competence was not under scrutiny. Why

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Speaker 1: did these people always twist the truth? For a few

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Speaker 1: minutes we went back and forth arguing about the clinical review.

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Speaker 1: Milner stuck stubbornly to the script. When I questioned him

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Speaker 1: about what had triggered the review, given that it was

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Speaker 1: not a routine matter, he dropped his guard.

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Speaker 7: It was prompted by the complaints arising from surgery being

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Speaker 7: conducted by doctor Ptel.

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Speaker 1: Finally we were getting somewhere. I asked Milner to tell

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Speaker 1: Nuttle and Potter to contact me urgently. My next care

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Speaker 1: was to the mobile telephone of doctor John Scott, the

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Speaker 1: Deputy Director General of Queensland Health, as I did not

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Speaker 1: have a contact number for Jerry Fitzgerald and it would

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Speaker 1: be at least thirty minutes before I heard from either

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Speaker 1: Potter or Nuttle. Perhaps John Scott could shed some light

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Speaker 1: on what was unfolding. I wanted to see or hear

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Speaker 1: about the report, which and had told me Fitzgerald had

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Speaker 1: already completed. How did the report's completion square with what

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Speaker 1: Buckland and Nuttle had apparently told the meeting in Bunderberg

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Speaker 1: earlier that the denial of natural justice and Petel's departure

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Speaker 1: meant it would not be finalized. Doctor Scott knew little

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Speaker 1: about the report by Fitzgerald. He said, here, we are.

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Speaker 8: Looking at an individual and there's a range of things,

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Speaker 8: including natural justice, that you have to consider when thinking

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Speaker 8: about release. This is the Chief Health Officer doing a

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Speaker 8: review of a particular person's conduct.

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Speaker 1: Exasperated at being told nothing, I began hitting the keyboard

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Speaker 1: to write the story Fagan wanted. I could write the

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Speaker 1: bones of it and add flesh. Upon hearing from Nuttle's side,

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Speaker 1: I called a medical source and explained the issues. He

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Speaker 1: became angry at his employer's cover up culture. Potter earned

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Speaker 1: my call at six thirty PM. I told him I

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Speaker 1: was preparing a story about the meeting a few hours

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Speaker 1: earlier at the hospital, and I asked him to have

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Speaker 1: Nuttle call me. Potter rang back and said Nuttle would

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Speaker 1: not be available. I didn't know if Potter had been

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Speaker 1: told about the lunch planned with Nuttle for the next day.

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Speaker 1: Maybe there had been a deliberate decision by his boss

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Speaker 1: not to brief him, but I decided against using the

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Speaker 1: engagement as leverage. It incensed me that the minister would

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Speaker 1: not speak for himself about the meeting in Bunderberg. Why

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Speaker 1: doesn't he have the ticker to talk about the meeting,

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Speaker 1: I asked Potter. The likable and efficient media advisor, a

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Speaker 1: former courier male colleague with whom I had worked on

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Speaker 1: a number of stories, ignored the barbs for the record.

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Speaker 1: He told me Nuttle had not seen the report. The

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Speaker 1: department had not seen the report, and the Minister.

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Speaker 9: Does not now expect to get.

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Speaker 1: A report, Potter told me, because it.

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Speaker 9: Can't be completed without going back to Dr Patel. Obviously

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Speaker 9: we can't go back to him because he's packed up

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Speaker 9: and gone. Due process was not followed. We have said

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Speaker 9: we are very disappointed about that.

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Speaker 1: After goading Potter again about Nuttle's timidity, he agreed to

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Speaker 1: double check. He called back to advise me that Nuttle

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Speaker 1: would definitely not be calling me. When I wrote the story,

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Speaker 1: I led it with the news of the visit, how

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Speaker 1: Nuttle and Buckland had admonished staff and told them there

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Speaker 1: would be no report. Kim Sweetman, the chief of staff,

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Speaker 1: looked at the filed copy shortly after seven pm, and

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Speaker 1: she asked me about a single line in the story.

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Speaker 1: It stated that the nurses were asked to hide patients

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Speaker 1: from Patel, so.

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Speaker 3: The nurses were literally trying to hide patients from him.

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Speaker 1: In the wards, Sweetmen asked she seized on the angle

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Speaker 1: and elevated it to the top of the draft. The

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Speaker 1: mental imagery was too powerful. David Fagan liked the story,

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Speaker 1: but in his walk about in the newsroom, he had

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Speaker 1: found another relating to the beat government's failure to address

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Speaker 1: the dangers of asbestos in hundreds of public schools. My

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00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:24,320
Speaker 1: report led page three beneath the headline nurses hid patients

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Speaker 1: in wards from Doctor Death, but it contained an embarrassing

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Speaker 1: error in the first paragraph. I had failed to properly

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Speaker 1: check on Patel's background. He was from India, not Pakistan.

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Speaker 1: This is what my story stated.

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Speaker 10: Nurses at Bunderberg Base Hospital were asked to hide patients

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Speaker 10: so they would not be treated by a Pakistan trained doctor,

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Speaker 10: dubbed doctor Death by colleagues. The doctor, who has fled

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Speaker 10: the country since the beginning of an investigation into his

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Speaker 10: work at the public hospital, has been been accused of

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Speaker 10: gross incompetence linked to the deaths of at least fourteen patients,

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Speaker 10: but Health Minister Gordon Nuttle will keep secret a report

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Speaker 10: detailing evidence about the deaths and a trail of serious

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Speaker 10: injuries suffered by patients at Bunderberg Base Hospital. The report

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Speaker 10: by Chief Health Officer Jerry Fitzgerald includes evidence gained from

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Speaker 10: interviews with doctors and nurses at the hospital. Queensland Health

341
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Speaker 10: sources described the doctor hired more than two years ago

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Speaker 10: under the controversial overseas trained doctor's scheme as dangerous and incompetent.

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Speaker 10: They say his actions have been extremely harmful and in

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Speaker 10: some cases lethal to more than fourteen patients, and were

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Speaker 10: an indictment of the health system for its failure to

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Speaker 10: respond to complaints two years ago. Patients who have been

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Speaker 10: harmed and the relatives of those who have died are

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Speaker 10: demanding an explanation from Queensland Health about the doctor's proficiency

349
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Speaker 10: and condor. The Courier Mail has been told of how

350
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Speaker 10: at least one specialist at the hospital was so concerned

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Speaker 10: he pleaded with nurses to hide his patients in various

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Speaker 10: wards to prevent them from being seen by the doctor.

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Speaker 10: But mister Nuttle and Director General, Doctor Steve Buckland yesterday

354
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Speaker 10: went to Bunderberg Base Hospital to tell a confidential staff

355
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Speaker 10: meeting that the evidence gathered by Queensland Health in relation

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Speaker 10: to the doctor's conduct would not be made available. They

357
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Speaker 10: admonished staff for leaking some of the evidence, which embarrassed

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Speaker 10: mister Nuttle because it was revealed in State parliament last

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Speaker 10: month before he was aware that an investigation by his

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Speaker 10: own chief Health officer was under way. The doctor whose

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Speaker 10: Queensland Medical Board registration lapsed last week, quit his job

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Speaker 10: and left Australia at Easter, days after the concerns were

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Speaker 10: made public.

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Speaker 1: Accompanied by a file photograph of Gordon Nuttle. The story

365
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Speaker 1: continued with a quote from my medical source about how

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Speaker 1: it was an outrageous comp that the doctor's departure had

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Speaker 1: been used by Queensland Health to end its investigation and

368
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Speaker 1: pull down the shutters. It included the accusations made in

369
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Speaker 1: State Parliament at a reference to the Queensland Health report

370
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Speaker 1: that I had been leaked in late two thousand and three,

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Speaker 1: warning that a growing number of overseas trained doctors rushed

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Speaker 1: into the public hospitals, lacked medical competence and capability and

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Speaker 1: put patients at risk. The adrenaline was still flowing when

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Speaker 1: I left the office. On the way home, I dropped

375
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Speaker 1: into a bar for a beer with my colleague Des Houghton,

376
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Speaker 1: who had been writing about the Betty Government's secret state culture.

377
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,760
Speaker 1: Deirs was fascinated by the Bunderberg Hospital story. He reckoned

378
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:51,040
Speaker 1: there had to be much more to it. Steve Buckland

379
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:55,520
Speaker 1: left the taxpayer owned aircraft and headed home, as Darren

380
00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:59,360
Speaker 1: Keating had done the night before. In Bunderberg. Buckland went

381
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,840
Speaker 1: to his home computer to search for details about Jayant

382
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:08,840
Speaker 1: Pateel's United States registration. It took him some time after

383
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:12,879
Speaker 1: he located the relevant sites in Oregon and New York State,

384
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Speaker 1: and then navigated the options until the truth about Patel's

385
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:22,960
Speaker 1: incompetence appeared. He made printouts. Buckland called Jerry Fitzgerald at

386
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Speaker 1: home and told him of the stunning findings. They agreed

387
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Speaker 1: that Fitzgerald should tell the Medical Board. As a matter

388
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Speaker 1: of urgency. Buckland knew he had to deliver the political

389
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Speaker 1: dynamite to Gordon Nuttle too. He decided to wait a day.

390
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,560
Speaker 1: More time would help him develop a strategy which might,

391
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Speaker 1: if they were fortunate, limit the damage. If Patel's secret

392
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:52,919
Speaker 1: past leagued before everyone was back in the position of control,

393
00:24:53,359 --> 00:25:02,120
Speaker 1: the damage could be incalculable. Forty one put it in writing.

394
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Speaker 1: Eight April two thousand and five, Brisbane's Gung Home morning

395
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:13,600
Speaker 1: radio journalist Steve Austen for six to twelve ABC introduced

396
00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:17,919
Speaker 1: the story with gusto. The line about nurses hiding the

397
00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:22,760
Speaker 1: patients had grabbed his attention. His producer tracked Rob Messenger

398
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,359
Speaker 1: down in Sydney and quickly put him on the air

399
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:31,000
Speaker 1: Austin relating the Courier Male's page three lead story, asked

400
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:35,720
Speaker 1: Messenger if he felt vindicated now. The novice Bunderberg MP,

401
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:40,320
Speaker 1: whose bosses in Brisbane had instructed their media advisor Darren

402
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:44,119
Speaker 1: Davies to begin priming other media outlets to have another

403
00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,679
Speaker 1: crack at the story, said he had never doubted the

404
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:52,200
Speaker 1: concerns about Jaunt Patel. I'm supposed to be having lunch

405
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,720
Speaker 1: with Nuttle today, I told Ruth as the radio program

406
00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:59,640
Speaker 1: played out at home, it'll be an interesting conversation after

407
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:04,480
Speaker 1: the today. I bet he doesn't front up. My mobile

408
00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:08,600
Speaker 1: phone would not stop ringing. Darren Davies reckoned that doctor

409
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:13,719
Speaker 1: David Malloy, the president of the Australian Medical Association's Queensland branch,

410
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:18,000
Speaker 1: should be asked if he still stood by Patel. I

411
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,200
Speaker 1: wanted to talk to mLOY about whether he would support

412
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,439
Speaker 1: the release of the report by doctor Jerry Fitzgerald, the

413
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:29,119
Speaker 1: Chief Health Officer, or the establishment of a more exacting audit.

414
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:34,640
Speaker 1: Doctor mLOY began to put some distance between himself and Patel.

415
00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:38,639
Speaker 1: He told me I have not defended the doctor.

416
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 11: Doctor Patel is not a member of the AMA, and

417
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,199
Speaker 11: I did not feel compelled to defend him. We have

418
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:48,520
Speaker 11: been constantly arguing for better transparency in the health system,

419
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:51,560
Speaker 11: and part of the tension between Queensland Health and the

420
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,840
Speaker 11: medical organizations and the doctors they employ is over truth.

421
00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 11: It is in the public interest that the truth is

422
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,639
Speaker 11: told here. If there is a bad doctor in the system,

423
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,760
Speaker 11: we have to wear that. We strongly support the findings

424
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,520
Speaker 11: being made public. Covering up this stuff is not in

425
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,200
Speaker 11: the public interest. The fact that the doctor has left

426
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 11: town already is not a reason to not have these

427
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:15,320
Speaker 11: issues addressed. This is a serious inquiry. It is a

428
00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:18,160
Speaker 11: serious issue and in the public interest that the findings

429
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:22,120
Speaker 11: be made public. Twenty kilometers from Brisbane, the public health

430
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:24,520
Speaker 11: system runs on overseas crane doctors.

431
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 1: Given the dreadful publicity that usually accompanies ham fisted cover

432
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,639
Speaker 1: up attempts, I was puzzled by Gordon Nuttle's strategy in

433
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:36,920
Speaker 1: the staff dining room at Bunderberg Hospital the day before.

434
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Speaker 1: Surely he did not think all the staff would suddenly

435
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:46,919
Speaker 1: go quiet. What was his motive, I asked David molloy.

436
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 11: He doesn't want to undermine public confidence in the system

437
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:52,959
Speaker 11: that supplies hundreds of doctors to try to bury this

438
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,240
Speaker 11: is just so wrong. I'm concerned about the public interest

439
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 11: aspects of this, for the people of Bunderberg, for overseas,

440
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,399
Speaker 11: craned doctors and the health system.

441
00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:06,920
Speaker 1: Dennis Atkins was blessed with finally tuned political antennae, in

442
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,040
Speaker 1: part the result of his years working for a former

443
00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:14,199
Speaker 1: labor government in Queensland before returning to journalism at The Courier.

444
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:19,000
Speaker 1: Mail Atkins reckon the story was a cracker. He urged

445
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:23,080
Speaker 1: me to pursue it. Darren Davies called again from the

446
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:24,960
Speaker 1: opposition's office.

447
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,640
Speaker 12: The police are looking now at criminal negligence.

448
00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:32,200
Speaker 1: He wanted me to interview messenger. When I reached him

449
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,160
Speaker 1: in Sydney, he told me how Tess and Mark Brammich

450
00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 1: had been to the police to ask for a criminal

451
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:42,719
Speaker 1: investigation over the treatment received by Das.

452
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:45,840
Speaker 13: She supplied death certificates and all the information she has.

453
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 13: I heard firsthand the devastation in their lives. I'm still

454
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 13: feeling angry. I have told my staff to write to

455
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 13: the Medical Board and am asking them to investigate this matter,

456
00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 13: and I referred them to the previous correspondence. I have

457
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 13: also written into the Health Rights Commission. We would like

458
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 13: to see the report and if there's nothing to hide

459
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,680
Speaker 13: and nothing has gone wrong, they shouldn't need to keep

460
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 13: it secret.

461
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 1: Messengers said Tess and Mark Brammich were among some fifty

462
00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:15,880
Speaker 1: locals wanting action.

463
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,440
Speaker 13: There'll be a public meeting at the Brothers Club on Thursday.

464
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:24,000
Speaker 1: My next contact was with Mark Brammich to confirm his

465
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 1: visit to the police.

466
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,040
Speaker 11: We just want all the help we can get.

467
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 1: Dad didn't die because of the accident. He died because

468
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 1: of what happened in the hospital.

469
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:35,960
Speaker 14: We can't bring Dad back, but other people in.

470
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:39,000
Speaker 1: Bunderberg might benefit. Tess told me.

471
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,600
Speaker 15: Doctor Patel needs to answer a lot of questions that

472
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:43,000
Speaker 15: we have.

473
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:46,560
Speaker 1: The next call I made was to one of my

474
00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:50,800
Speaker 1: original contacts from late two thousand and three, doctor Chris Blenken,

475
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 1: who had told me about the debarkle over the Fiji

476
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:58,480
Speaker 1: train doctors being falsely passed off as orthopedic surgeons at

477
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 1: Harvey Bay Hospital. He had seen the paper that morning.

478
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 16: It's terrible. They're trying to bury it. The only justification

479
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,240
Speaker 16: is that the findings are so bad it could cause

480
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:14,080
Speaker 16: an extraordinary loss of confidence in the public system. If

481
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:15,800
Speaker 16: it seemed to be a cover up that will lead

482
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:16,960
Speaker 16: to a loss of confidence.

483
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,200
Speaker 1: Blencoln understood the dynamics immediately.

484
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:24,960
Speaker 16: They should have some form of public inquiry into how

485
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:26,880
Speaker 16: he came to be there in the first place and

486
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:29,960
Speaker 16: where the mistakes were made in the appointment process. They

487
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:33,040
Speaker 16: need to appoint investigators through the College of Surgeons to

488
00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,080
Speaker 16: perform a full audit into his surgery, as has been

489
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 16: done for the overseas trained doctors at Harvey Bay Hospital.

490
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:42,600
Speaker 16: The patient files, notes and statements will all be there.

491
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 16: There is such a smell about this that it is

492
00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:50,040
Speaker 16: terribly important to maintain public confidence. An open inquiry should

493
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:50,760
Speaker 16: be performed.

494
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 1: Before leaving the office to meet Gordon Nuttle, I wanted

495
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:58,920
Speaker 1: doctor Peter Woodraff on the record, a vice president of

496
00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:03,160
Speaker 1: the Royal Australia College of Surgeons. Doctor Woodruff worked for

497
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,960
Speaker 1: Queensland Health as a vascular surgeon at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

498
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:12,920
Speaker 1: I quickly briefed him on the issue and the circumstances.

499
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:14,360
Speaker 1: What should happen.

500
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 17: Doctor Woodruff replied, there's no question that it has to

501
00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:22,280
Speaker 17: be fully investigated and the public made aware of the findings.

502
00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 17: There is no justification for not releasing it. If there

503
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,800
Speaker 17: are complaints about surgical standards. As the body vested with

504
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:34,840
Speaker 17: responsibility and a track record for striving to maintain standards,

505
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 17: the College would happily investigate any perceived efficiencies and surgical outcomes.

506
00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:43,240
Speaker 17: We should be a party to anything that smacks of

507
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,120
Speaker 17: substandard surgery in this country so we can address it

508
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:47,040
Speaker 17: and correct it.

509
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:51,200
Speaker 1: If Queensland Health came under enough public pressure over the

510
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 1: report that it was refusing to disclose, I believed that

511
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 1: its leaders would crumble and relent. By the time Brendan

512
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:01,600
Speaker 1: mckennery had called to he was coming to pick me

513
00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:04,080
Speaker 1: up from the courier ail for the lunch meeting with

514
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,680
Speaker 1: Gordon Nuttel. I had more than enough in my notepad

515
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,000
Speaker 1: to form the basis for a strong follow up story

516
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:18,480
Speaker 1: in the Saturday paper. Michael Demi Gueraut reckoned. He had

517
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:22,280
Speaker 1: seen it all. A career public servant. He began as

518
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:26,160
Speaker 1: a junior clerk in the Mines Department. For the past

519
00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:30,600
Speaker 1: seventeen years, he had been Deputy Registrar of the Medical Board.

520
00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:35,520
Speaker 1: Even if he were ambitious, the prospects of career advancement

521
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:39,920
Speaker 1: were limited. He knew the job backwards. He developed and

522
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:44,440
Speaker 1: perused much of the paperwork, briefed perfunctory committee meetings, and

523
00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:48,280
Speaker 1: gave many of the doctors streaming into Queensland from overseas

524
00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 1: a legal rubber stamp to permit them to practice. But

525
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 1: on Friday, the Medical Board's executive officer, Jimo Dempsey, who

526
00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:01,320
Speaker 1: had been tipped off by Jerry Fitzgerald, asked Demi Gerau

527
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:06,560
Speaker 1: to drop everything. He was instructed to investigate JR. Patel's

528
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:11,680
Speaker 1: registration history in the United States, In particular, jim O

529
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:17,760
Speaker 1: Dempsey wanted to know anything about past disciplinary issues. Michael

530
00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:21,560
Speaker 1: Demi Gerou performed his own Internet search and retrieved the

531
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:26,040
Speaker 1: data from the Oregon Board of Medical Examiner's website. It

532
00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:31,040
Speaker 1: stunned him. It was inexcusable. When he went to Patel's

533
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:35,920
Speaker 1: complete file, he realized the travesty immediately. He and his

534
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:42,560
Speaker 1: staff had overlooked a crucial notation. It states standing public

535
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:47,760
Speaker 1: order on file sea attached. Demi Gerou turned the file over.

536
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: There was nothing attached. It had been omitted. The clue

537
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:57,360
Speaker 1: to the existence of discipline reaction and the documents setting

538
00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,960
Speaker 1: out what Patel had been disciplined for had been overlooked

539
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,880
Speaker 1: by the Medical Board staff. Had they followed up the

540
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:09,120
Speaker 1: clue or investigated Patel's background with a few clicks on

541
00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 1: the internet, the surgeon's incompetence in the US would have

542
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:18,560
Speaker 1: been playing. They would have seen another notation, it says.

543
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:24,360
Speaker 15: An amended stipulated order was entered on twelve September two thousand.

544
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:29,879
Speaker 15: The order restricted licensee from performing surgeries involving the pancreas,

545
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:35,239
Speaker 15: liver resections, and ilioanal reconstructions.

546
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,320
Speaker 1: Demi Guau went to the website of the New York

547
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:43,240
Speaker 1: State Office of the Professions. Its information was more damning,

548
00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:45,880
Speaker 1: more succinct.

549
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 18: Effective date five ten, two thousand and one, Action License

550
00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:55,840
Speaker 18: surrender misconduct description. The physician did not contest the charge,

551
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:59,240
Speaker 18: having been disciplined by the Oregon State Board of Medical

552
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:02,640
Speaker 18: Examiners for negligence involving surgical patients.

553
00:35:03,719 --> 00:35:08,480
Speaker 1: A bureaucrat to his bootstraps, Demigero began producing a report.

554
00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:14,600
Speaker 1: O'dempsey wanted a complete written explanation for this debacle. Under

555
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,520
Speaker 1: the heading learnings, Demiguerou would.

556
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:21,520
Speaker 19: Write, an incident such as this provides an opportunity to

557
00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:24,880
Speaker 19: reflect on the effectiveness of procedures in place and to

558
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:29,200
Speaker 19: consider any changes which might ensure the circumstances which arose

559
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:30,960
Speaker 19: in this case cannot reoccur.

560
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:41,960
Speaker 1: Chapter forty two, The Backlash. Eight April two thousand and five,

561
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,720
Speaker 1: Tony Hoffman went to work three hours later than usual

562
00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:50,400
Speaker 1: after her long day at the conference in Brisbane, a

563
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 1: secret visit with Karen Fox to the officers of the

564
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:57,439
Speaker 1: Courier mail, the flight back to Bunderberg, and another night

565
00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:01,560
Speaker 1: of sleepless worry. She was glad to be starting at

566
00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:06,920
Speaker 1: eleven am. It was a small mercy. Tony remained fearful.

567
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,839
Speaker 1: The article about the visit by Steve Buckland and the

568
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:15,280
Speaker 1: Minister Gordon Nuttle, and the provocative headline about the nurses

569
00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:19,480
Speaker 1: hiding patients from Jayant Patel, were the subject of gossip

570
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:25,040
Speaker 1: and speculation among staff. In the wards, Darren Keating kept

571
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:28,880
Speaker 1: his head down. He had told only his wife and

572
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:33,360
Speaker 1: the Director General, Steve Buckland, and Jennifer Kirby, a colleague

573
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,000
Speaker 1: and friend at the hospital, about the results of his

574
00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:40,279
Speaker 1: Google search. They each had as much to lose as

575
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:46,480
Speaker 1: he did. Peterleck remained ignorant of the discovery. Dianne Walls,

576
00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:49,200
Speaker 1: the acting Director of Nursing, called a meeting of about

577
00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:54,520
Speaker 1: fifteen senior nurses. After Hoffman arrived in the seminar room

578
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:58,440
Speaker 1: on the third floor, Walls, who had cut the article

579
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:02,160
Speaker 1: from the newspaper, vented her anger over the latest blaze

580
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:08,040
Speaker 1: of publicity. I'm appalled, she said. Walls told the nurses

581
00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:12,800
Speaker 1: that anonymous sources were clearly trying to create unnecessary mischief

582
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:17,959
Speaker 1: and mayhem. She suspected someone in the meeting. A few

583
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,120
Speaker 1: of the nurses there were also angry over the leak.

584
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:26,319
Speaker 1: They felt threatened. Hoffman believed that Walls had fingered her

585
00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:30,799
Speaker 1: as the prime suspect. In Hoffman's favor, however, was her

586
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:34,680
Speaker 1: absence from Bunderbergh. During the dressing down delivered by Steve

587
00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:38,960
Speaker 1: Buckland and Gordon Nuttle, Tony called out to Walls from

588
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:40,120
Speaker 1: the back of the room.

589
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:44,360
Speaker 2: Why is it appalling? It's all true jail.

590
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,080
Speaker 1: Alma had made a point of moving off to one

591
00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:51,120
Speaker 1: side of the room. She very deliberately made herself a

592
00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:55,560
Speaker 1: highly visible study of concentration. She had a pretty good

593
00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 1: idea that Hoffman was behind the article in the Courier Male.

594
00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:02,960
Speaker 1: In the past months, when Tony had confided some of

595
00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:06,880
Speaker 1: the actions she was taking to stop until operating, Alma

596
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,120
Speaker 1: half jokingly told her friend and colleague that she needed

597
00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:11,839
Speaker 1: to see a psychiatrist.

598
00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:14,560
Speaker 2: You're certifiable, she would say.

599
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:18,880
Speaker 1: But Dianne Walls had not been joking in her efforts

600
00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:22,720
Speaker 1: to persuade Hoffman to have counseling four mental stress.

601
00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:26,360
Speaker 3: We're all really worried about you, Tony. Peter Leck is

602
00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 3: especially worried about you.

603
00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 1: Please seek some help. Hoffman was going mad. She was

604
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:36,200
Speaker 1: mad with management for its inertia and its blinked approach

605
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:40,080
Speaker 1: to Patel. Alma held up the article in the meeting.

606
00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:41,919
Speaker 3: I don't know about this.

607
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:47,640
Speaker 1: The other nurses looked at her. She emanated authority and credibility.

608
00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:50,600
Speaker 1: She was about to throw Hoffman a lifeline.

609
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:53,560
Speaker 10: I've read it closely, and I reckon the information in

610
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:54,960
Speaker 10: it has come from a doctor.

611
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:58,200
Speaker 3: It reads like something from a doctor, not a nurse.

612
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:03,800
Speaker 1: Everyone bore it. They agreed a doctor was behind the league.

613
00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:23,440
Speaker 1: Hoffmann sided with relief. The meeting ended Chapter forty three

614
00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:30,280
Speaker 1: Mind Games eight April two thousand and five. The Hellenic Club,

615
00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:33,800
Speaker 1: in a time worn building on Russell Street in South Brisbane,

616
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:37,040
Speaker 1: is a favorite meeting place for the Greek community's senior

617
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:41,640
Speaker 1: citizens and their sons. Its old tables on the outdoor

618
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 1: patio sit uneasily on crack tiles overlooking a neglected garden

619
00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:50,759
Speaker 1: and driveway. The club has none of the refinement of

620
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:56,080
Speaker 1: the riverside restaurants favored by politicians and business leaders. Despite

621
00:39:56,120 --> 00:40:01,040
Speaker 1: its authentic and remarkable food, friendly staff and casual atmosphere,

622
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:03,360
Speaker 1: it is the last place you would expect to find

623
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:07,760
Speaker 1: a cabinet minister. For Gordon Nuttle, it was the perfect

624
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:10,440
Speaker 1: venue for a low key chat with a journalist who

625
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:14,960
Speaker 1: had become one of his government's thorns. Leo Kelleherth, the

626
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:18,799
Speaker 1: Premiers Director General, still wanted my guts for Garters for

627
00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:23,080
Speaker 1: exposing the freedom of information fiasco and the remarkable appointment

628
00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:27,440
Speaker 1: two months earlier of Kathy Taylor. By meeting with me,

629
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:32,800
Speaker 1: Gordon Nuttle was fraternizing with the enemy at an outside

630
00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:36,719
Speaker 1: table as the Greek regular savored souvlaki and ribbed each

631
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:41,240
Speaker 1: other over card games. Nuttle and I talked. My estimation

632
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:44,440
Speaker 1: of him rose because he had fronted after being stitched

633
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:48,480
Speaker 1: up in that day's newspaper. At least he was not precious.

634
00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:53,680
Speaker 1: After a tentative introduction, he spoke about the challenges confronting

635
00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,560
Speaker 1: Queensland health as he sipped a beer. He stressed the

636
00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:02,920
Speaker 1: brutal reality a fine amount of money and an infinite

637
00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:08,080
Speaker 1: number of costly medical procedures. He came across as a realist,

638
00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:11,920
Speaker 1: being as honest as he dared about a system under strained.

639
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:17,080
Speaker 1: We exchanged ideas and anecdotes. He told me of his

640
00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:21,000
Speaker 1: respect for some of my colleagues and his contempt for others.

641
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:25,399
Speaker 1: At one stage, he asked why I was laboring at

642
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:28,120
Speaker 1: the Courier Mail, and wanted to know why I had

643
00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:32,400
Speaker 1: not moved elsewhere, like into a more lucrative job in government.

644
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:37,399
Speaker 1: He was ambitious. When I asked him about taking on

645
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:41,920
Speaker 1: what was arguably the toughest job in cabinet, Gordon Nuttle laughed.

646
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:47,880
Speaker 1: Despite health being a huge promotion from the industrial relations portfolio,

647
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:52,480
Speaker 1: none of his colleagues had wanted it. He decided that

648
00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:56,760
Speaker 1: they were whimps. If he made a good fist of health,

649
00:41:56,800 --> 00:42:01,480
Speaker 1: he would prove his credentials as a premiership contender. None

650
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:04,200
Speaker 1: of the logs around the cabinet table could see the

651
00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:07,640
Speaker 1: potential of health and how a competent chief might soar

652
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:11,719
Speaker 1: in the portfolio. That's how he saw it. For all

653
00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:16,720
Speaker 1: his ambition, Nuttle was not an insider. Premier Peter Beatty

654
00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:21,719
Speaker 1: was weary of him. The Deputy Premier and Treasurer Terry Macknroth,

655
00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 1: and the Racing Minister Robert Schwarten had little time for him.

656
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:30,280
Speaker 1: He had succeeded in bringing in anti smoking measures which

657
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:34,480
Speaker 1: infuriated the major clubs and threatened to dent the revenues

658
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:40,320
Speaker 1: from poker machines. Macenroth had opposed the proposals. The bottom

659
00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:44,080
Speaker 1: line for Treasury was a loss. The bean counters did

660
00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:47,440
Speaker 1: not factor in the future savings from improving the health

661
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:52,520
Speaker 1: of individuals. Nuttle spoke highly of Education Minister Anna Bly,

662
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:56,560
Speaker 1: who was struggling to limit fallout from the tardy handling

663
00:42:56,640 --> 00:43:00,840
Speaker 1: of the issue of asbestos in schools, and he praised

664
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:04,440
Speaker 1: Attorney General Rod Welford, who had been damaged by legal

665
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:08,400
Speaker 1: bungles and speculation over his conduct at a Christmas party.

666
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:13,040
Speaker 1: Nuttle was also close to a former Deputy Premier, Jim Elder,

667
00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:17,399
Speaker 1: who had quit over a vote wroughting scandal. I had

668
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:21,319
Speaker 1: the unfortunate assignment of confronting Elda at his home with

669
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:26,720
Speaker 1: the evidence of the rards, precipitating his sudden resignation. Nuttle

670
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:30,560
Speaker 1: relied on Jim Elder's wife, Lisa Shilts for advice on

671
00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:35,560
Speaker 1: media management. She had been his ministerial media adviser until

672
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:39,640
Speaker 1: transferring to the most senior media management role in the department.

673
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:44,680
Speaker 1: Answering to Steve Buckland, I suspected that both Schiltz and

674
00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:49,759
Speaker 1: Elder were not among my fans. Nuttle's big picture analysis

675
00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:52,799
Speaker 1: of health was interesting for its honesty, but it did

676
00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:56,880
Speaker 1: not advance the issue I wanted to drive. I broached

677
00:43:56,960 --> 00:44:00,239
Speaker 1: the Bunderberg story. I told Nuttle that I believed it

678
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:06,640
Speaker 1: had legs. His response baffled and angered me. Nuttles said, I.

679
00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:08,759
Speaker 6: Have to be fair to the doctor. He has not

680
00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:10,400
Speaker 6: received natural justice.

681
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:14,920
Speaker 1: He asked me what I thought about the predicament, and

682
00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:18,120
Speaker 1: I replied, You've got a doctor who has forfeited his

683
00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:21,799
Speaker 1: right to natural justice by leaving, and now you've got

684
00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:24,239
Speaker 1: a hospital with a lot of angry staff who think

685
00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:28,120
Speaker 1: you are covering it up. How does doctor Patel leaving

686
00:44:28,239 --> 00:44:32,560
Speaker 1: Australia somehow prevent a thorough investigation or the release of

687
00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:36,000
Speaker 1: the report. Surely you owe more to the staff and

688
00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:39,600
Speaker 1: the patients than you do to Pateel. If Patel turns

689
00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:41,480
Speaker 1: out to have been a major problem, you are going

690
00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:44,480
Speaker 1: to have to carry the can for him. I'm going

691
00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:47,279
Speaker 1: to Bunderberg first thing Monday morning to try to find

692
00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:51,160
Speaker 1: out exactly what has been going on there. But Nuttle

693
00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:54,480
Speaker 1: kept returning to the natural justice issue, which seemed to

694
00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:57,840
Speaker 1: me either a red herring or an idea someone else,

695
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:04,040
Speaker 1: perhaps Buckland, had pressed and exaggerated. Natural justice never worried

696
00:45:04,080 --> 00:45:07,239
Speaker 1: politicians when it came to launching at tax in parliament

697
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:11,479
Speaker 1: on perceived enemies. Why was it suddenly so concerning Now?

698
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:16,799
Speaker 1: My mobile phone rang. It was Rob Messenger calling with

699
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:21,239
Speaker 1: more information. He was determined to remain integral to the

700
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:24,080
Speaker 1: story that he had kicked off in Parliament on twenty

701
00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:28,040
Speaker 1: two March. I did not tell him why I couldn't chat.

702
00:45:29,040 --> 00:45:32,759
Speaker 1: Nuttle seemed to grasp the need for a strategy. The

703
00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:36,400
Speaker 1: meeting with Bunderberg staff the day before had rattled him.

704
00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:40,200
Speaker 1: Realizing the issue was not going away and might become

705
00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:45,080
Speaker 1: a serious problem. He groped for a remedy, a circuit breaker.

706
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:48,280
Speaker 1: He seized it when I told him I had spoken

707
00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:51,400
Speaker 1: to doctor Peter Woodroff minutes before coming to the lunch.

708
00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:55,759
Speaker 1: I told him about Woodroff's comments about the need for

709
00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:59,080
Speaker 1: the College of surgeons to be involved in any audit

710
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:03,640
Speaker 1: of ptel's. Nuttle was oblivious to the two thousand and

711
00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:07,800
Speaker 1: three report by one of his senior advisers, doctor Dennis Lennox.

712
00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:12,160
Speaker 1: Its warnings about the dangers inherent in the Medical Board

713
00:46:12,160 --> 00:46:17,120
Speaker 1: of Queensland's abysmal screening of overseas trained doctors, a number

714
00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:21,200
Speaker 1: of whom lacked competence, had been front page news before

715
00:46:21,280 --> 00:46:26,080
Speaker 1: Nuttle's appointment. Nuttle asked me to repeat the full name

716
00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:29,160
Speaker 1: of the report and its author. He made a note

717
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:33,000
Speaker 1: of it. I explained how the report had been published

718
00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:35,959
Speaker 1: in the Courier Mail in November two thousand and three,

719
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:39,680
Speaker 1: a few months before he took on the portfolio, and

720
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:43,680
Speaker 1: how its warnings and recommendations were backed up by respected

721
00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:48,480
Speaker 1: practitioners such as doctor Chris Blenken of the Australian Orthopedics

722
00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:53,440
Speaker 1: Association and doctor Anne Colb, president of the Royal Australasian

723
00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:57,239
Speaker 1: College of Surgeons. Nuttele told me he would ask his

724
00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:01,000
Speaker 1: department for a copy. When I began writing in a

725
00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:04,560
Speaker 1: mini notebook, Nuttle chose his words carefully.

726
00:47:05,719 --> 00:47:09,080
Speaker 6: These are matters of great concern to me. I understand

727
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:12,640
Speaker 6: that patients and families have concerns as well as staff.

728
00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:16,560
Speaker 6: We're trying to be open and accountable. There is nothing

729
00:47:16,600 --> 00:47:19,600
Speaker 6: in Fitzgerald's report that we want to hide, but we

730
00:47:19,680 --> 00:47:23,000
Speaker 6: are in a dilemma. I have a person here not

731
00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:27,160
Speaker 6: able to respond because he's left. We are obviously concerned

732
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:30,439
Speaker 6: about both the patients and the families, and that's why

733
00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:32,799
Speaker 6: we need to talk with the Chief Health Officer to

734
00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:34,520
Speaker 6: address those concerns.

735
00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:38,480
Speaker 1: When I asked about doctor Woodruff's offer, Nuttle.

736
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:41,279
Speaker 6: Replied, I'm happy to meet with the College and talk

737
00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:44,120
Speaker 6: about the issue. I'm not opposed to it. If that's

738
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:46,640
Speaker 6: the offer, I will talk to the Chief Health Officer.

739
00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:50,480
Speaker 6: What he indicated to me was that there were concerns

740
00:47:50,600 --> 00:47:53,040
Speaker 6: enough for him to refer the doctor to the Queensland

741
00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:56,359
Speaker 6: Medical Board. Now, if it can be sustained that these

742
00:47:56,400 --> 00:47:59,560
Speaker 6: allegations were made two years ago, we need to have

743
00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:02,200
Speaker 6: a real good look at the operations of the Bunderberg

744
00:48:02,280 --> 00:48:05,200
Speaker 6: Base Hospital, because I'm not happy that it's taken that

745
00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:06,880
Speaker 6: long to be brought to my attention.

746
00:48:09,239 --> 00:48:12,560
Speaker 1: The interview and the lunch over, Brendan mckennery fixed up

747
00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:15,440
Speaker 1: the bill and drove me back to the office. I

748
00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:18,880
Speaker 1: had everything I needed for the following day's story, it

749
00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:24,000
Speaker 1: was headlined police open file on doctor death's alleged killing.

750
00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:26,520
Speaker 1: This is what my story stated.

751
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:30,680
Speaker 10: A police probe into the alleged unlawful killing of a

752
00:48:30,719 --> 00:48:35,080
Speaker 10: Bunderberg based hospital patient began yesterday as the dead man's

753
00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:39,800
Speaker 10: grieving widow and son demanded full disclosure from Health Minister

754
00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:44,200
Speaker 10: Gordon Nuttle. De's Bramage fifty six was one of at

755
00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:49,000
Speaker 10: least fourteen patients whose treatment by the overseas trained doctor

756
00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:54,320
Speaker 10: Jank Tel alarmed hospital doctors and staff, prompting a top

757
00:48:54,440 --> 00:48:59,560
Speaker 10: level investigation by Queensland Health. Health professionals and heads of

758
00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:04,799
Speaker 10: Theustralian Medical Association and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

759
00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:08,960
Speaker 10: called on Queensland Health to openly deal with the preliminary

760
00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:13,440
Speaker 10: findings of Chief Health Officer, Doctor Jerry Fitzgerald. Their calls

761
00:49:13,520 --> 00:49:16,319
Speaker 10: came as mister Nuttle revealed he was told by doctor

762
00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:20,719
Speaker 10: Fitzgerald that the issues surrounding doctor Patel were serious and

763
00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:25,000
Speaker 10: warranted referral and further inquiry by the Medical Board of Queensland,

764
00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:26,680
Speaker 10: which prosecutes doctors.

765
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:31,880
Speaker 1: The article continued and it included quotes from Mark Brammich,

766
00:49:32,200 --> 00:49:37,840
Speaker 1: doctor David Malloy Nuttle and doctor Woodruff. For the second

767
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:41,200
Speaker 1: time in as many days, the Minister's photograph ran as

768
00:49:41,239 --> 00:49:45,600
Speaker 1: a single column picture, this time with a prescient caption.

769
00:49:46,480 --> 00:49:57,799
Speaker 1: It said, Trying Times, Chapter forty four, Strategy nine to ten.

770
00:49:58,040 --> 00:50:03,200
Speaker 1: April two thousand and five. Peter wood have slept soundly

771
00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:07,480
Speaker 1: in the master bedroom of his motor cruiser Annabel, the

772
00:50:07,560 --> 00:50:11,040
Speaker 1: twenty three meter white hole. The beauty was gently rising

773
00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:13,800
Speaker 1: on the tide at its manly mooring when the leading

774
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:19,000
Speaker 1: vascular surgeon's mobile phone began bleeping about six am. His

775
00:50:19,120 --> 00:50:22,799
Speaker 1: wife Maria woke him. The phone was upstairs on the

776
00:50:22,840 --> 00:50:27,800
Speaker 1: counter near the kitchen. Called so early usually meant bad news,

777
00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:31,280
Speaker 1: thought Woodruff as he walked up the polished teak steps.

778
00:50:32,239 --> 00:50:35,800
Speaker 1: Was it a clinical crisis at the Princess Alexandra Hospital

779
00:50:36,440 --> 00:50:40,439
Speaker 1: for an accident involving someone in his family? He had

780
00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:44,360
Speaker 1: purchased Annabel shortly after the September eleven catastrophe at the

781
00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:48,279
Speaker 1: World Trade Center. He and Maria tried to escape to

782
00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:52,000
Speaker 1: the boat most weekends, and they often succeeded in luring

783
00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:57,040
Speaker 1: their eldest daughter, Samantha. Her husband, Roger Traves, a leading lawyer,

784
00:50:57,600 --> 00:50:59,880
Speaker 1: and their little ones for day trips to the beach

785
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:04,480
Speaker 1: at Peel Island. Since Peter and Maria's children had grown

786
00:51:04,600 --> 00:51:08,200
Speaker 1: up and moved away, the family home at Chelma overlooking

787
00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:11,279
Speaker 1: the Brisbane River had lost some of its appeal, but

788
00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:16,360
Speaker 1: Annabel turned heads on Morton Bay. She was the perfect sanctuary.

789
00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:21,360
Speaker 1: After battles with administrators at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. The

790
00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:25,560
Speaker 1: early morning caller was deb Podbury, a bay of Woodrooff's

791
00:51:25,560 --> 00:51:29,359
Speaker 1: professional life. He suspected he was about to be reprimanded.

792
00:51:29,680 --> 00:51:33,359
Speaker 1: A tough Queensland Health District manager with a reputation for

793
00:51:33,480 --> 00:51:37,040
Speaker 1: towing the corporate line and taking the clinicians to task.

794
00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:40,800
Speaker 1: Podbury had attempted to reign in Woodroff in the past.

795
00:51:41,520 --> 00:51:46,399
Speaker 1: His well intentioned to contact with journalists had caused alarm.

796
00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:50,759
Speaker 1: During one memorable made for television event by Premier Peter

797
00:51:50,880 --> 00:51:54,880
Speaker 1: Beatty to the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woodroff beat the Premier

798
00:51:54,960 --> 00:51:58,400
Speaker 1: at his own game. As the cameras rolled and the

799
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:02,960
Speaker 1: self proclaimed political Metas Tart talked up the hospital's capabilities,

800
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:08,040
Speaker 1: Woodrof told him the reality there were too few beds,

801
00:52:08,080 --> 00:52:13,600
Speaker 1: severely limited funding, patients were not receiving timely treatment. From

802
00:52:13,640 --> 00:52:18,160
Speaker 1: a public relations perspective, this was dreadful for Beaty Damning.

803
00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:21,799
Speaker 1: The Evening News played it up. It was the sort

804
00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:26,160
Speaker 1: of spectacle that the bureaucrats, who probably regarded the satirical

805
00:52:26,360 --> 00:52:31,879
Speaker 1: Yes Minister program as a serious documentary never forgot. Dev

806
00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:35,440
Speaker 1: Podbury's tone and the hour of the call put Woodroof

807
00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:39,320
Speaker 1: on guard. When she sounded sorry for disturbing his sleep,

808
00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:40,160
Speaker 1: he relaxed.

809
00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:44,320
Speaker 3: Have you read this morning's paper, she asked him.

810
00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:47,640
Speaker 1: Woodroff, who was yet to see Saturday's edition of the

811
00:52:47,719 --> 00:52:52,640
Speaker 1: Courier Ale, wondered what it said. No, I haven't, he replied.

812
00:52:53,440 --> 00:52:55,680
Speaker 3: There's a rogue doctor and the Minister is going to

813
00:52:55,760 --> 00:52:58,680
Speaker 3: have an inquiry into it. Your name has been suggested

814
00:52:58,719 --> 00:52:59,719
Speaker 3: as an investigator.

815
00:53:00,480 --> 00:53:04,200
Speaker 1: She was friendly, asking if he would have any objection

816
00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:06,760
Speaker 1: to receiving a call from Gordon Nuttle.

817
00:53:07,400 --> 00:53:07,920
Speaker 17: Of course not.

818
00:53:08,640 --> 00:53:10,920
Speaker 3: You will possibly hear from him or his department in

819
00:53:10,960 --> 00:53:11,640
Speaker 3: the near future.

820
00:53:13,080 --> 00:53:17,319
Speaker 1: About twenty minutes later, Nuttle called, would have found the

821
00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:19,880
Speaker 1: early morning activity a little hard to follow.

822
00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:22,680
Speaker 6: I would like you to join a team to review

823
00:53:22,719 --> 00:53:26,160
Speaker 6: the issues at Bunderberg Base Hospital, involving doctor Patel.

824
00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:28,120
Speaker 1: Nuttle told him.

825
00:53:28,600 --> 00:53:31,640
Speaker 17: No problem at all, Minister. We have had rogue doctors before.

826
00:53:31,680 --> 00:53:33,600
Speaker 17: This should be pretty straightforward.

827
00:53:33,920 --> 00:53:36,600
Speaker 6: No, this is serious, very serious.

828
00:53:37,719 --> 00:53:40,640
Speaker 1: After the call, Woodruff went to a nearby shop to

829
00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:43,760
Speaker 1: buy the paper. When he read the article, he still

830
00:53:43,760 --> 00:53:49,160
Speaker 1: couldn't understand why Nuttle and Podbury seemed so worried. At

831
00:53:49,160 --> 00:53:52,359
Speaker 1: the same time, my enthusiasm for the story was now

832
00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:57,080
Speaker 1: tempered with concern. The College of Surgeons wanted to be involved,

833
00:53:57,320 --> 00:54:00,640
Speaker 1: the Minister had begun to take it seriously, and the

834
00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:06,799
Speaker 1: Australian Medical Association also now urged a thorough review. What

835
00:54:07,040 --> 00:54:10,480
Speaker 1: if the investigations determined that things were not nearly as

836
00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:14,080
Speaker 1: bad as Tony Hoffman had claimed. I spoke to her

837
00:54:14,160 --> 00:54:17,080
Speaker 1: that Saturday morning and I said, if what you are

838
00:54:17,120 --> 00:54:20,000
Speaker 1: saying is right, I reckon there's a good chance it

839
00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:26,400
Speaker 1: will come out. My qualified comment angered Tony. She replied crossly.

840
00:54:27,239 --> 00:54:30,879
Speaker 2: You still doubt me, don't you. You're not convinced yet.

841
00:54:31,239 --> 00:54:35,200
Speaker 2: I promise you it's much worse than people think. It's shocking.

842
00:54:36,400 --> 00:54:39,280
Speaker 1: I was on my mobile phone at the Rockley Markets

843
00:54:39,320 --> 00:54:43,480
Speaker 1: while Ruth and the children shopped for fruit. A leaflet

844
00:54:43,480 --> 00:54:47,279
Speaker 1: for the local subway sandwich outlet became my notepaper, as

845
00:54:47,320 --> 00:54:50,160
Speaker 1: Hoffman vented her Anger Queens.

846
00:54:49,880 --> 00:54:52,560
Speaker 2: And Health spends a lot of money teaching us about

847
00:54:52,680 --> 00:54:56,560
Speaker 2: risk management and putting us through courses on open disclosure,

848
00:54:56,880 --> 00:54:59,720
Speaker 2: and then when we need to disclose, the system fails.

849
00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:03,360
Speaker 2: People went in for simple operations and came out missing

850
00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:07,719
Speaker 2: a scleen. Doctors and administrators don't know how bad it

851
00:55:07,760 --> 00:55:11,160
Speaker 2: has been. It's the ICU nurses who have had to

852
00:55:11,200 --> 00:55:15,480
Speaker 2: go in each day and look after his complications, and

853
00:55:15,560 --> 00:55:19,080
Speaker 2: who had to lie to patients about what had gone wrong.

854
00:55:19,640 --> 00:55:22,759
Speaker 2: He was still performing surgery until the end. On the

855
00:55:22,880 --> 00:55:25,960
Speaker 2: day it was raised in state Parliament, he was operating

856
00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:29,439
Speaker 2: that night and didn't seem at all concerned. He would

857
00:55:29,600 --> 00:55:34,160
Speaker 2: ingratiate himself by buying the alcohol at parties and gifts

858
00:55:34,200 --> 00:55:37,960
Speaker 2: for the other staff. There are lies in the death certificates.

859
00:55:38,680 --> 00:55:40,560
Speaker 2: We don't know the full extent of it.

860
00:55:42,120 --> 00:55:46,040
Speaker 1: Her impassioned account bolstered my confidence, and I felt guilty

861
00:55:46,160 --> 00:55:49,040
Speaker 1: for doubting her. My plan was to head into the

862
00:55:49,040 --> 00:55:51,319
Speaker 1: office to pick up the files I would need for

863
00:55:51,400 --> 00:55:55,399
Speaker 1: the two night visit to Bunderberg. The later story had

864
00:55:55,440 --> 00:56:00,800
Speaker 1: provoked some strong reaction on my office computer from Darren

865
00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:03,440
Speaker 1: Davies flagged the doorstop media conference.

866
00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:07,800
Speaker 12: National Shadow Minister for Hell Stuart Copeland will be available

867
00:56:07,840 --> 00:56:11,360
Speaker 12: at Parliament House for comment on the Bunderberg Hospital issue

868
00:56:11,400 --> 00:56:14,640
Speaker 12: and mental health escapees from eleven thirty am or whenever

869
00:56:14,680 --> 00:56:15,440
Speaker 12: acquired today.

870
00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:18,680
Speaker 1: But it was the email that had popped in at

871
00:56:18,719 --> 00:56:23,160
Speaker 1: twelve twenty six pm from David Potter, the media advisor

872
00:56:23,239 --> 00:56:26,759
Speaker 1: for Gordon Nuttle, that peaud my interest head.

873
00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:29,600
Speaker 14: This is the release from men for yesterday. Minus asked

874
00:56:29,640 --> 00:56:32,520
Speaker 14: Jerry Fitzgerald to call you, so I've given Jerry your number.

875
00:56:33,080 --> 00:56:37,719
Speaker 14: Cheers Potter. The media release that David attached to the

876
00:56:37,760 --> 00:56:39,359
Speaker 14: email was fascinating.

877
00:56:40,880 --> 00:56:46,200
Speaker 10: April nine, two thousand and five. Minister announces Bunderberg Hospital

878
00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:51,200
Speaker 10: services review. Health Minister Gordon Nuttle today announced a comprehensive

879
00:56:51,400 --> 00:56:55,640
Speaker 10: review of safety and quality at the Bunderberg Base Hospital.

880
00:56:56,400 --> 00:56:59,640
Speaker 10: Mister Nuttle said he has also been informed by Independent

881
00:56:59,760 --> 00:57:04,200
Speaker 10: Chief Health Officer, doctor Jerry Fitzgerald that issues regarding a

882
00:57:04,239 --> 00:57:07,520
Speaker 10: doctor from the Bunderberg Hospital had been referred to the

883
00:57:07,600 --> 00:57:12,600
Speaker 10: Queensland Medical Board. Mister Nuttle said in light of allegations,

884
00:57:12,760 --> 00:57:17,040
Speaker 10: a full and comprehensive investigation of all clinical services will

885
00:57:17,080 --> 00:57:21,080
Speaker 10: be carried out by a panel, including Royal Australasian College

886
00:57:21,080 --> 00:57:26,000
Speaker 10: of Surgeons Vice President, Professor Peter Woodruff. All appointees will

887
00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:29,080
Speaker 10: be given investigative powers under the Health Act by the

888
00:57:29,120 --> 00:57:33,120
Speaker 10: Director General. The panel will report their findings to Doctor Fitzgerald.

889
00:57:33,320 --> 00:57:37,360
Speaker 10: The report will be made publicly available. Doctor Fitzgerald's recent

890
00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:41,000
Speaker 10: conducted audit of clinical services at the hospital showed issues

891
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:46,160
Speaker 10: of concern about individual patient outcomes. I would reiterate what

892
00:57:46,280 --> 00:57:49,000
Speaker 10: I have said this week that the correct process of

893
00:57:49,040 --> 00:57:53,040
Speaker 10: investigating concerns at the hospital was circumvented by the naming

894
00:57:53,120 --> 00:57:55,680
Speaker 10: of the doctor in the State Parliament by the Member

895
00:57:55,720 --> 00:57:59,600
Speaker 10: for Burnett. When concerns were first raised with my Department

896
00:57:59,800 --> 00:58:03,520
Speaker 10: and with Queensland Health, immediate action was taken through the

897
00:58:03,560 --> 00:58:07,560
Speaker 10: audit by doctor Fitzgerald, but clearly we must do more.

898
00:58:08,400 --> 00:58:11,600
Speaker 10: My major priority as Health Minister must be the welfare

899
00:58:11,640 --> 00:58:16,040
Speaker 10: of patients and staff. The Medical Board investigation will ensure

900
00:58:16,160 --> 00:58:20,320
Speaker 10: that any issues relating to the doctor concerned are thoroughly examined.

901
00:58:21,240 --> 00:58:24,760
Speaker 10: I need an absolute guarantee of quality and safety at

902
00:58:24,800 --> 00:58:29,000
Speaker 10: the Bunderberg Hospital to maintain not only my confidence, but

903
00:58:29,320 --> 00:58:33,360
Speaker 10: most importantly that of the public, patients and staff who

904
00:58:33,440 --> 00:58:37,480
Speaker 10: have aired their concerns deserve answers and if needed action,

905
00:58:38,120 --> 00:58:40,120
Speaker 10: Mister Nuttle said.

906
00:58:41,920 --> 00:58:45,640
Speaker 1: My only regret was the timing of its release. It

907
00:58:45,680 --> 00:58:49,240
Speaker 1: fell right into the lap of the Sunday Mail newspaper.

908
00:58:50,000 --> 00:58:53,240
Speaker 1: I emailed Tony Hoffmann and forwarded to her the media

909
00:58:53,360 --> 00:58:57,520
Speaker 1: release about the clinical review. I wrote, Tony, I came

910
00:58:57,560 --> 00:59:00,280
Speaker 1: into work today to get some files and this was

911
00:59:00,280 --> 00:59:03,720
Speaker 1: on my email. The truth is coming out. You will

912
00:59:03,720 --> 00:59:08,120
Speaker 1: be fine. When I rang Potter, he said that Nuttle

913
00:59:08,520 --> 00:59:12,320
Speaker 1: and the Chief Health Officer, Jerry Fitzgerald had just done

914
00:59:12,320 --> 00:59:15,960
Speaker 1: a media conference to talk about the review. I learned

915
00:59:15,960 --> 00:59:18,880
Speaker 1: that Fitzgerald had been mowing the lawn at home when

916
00:59:18,920 --> 00:59:21,960
Speaker 1: he received the call to come in and lend support

917
00:59:22,040 --> 00:59:32,080
Speaker 1: to Nuttle. Chapter forty five. Now they're talking. Ten April

918
00:59:32,200 --> 00:59:38,640
Speaker 1: two thousand and five. The seventeenth hole at Indrapilli Golf

919
00:59:38,680 --> 00:59:41,680
Speaker 1: Course is a long, dog legged par four with an

920
00:59:41,680 --> 00:59:46,000
Speaker 1: elevated green. Making it onto the putting surface in two

921
00:59:46,080 --> 00:59:50,280
Speaker 1: shots is a rare feat. My mobile phone was ringing

922
00:59:50,320 --> 00:59:54,840
Speaker 1: and vibrating in my trouser pocket. The swing disintegrated along

923
00:59:54,880 --> 00:59:58,480
Speaker 1: with a deep divot which advanced farther than the ball.

924
00:59:59,160 --> 01:00:00,680
Speaker 1: It was a dreadful mis Fire.

925
01:00:01,800 --> 01:00:06,120
Speaker 5: Hello, it's Jerry Fitzgerald, the Chief Health Officer. I'm sorry

926
01:00:06,120 --> 01:00:07,880
Speaker 5: for interrupting a Sunday.

927
01:00:08,360 --> 01:00:11,840
Speaker 1: As Potter had promised, the Chief Health Officer was calling

928
01:00:11,880 --> 01:00:15,440
Speaker 1: about the review. He and Nuttle had announced it the

929
01:00:15,560 --> 01:00:19,400
Speaker 1: day before the Sunday mails. Darryl Giles went to the

930
01:00:19,400 --> 01:00:23,120
Speaker 1: media conference along with the TV journalists. It made a

931
01:00:23,120 --> 01:00:27,720
Speaker 1: brief story. Jerry Fitzgerald, one of a few senior Queensland

932
01:00:27,760 --> 01:00:32,760
Speaker 1: health people who already knew about ptel's US background, explained

933
01:00:32,800 --> 01:00:35,840
Speaker 1: that he was happy to respond to questions about his

934
01:00:35,920 --> 01:00:40,160
Speaker 1: audit at Bunderberg Base Hospital. When I returned home from

935
01:00:40,160 --> 01:00:43,200
Speaker 1: the golf course and called him for a formal interview,

936
01:00:43,280 --> 01:00:48,080
Speaker 1: he was friendly and open. He did not volunteer any

937
01:00:48,200 --> 01:00:52,000
Speaker 1: clues to the highly sensitive revelation of the Oregon and

938
01:00:52,200 --> 01:00:58,280
Speaker 1: New York discipline reaction. Patiently and methodically, Fitzgerald told me

939
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:01,360
Speaker 1: about his clinical audit tw What.

940
01:01:01,360 --> 01:01:05,200
Speaker 5: We found came in two broad categories. Firstly, issues relating

941
01:01:05,280 --> 01:01:07,960
Speaker 5: to the scope of practice. He would tend to do

942
01:01:08,080 --> 01:01:11,080
Speaker 5: complex procedures that were outside the scope of a hospital

943
01:01:11,120 --> 01:01:14,560
Speaker 5: the size of Bunderberg, very complex operations that should have

944
01:01:14,560 --> 01:01:17,440
Speaker 5: been done somewhere else. And as a result of that,

945
01:01:17,560 --> 01:01:20,800
Speaker 5: in these complex cases, even in the best of hands,

946
01:01:20,800 --> 01:01:24,400
Speaker 5: there's a high complication rate. But certainly doing them at

947
01:01:24,400 --> 01:01:28,240
Speaker 5: Bunderberg without the support, the complication rate appears to be

948
01:01:28,320 --> 01:01:32,120
Speaker 5: higher than anyone would be happy with. Secondly, there's the

949
01:01:32,200 --> 01:01:37,320
Speaker 5: complication rate in general. We've got comparative data. It's evident

950
01:01:37,360 --> 01:01:40,480
Speaker 5: that he has a higher complication rate in certain aspects

951
01:01:41,040 --> 01:01:44,280
Speaker 5: we meet here, infection rates, rate of wound breakdown, and

952
01:01:44,360 --> 01:01:48,200
Speaker 5: damage to another organ during an operation. Certainly there were

953
01:01:48,240 --> 01:01:53,360
Speaker 5: some higher complication rates. The hospital, being a small country hospital,

954
01:01:53,720 --> 01:01:56,680
Speaker 5: did not have the systems and structures in place to

955
01:01:56,720 --> 01:01:57,400
Speaker 5: detect this.

956
01:01:57,640 --> 01:02:02,320
Speaker 1: Earlier or Old's answers did not tally with what I

957
01:02:02,480 --> 01:02:06,880
Speaker 1: understood Tony Hoffman and the other nurses had detected. I

958
01:02:07,080 --> 01:02:11,680
Speaker 1: asked about their disclosures and complaints. I believe that if

959
01:02:11,680 --> 01:02:15,479
Speaker 1: Fitzgerald backed Hoffman in print, she would be less likely

960
01:02:15,600 --> 01:02:20,120
Speaker 1: to suffer retribution. Jerry Fitzgerald responded.

961
01:02:20,080 --> 01:02:23,320
Speaker 5: I'm aware that there was some informal raising of the issues.

962
01:02:23,840 --> 01:02:26,360
Speaker 5: I'm not sure if that was raised in a written way.

963
01:02:27,000 --> 01:02:29,960
Speaker 5: Certainly the people who raised them were concerned that they

964
01:02:30,080 --> 01:02:33,440
Speaker 5: raised them and concerned that not too much had happened.

965
01:02:33,880 --> 01:02:36,120
Speaker 5: I have to pay tribute to the staff up there.

966
01:02:36,640 --> 01:02:39,280
Speaker 5: They were brave and persistent in their complaints and in

967
01:02:39,360 --> 01:02:42,960
Speaker 5: raising their concerns. The information they have brought to us

968
01:02:43,200 --> 01:02:46,040
Speaker 5: is factual in what it says. They were honest about it.

969
01:02:46,080 --> 01:02:48,240
Speaker 5: I do not have any reason to doubt them.

970
01:02:48,920 --> 01:02:52,560
Speaker 1: He said he had about six cardboard boxes filled with

971
01:02:52,640 --> 01:02:57,040
Speaker 1: files relating to the fourteen patients. Pinpointed by Hoffman.

972
01:02:57,640 --> 01:03:00,920
Speaker 5: We did not have enough information to confront Dr Patel

973
01:03:01,120 --> 01:03:05,000
Speaker 5: on all of those cases. We interviewed Dr Patel and

974
01:03:05,200 --> 01:03:08,040
Speaker 5: asked him what was going on. He did speak about

975
01:03:08,040 --> 01:03:11,480
Speaker 5: a higher level of wound breakdown, and he suggested these

976
01:03:11,480 --> 01:03:14,560
Speaker 5: were not really his fault. He thought that it was

977
01:03:14,640 --> 01:03:18,240
Speaker 5: largely a conflict with the people in intensive care. They

978
01:03:18,280 --> 01:03:20,800
Speaker 5: did not understand him or support him, and there was

979
01:03:20,840 --> 01:03:25,480
Speaker 5: a personality conflict. Even talking to him, it's probable that

980
01:03:25,560 --> 01:03:28,080
Speaker 5: he does not see himself as a bad man, and

981
01:03:28,160 --> 01:03:30,760
Speaker 5: he believed what he was doing was possibly in the

982
01:03:30,800 --> 01:03:32,200
Speaker 5: interests of those patients.

983
01:03:33,400 --> 01:03:38,960
Speaker 1: I asked about Patel's background and credentials. The Chief Health Officer,

984
01:03:39,240 --> 01:03:42,760
Speaker 1: who had known since the previous Thursday of the serious

985
01:03:42,800 --> 01:03:45,960
Speaker 1: concern over Patel's restrictions, did not miss a beat.

986
01:03:47,000 --> 01:03:49,640
Speaker 5: I have a copy of his CV. All cvs are

987
01:03:49,760 --> 01:03:52,960
Speaker 5: very broad in their description. I have not read one

988
01:03:53,040 --> 01:03:55,080
Speaker 5: yet that says I'm no good.

989
01:04:02,920 --> 01:04:06,760
Speaker 1: Sick to Death is written and presented by me Headley Thomas,

990
01:04:06,920 --> 01:04:12,080
Speaker 1: the Australian's national Chief correspondent. Claire Harvey is The Australian's

991
01:04:12,240 --> 01:04:17,640
Speaker 1: editorial director. Audio editing, production and music have been done

992
01:04:17,680 --> 01:04:23,000
Speaker 1: by Jasper Leik, with assistance from Leah Sammaglu and Neil Sutherland.

993
01:04:23,480 --> 01:04:28,440
Speaker 1: Our producer is Christain Amias. Production management by Stephanie Coombs.

994
01:04:29,120 --> 01:04:34,600
Speaker 1: Artwork by Sean Callanan. Thanks to Ryan Osland, Matthew Condon,

995
01:04:34,880 --> 01:04:41,560
Speaker 1: Karina Berger, Ellie Dudley, David Murray, Dominique McDermott, Zach Sculander

996
01:04:41,880 --> 01:04:45,680
Speaker 1: and all our family, friends and colleagues who helped in

997
01:04:45,720 --> 01:04:50,520
Speaker 1: this series and contributed voice acting and special thanks to

998
01:04:50,520 --> 01:04:56,120
Speaker 1: Tony Hoffman and Rob Messinger. Subscribers to The Australian here

999
01:04:56,360 --> 01:05:00,440
Speaker 1: new episodes of Sick to Death first at Sick to

1000
01:05:00,480 --> 01:05:05,840
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1001
01:05:05,880 --> 01:05:29,440
Speaker 1: exclusive access to photographs, videos, timelines and more at the website.