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Speaker 1: My name is Headley 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 Jan 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 this 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 three Nagging Doubts Good. Friday, twenty five March

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Speaker 1: two thousand and five, I sat at my desk on

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Speaker 1: Friday afternoon and contemplated the imminent start of a week's holiday,

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Speaker 1: a visit to my parents in law in Mackay and

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Speaker 1: a family camping exit petition at Hook Island farther north.

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Speaker 1: As the Friday afternoon wound down and my colleagues headed

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Speaker 1: to the Jubilee Hotel for a few drinks in the

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Speaker 1: Journalist's Bar in Brisbane, I remained troubled by Rob Messenger's

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Speaker 1: revelations in State Parliament three days earlier. A yellow A

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Speaker 1: four sized envelope from Tony Hoffman, who had followed through

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Speaker 1: on my request of months earlier to send documentary evidence

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Speaker 1: supporting her concerns was still gathering dust on my desk.

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Speaker 1: It contained copies of the statements that Rob Messenger had

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Speaker 1: tabled on twenty two and twenty three March on a

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Speaker 1: petition erected at my desk to give colleague Craig Johnston

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Speaker 1: and myself some privacy as we cajoled and flattered our contacts.

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Speaker 1: I had months earlier pinned a list of stories I

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Speaker 1: wanted to write. My most recent scrawl was overseas trained Doctors,

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Speaker 1: the Ticking time Bomb. I wanted to launch again into

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Speaker 1: an issue that had alarmed me when I wrote about

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Speaker 1: it in November two thousand and three. At the time,

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Speaker 1: it went nowhere, but the time bomb had been ticking

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Speaker 1: for some time now, had messengers sped it up. I

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Speaker 1: was also troubled on Friday afternoon because I had not

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Speaker 1: found time to investigate the statements in the yellow envelope

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Speaker 1: sent by Hoffmann in late February. The clues to Jayant

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Speaker 1: Patel's negligence fell between the cracks in my determination to

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Speaker 1: prove myself. After two costly legal actions brought separately in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and four by men who believe they had

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Speaker 1: been unfairly injured by my reporting, I aggressively pursued a

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Speaker 1: couple of big stories in early two thousand and five.

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Speaker 1: The major one explored the circumstances surrounding a Crime and

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Speaker 1: Misconduct Commission investigation into an alleged bribery attempt by Peter Beatty,

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Speaker 1: the premier of Queensland, of an impoverished Aboriginal community on

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Speaker 1: Palm Island near Townsville. Beatty, who faced a prison term

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Speaker 1: if found guilty, was severely rattled by the scandal. He

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Speaker 1: was livid with me for reporting that he had been

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Speaker 1: tape recorded while making the bribery pitch, which was the

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Speaker 1: waiver of an eight hundred thousand dollars debt in return

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Speaker 1: for a public truce with the community's indigenous leaders. Peter

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Speaker 1: Beatty had sought their smiles, handshakes and a cessation of

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Speaker 1: all hostilities. If they agreed, he would gain political cudos

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Speaker 1: in front of a media throng which had arrived on

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Speaker 1: the island. The bait was the cash. When the scandal broke,

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Speaker 1: it threatened not just his career but also his freedom.

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Speaker 1: After the revelation about the tape recorder was published with

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Speaker 1: Beattie's comments, which a reliable source had provided to me.

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Speaker 1: The Premier faced immense pressure in State Parliament, under relentless

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Speaker 1: questioning by the opposition, he admitted that he had made

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Speaker 1: the comments attributed to him. Subsequent investigations by the Crime

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Speaker 1: and Misconduct Commission showed, however, that the tape was blank.

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Speaker 1: The tape recording machine had malfunctioned. The comments which had

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Speaker 1: been provided to me and reported were based on a

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Speaker 1: detailed written file note made by the lawyers who heard beating.

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Speaker 1: The Premier, who had adopted the potentially incriminating comments as

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Speaker 1: entirely accurate on the basis that there was a tape recording,

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Speaker 1: was furious. He felt that he had been tricked by

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Speaker 1: my sources into admitting the truthfulness of a conversation which

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Speaker 1: could amount to a bribe. My contacts and my personal

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Speaker 1: loathing of the government's hitting addiction to secrecy delivered another scoop.

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Speaker 1: As the dust settled on Beatty's problem, it came in

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Speaker 1: the form of Kathy Taylor, a bureaucrat from Beattie's inner

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Speaker 1: circle who was appointed as the Freedom of Information Commissioner.

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Speaker 1: Taylor lacked qualifications for the job, and she had failed

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Speaker 1: to even make the short list until the intervention of

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Speaker 1: Beattie's top public servant, Leo kellerher on the selection panel.

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Speaker 1: Happily for Kathy Taylor, one of her referees was also

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Speaker 1: Leo Kellerher. One of Taylor's first decisions as the Commissioner

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Speaker 1: was to sack Greg Sorenson, the Deputy and one of

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Speaker 1: the most experienced FOI officers in Australia. Greg Sorenson had

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Speaker 1: angered the Beatty government for being too open with public information.

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Speaker 1: Kathy Taylor's elevation and Greg Sorenson's ousting appalled even some

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Speaker 1: of Beatty's backers. The Premier had sent a message that

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Speaker 1: the secrecy would become worse as I developed this story

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Speaker 1: of ugly opportunism. The Yellow Envelope lay dormant in early March,

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Speaker 1: before Rob Messenger's outpouring. I had fired up my reporting

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Speaker 1: colleague and friend, Michael McKenna to join me in investigating

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Speaker 1: the contents of Hoffmann's envelope. Micky, are you up for

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Speaker 1: a trip to Bunderberg, I asked Michael, who was back

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Speaker 1: from leave after reporting on the death and destruction in

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Speaker 1: Sri Lanka following the Asian tsunami. McKenna, whose father was

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Speaker 1: a prominent and highly respected pathologist before retiring, had also

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Speaker 1: written about concerns over the screening of overseas trained doctors.

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Speaker 1: He understood the issues, but until Rob Messengers stood up,

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Speaker 1: the other big stories had devoured our attention. Now, on

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Speaker 1: the afternoon of Good Friday, my plan was to take

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Speaker 1: Hoffman's Bunderbirs Hospital material to Mackay to show my father

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Speaker 1: in law, doctor Ian Matthewson, a retired GP if Ian

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Speaker 1: reckoned that the statements indicated potential wrongdoing. I would return

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Speaker 1: to work ready to take the story further. My last

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Speaker 1: task for the day involved emailing Tony Hoffman. I wanted

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Speaker 1: to buy some time by assuring her that I remained

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Speaker 1: keenly interested. I wrote, Dear Tony, I've been following with

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Speaker 1: interest the revelations in state Parliament through your local member,

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Speaker 1: mister Messenger. I've got your statements, and I'm aware that

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Speaker 1: the whole story is yet to be told. I'm hoping

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Speaker 1: to be able to come up to investigate a lot

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Speaker 1: of the issues and speak to you confidentially and some

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Speaker 1: of the other nurses, doctors, patients and their families in April.

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Speaker 1: Would you be able to assist I'll be away next

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Speaker 1: week regards Edlely Thomas Hoffman, worried sick and feeling increasingly

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Speaker 1: isolated at her home in Bunderberg, replied a few days later,

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Speaker 1: I would.

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Speaker 2: Very much like to meet with you and tell you

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Speaker 2: the whole story, which is huge. As you can imagine,

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Speaker 2: I'm in heaps of trouble. Although I have denied all

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Speaker 2: to this point, I have not reached the code of

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Speaker 2: conduct by going to the media. I have been threatened

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Speaker 2: with the CMC. I have read your excellent journalism with interest,

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Speaker 2: and the issues surrounding John Tong scares me. In spite

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Speaker 2: of this, I will meet with you as long as

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Speaker 2: I can remain anonymous. I don't know if anyone will

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Speaker 2: want to speak out now because of the threats. What

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Speaker 2: can you get with FOI can you get access to

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Speaker 2: the fact finding mission by Jerry Fitzgerald. Queensland government employees

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Speaker 2: desperately need some sort of agency we can go to,

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Speaker 2: and we have real concerns. At the moment the issue

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Speaker 2: has been taken off. The real issue, the patient's deaths, etc.

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Speaker 2: Is focused on who leaked the information. We really tried

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Speaker 2: to go through the right channels and nothing happened. I

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Speaker 2: will wait to hear from you. I will help you

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Speaker 2: with what I can.

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Speaker 3: Thanks Tony, Chapter thirty four Renewed Interest, twenty six March

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Speaker 3: two thousand and five.

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Speaker 1: The kitchen bench at Ian and Mary Matthewson's modest house

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Speaker 1: en Slade Point is often strewn with paper magazines and

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Speaker 1: torn out articles about medicine, science, the environment, inventions and

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Speaker 1: current affairs by for PreCure space, occasionally prompting Mary to

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Speaker 1: take matters into her own hands and file them in

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Speaker 1: the bin under the sink. Most of the time, my

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Speaker 1: mother in law tolerated the eccentricities of her gentle husband Ian.

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Speaker 1: Like many extraordinarily intelligent people, Ian, who went to medical

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Speaker 1: school in Aberdeen, north of his birthplace of Edinburgh in Scotland,

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Speaker 1: could make a hash of basic everyday tasks. It took

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Speaker 1: Mary an eternity to teach him how to double click

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Speaker 1: with a computer mouse. He would leave the house for

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Speaker 1: hours at a time with the oven turned on. Operating

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Speaker 1: the microwave was a major challenge. Occasionally there would be

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Speaker 1: an explosion of food or cutlery. Once he managed to

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Speaker 1: set a baked potato alight. Yet, when it came to

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Speaker 1: issues like the impact of genetics on the brain, advanced hydraulics,

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Speaker 1: and the history of space. Ian understood the detail and

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Speaker 1: often developed new theories. As a GP and senior partner

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Speaker 1: for many years in the Central Medical Group, a private

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Speaker 1: practice in Mackay, he was loved by his patients and

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Speaker 1: colleagues alike. There were many tears over his retirement due

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Speaker 1: to ill health. His patients felt they had lost a

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Speaker 1: doctor who cared passionately about their health. He was one

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Speaker 1: of the few gps left who regularly did house calls

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Speaker 1: for elderly or ill patients. In retirement, he gave up

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Speaker 1: his time to check on former patients. Whenever our children

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Speaker 1: were unwell, Ian was consulted first for an opinion. He

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Speaker 1: listened carefully before offering a prognosis. It always turned out correct.

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Speaker 1: Years after leaving the job, he remained intensely interested in

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Speaker 1: his profession, its development and policies, as he knew all

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Speaker 1: the senior medical practitioners in Mackay. He was aware of

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Speaker 1: the culture of bullying and the fears Queensland Health staff

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Speaker 1: had about speaking out about problems. He had been surprised

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Speaker 1: at the reluctance of some of his friends to speak

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Speaker 1: frankly to me off the record about serious mismanagement issues

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Speaker 1: they had witnessed in the hospitals and emergency departments in

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Speaker 1: which they worked. They had confided to Ian and initially

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Speaker 1: wanted to talk, but backed off fearing retribution. Ian disdained

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Speaker 1: the culture of concealment in the state government. Peter Beattie's

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Speaker 1: hypocrisy over freedom of information stuck in Ian's craw. He

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Speaker 1: was still cranky that the Medical Board of Queensland wanted

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Speaker 1: to take away from retired practitioners the time honored right

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Speaker 1: to call themselves doctors. In his Scottish brogue, he said to.

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Speaker 4: Me, politicians like Bitty get honorary doctorers. We went to university, faroge.

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Speaker 4: Why did he think they can take Ajawi?

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Speaker 1: After a few single malt whiskies from a favorite Highlands dicillery,

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Speaker 1: which sometimes convened a meeting of our own peculiar political organization,

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Speaker 1: the two member don't vote for anyone party with its

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Speaker 1: platform of reversing the law that made voting compulsory. Our

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Speaker 1: motto was taken from Charles de gaul, who.

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Speaker 4: Said politics is too dangerous a subject to be left

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Speaker 4: to politicians.

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Speaker 1: On Saturday, twenty six March. Ian sat at the cluttered

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Speaker 1: kitchen bench, absorbed in the statements Tony Hoffman had sent

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Speaker 1: to me. My mother in law, Mary prepared dinner, a

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Speaker 1: particularly spicy Indian chicken curry. Having grown up in a

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Speaker 1: hospital environment in Kooching on the island of Sarawak in Malaysia,

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Speaker 1: Mary slipped easily into nursing after leaving school. Her father,

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Speaker 1: and Toni Maramutu, whose family came from Madras in India,

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Speaker 1: was a manager and operating theatre superintendent at the hospital

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Speaker 1: where his daughter won her first job. She quickly fell

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Speaker 1: in love with the tall, gangly bagpipe playing Scott, who

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Speaker 1: had left the bitter winters of Scotland to practice in

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Speaker 1: the little hospital in exotic Couching. Their courtship had the

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Speaker 1: blessing of Mary's mother, Claire Gwan, a Chinese woman whose

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Speaker 1: marriage to an Indian man had caused a scandal three

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Speaker 1: decades earlier. After eight years together in Malaysia and then Brunei,

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Speaker 1: where Ian anaesthetized the world's richest man. When the Sultan

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Speaker 1: of Brunei fell from his polo pony, the family moved

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Speaker 1: to Mackay. Mary was for years a formidable force in

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Speaker 1: the central Queensland town, facing the Coral Sea, running the

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Speaker 1: Red Cross Blood Bank and surpassing plasma donation targets. Donors

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Speaker 1: and friends nicknamed her Bloody Mary. It was a favorite drink.

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Speaker 1: Ian was stroking his chin as he leaned into the

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Speaker 1: kitchen counter and read the documents I showed him about

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Speaker 1: the avoidable deaths and injuries.

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Speaker 4: This does not look good, he said to me. It

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Speaker 4: is very serious. The NUHS in charge of the intensive

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Speaker 4: care in has a very responsible position. Our opinions should

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Speaker 4: be taken seriously. I really think you should examine the

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Speaker 4: matters more thoroughly when you go back to work.

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Speaker 1: Ian's obvious concern surprised me. A fierce critic of lawyers

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Speaker 1: who made money running legal actions against doctors, he had

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Speaker 1: always been conservative and protective of fellow medical practitioners. Mistakes

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Speaker 1: were inevitable, doctors were not infallible. Ian I knew, would

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Speaker 1: almost always give a doctor the benefit of the doubt.

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Speaker 1: I suspected he adhered to an unwritten code that discouraged

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Speaker 1: doctors from speaking out about other doctors. One explained it simply.

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Speaker 4: There but for the grease of God goay.

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Speaker 1: Ian set out in laypersons language the unusual circumstances surrounding

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Speaker 1: several of the procedures and deaths listed in Tony Hoffmann's statements.

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Speaker 1: Ian said to.

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Speaker 4: Me, some of the things the scribed do not make sense.

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Speaker 4: I don't date the documentation. I think this doctor has

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Speaker 4: some serious competence issues.

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Speaker 1: As it was a Saturday, I telephoned a friend, David Murray,

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Speaker 1: a journalist on the Sunday Mail who was dating my wife,

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Speaker 1: Ruth's sister Katrina. Are you guys doing anything about this

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Speaker 1: doctor who was named in Parliament? I asked Dave. He

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Speaker 1: was busy with something else and facing an early deadline,

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Speaker 1: and not aware of any interest in the Jayant Betel story.

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Speaker 1: Ian has read some statements about the operations. I told him,

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Speaker 1: you know how conservative he is about doctors. He reckons

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Speaker 1: there's a lot more to this, and I think he's right.

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Speaker 1: He was shocked at some of the things this doctor did.

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Speaker 1: He wants me to follow it up when I go

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Speaker 1: back to work, but that won't be for another week.

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Speaker 1: What do you reckon? Dave considered my unsubtle suggestion that

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Speaker 1: he started investigating it, but he was bogged down. He said, sorry, mate,

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Speaker 1: I can't do it.

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Speaker 5: I hope you can pick it up when you're in next.

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirty five Time to Go twenty six March to

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Speaker 1: one April two thousand and five. Jam Patel began organizing

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Speaker 1: his escape. Although he had told Peter Leck that he

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Speaker 1: might stay on in Bunderberg, Patel prepared a contingency plan.

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Speaker 1: Lek could keep his health system. Patel just wanted out

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Speaker 1: of Bunderberg. He wanted to put as much much distance

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Speaker 1: as possible between himself and the bad news. He went

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Speaker 1: to see Peter Cronan, the operator of the local jet

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Speaker 1: Set Sun State travel agency. Patel said he wanted a

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Speaker 1: one way ticket to Portland, Oregon, business class. Cronan looked

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Speaker 1: at the schedule. It was a handy commission walk in.

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Speaker 1: Purchases of an international business class fair worth three and

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Speaker 1: a half thousand dollars were rare in Bunderberg. Patel had

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Speaker 1: been a good customer, spending a small fortune in the

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Speaker 1: past on international travel for himself and his wife and

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Speaker 1: daughter who came to visit. Most of the locals who

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Speaker 1: traveled abroad spent weeks planning their itinery and pouring over

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Speaker 1: various options. Often they wasted the travel agency's time before

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Speaker 1: buying a cheap affair on the internet, but Patel made

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Speaker 1: the arrangements on the spot and said he would pay

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Speaker 1: with cash. Cronan booked a flight leaving Bunderberg for Brisbane

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Speaker 1: on two April, with an overnight stay at the Comfort

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Speaker 1: Inn and Suites at Northgate, close to the airport. The

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Speaker 1: onward flight from Brisbane to the United States would depart

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Speaker 1: on three April, a week before Patel's fifty fifth birthday.

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Speaker 1: After two years at Bunderberg Base Hospital, Patel had seen

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Speaker 1: more than one thousand, four hundred and fifty patients. He

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Speaker 1: had performed more than one thousand operations. The damage he

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Speaker 1: had reaged was incalculable. Now he was going to flee

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Speaker 1: scot Free. On one April, April Fool's Day, Junt Patel

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Speaker 1: was about to have the last laugh. He was booked

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Speaker 1: to return to the United States, but even at this

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Speaker 1: late stage, Queensland Health Management and the Medical Board of

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Speaker 1: Queensland expected he might stay on as Director of Surgery.

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Speaker 1: Patel packed his bags. He would miss the apartment at

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Speaker 1: Baghara with its views east over the beach and the water.

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Speaker 1: At eight thirty am, one of the hospital's administrative staff

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Speaker 1: called Duncan Hill, an officer at the medical Board, to

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Speaker 1: find out if Patel's registration had been renewed since lapsing

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Speaker 1: on March thirty one. Duncan Hill asked to be transferred

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Speaker 1: to Peter Leck, who said he still did not know

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Speaker 1: whether the surgeon was staying or leaving. For the next

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Speaker 1: few hours, Patel went back and forth from Lek's office,

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Speaker 1: claiming to be unable to make up his mind on

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Speaker 1: whether to accept the offer of a new four month contract.

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Speaker 1: Peter Leck massage Patel's considerable ego. He bent over backwards

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Speaker 1: trying to accommodate him. When Patel saw doctor keyes Nidam,

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Speaker 1: his original sponsor from two thousand, in the corridor at

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Speaker 1: the hospital three days before the departure date, Patel explained

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Speaker 1: that he had already paid three and a half thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars for a flight back to the United States. Am

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Speaker 1: I able to claim this? He asked doctor Nidam. Yes, absolutely,

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00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:24,119
Speaker 1: came the reply. Emboldened, Patel told Peter Lek that he

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Speaker 1: wanted full reimbursement for the business class airfare and the

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Speaker 1: overnight accommodation in Brisbane. It was duly authorized. In the

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Speaker 1: previous three days, Patel had enjoyed stress related sick leave.

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Speaker 1: He used it well, hosting a farewell party at the

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Speaker 1: Indian Curry Bizarre restaurant. All his bunderberg friends came. There

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Speaker 1: were the nurses whom he had favored, the doctors, and

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00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:56,960
Speaker 1: a handful of the administrative staff. They championed Patel and

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Speaker 1: condemned those responsible for smearing his good name. Rob Messenger

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00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:07,439
Speaker 1: was steaming over the Australian Medical Association's latest attack on

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Speaker 1: him for naming Betel in Parliament. He was watching ducks

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Speaker 1: on a pond in Harvey Bay during an Indigenous youth

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Speaker 1: leadership forum. The ducks appeared to move effortlessly, yet he

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Speaker 1: knew they were frantically kicking beneath the water. Messenger was

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Speaker 1: feeling like a sitting duck himself, maybe even a political

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Speaker 1: dead duck. Nobody apart from the anonymous hospital staff and

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Speaker 1: a handful of patients, had backed him since he outed Pattel.

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Speaker 1: Dr David Molloy, the head of the Australian Medical Association,

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Speaker 1: had gone out of his way to blast Messenger.

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Speaker 6: It's an absolute disgrace that doctor Patel has been forced

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Speaker 6: to leave his job based on a gross misjudgment on

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Speaker 6: the opposition's part. Mister Messenger should realize that having no

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Speaker 6: one to care for his constituents when they are injured

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Speaker 6: and there is no emergency care for Bunderberg is a

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Speaker 6: terrible problem.

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Speaker 1: Using his mobile phone outside the forum, Messenger called mLOY

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Speaker 1: to ask whether the AMA Queensland President had even read

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Speaker 1: the letters tabled in state Parliament. Dr mLOY was conciliatory No,

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Speaker 1: he replied.

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Speaker 7: Isn't it about time that you got your fact straight

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Speaker 7: before you started making public comments.

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Speaker 1: He heard David mlloy say that he had it on

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Speaker 1: good authority that Patel was an innocent victim who had

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Speaker 1: been merely trying to whip some lazy nurses into shape.

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Speaker 1: Once again, it seemed that the medical community was sticking together.

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Speaker 1: In Brisbane. Kerry Gallagher, chief executive of the AMA in Queensland,

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Speaker 1: put the finishing touches to a counterattack on Rob Messenger.

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Speaker 1: Gallagher enjoyed writing for Doctor Q Organization's Glossy magazine, and

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Speaker 1: he particularly enjoyed writing the article headlined plumbing new depths.

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Speaker 8: He wrote, in Queensland, you would expect, certainly, at my age,

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Speaker 8: nothing that came from Queensland Parliament, Queensland politics, and most

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00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:26,080
Speaker 8: definitely from Queensland politicians would surprise this week. However, Queensland Parliament,

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Speaker 8: and one politician in particular, did surprise sadly. Indeed, it

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00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:36,960
Speaker 8: is more correct to say disappoint and disgust rather than surprise,

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Speaker 8: Accusing Messenger of plumbing depths of politics that would normally

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Speaker 8: be too low even for the average bathisphere to reach.

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Speaker 1: Gallagher scoffed at the notion that the local parliamentarian's cause

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Speaker 1: might have been noble. The CEO borrowed a quote from

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Speaker 1: a British priest who had been dead for half a century.

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00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 1: He applied it to Messenger, saying the parliamentarian maid.

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Speaker 8: A loud noise at one end and no sense of

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Speaker 8: responsibility at the other. Finally, I note that the Member

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Speaker 8: for Burnett is the Shadow Minister for Education and the Arts.

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Speaker 8: Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

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Speaker 1: Tony Hoffman had heard the AMA's reactions and its smug

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Speaker 1: repudiation of Rob Messenger. The senior nurse feared the worst.

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Speaker 1: She and the other nurses trusted only one Queensland Health executive,

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Speaker 1: the Chief Health Officer, Doctor Jerry Fitzgerald, but they were

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Speaker 1: bitterly disappointed. At the time, he was taking to do something.

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Speaker 1: Tony had kept doctor Fitzgerald's card since the visit in February,

356
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Speaker 1: and she called him. Fitzgerald listened carefully as the experienced

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Speaker 1: nurse broke down. Hoffman spoke to him through her tears.

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Speaker 2: I feel we're being made the scapegoats in this.

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00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:06,160
Speaker 1: Dr Fitzgerald was surprised.

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Speaker 7: My report is not going to say that it's going

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Speaker 7: to validate what you have said.

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirty six, Calm before the Storm early April two

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Speaker 1: thousand and five. The few nights camping on Hook Island

364
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 1: after staying with the Matthewsons in Mackay made for our

365
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 1: best family holiday. Framed pictures of the kids in their

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Speaker 1: snorkeling gear would soon adorn a shelf in the office.

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Speaker 1: Back at my desk, I had a new project. This

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00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:50,960
Speaker 1: shadowy fellow Jay Patel and the nurse Tony Hoffman. She

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00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:56,159
Speaker 1: was going to extraordinary links to out him. John Doyle

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00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,960
Speaker 1: walked over to talk about the status of a few

371
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Speaker 1: of our freedom of information applications. In his last job,

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Speaker 1: Doyle had been a senior officer in charge of the

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Speaker 1: Queensland Police Services Freedom of Information Unit at Roma Street

374
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Speaker 1: headquarters until his retirement. He was one of the umpires

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Speaker 1: who made decisions on the release of thousands of documents.

376
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:23,360
Speaker 1: He had dealt previously with Paul Whittaker, a relentless reporter

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Speaker 1: and an experienced user of freedom of information, who had

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00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 1: suggested to Doyle that in his spare time he should

379
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:35,720
Speaker 1: work for the Courier Mail. In early two thousand and four,

380
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,040
Speaker 1: after Whittaker, my brother in law, resigned to go to

381
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,359
Speaker 1: The Australian in Sydney, I followed up with Doyle and

382
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:47,159
Speaker 1: negotiated his contract. He began coming in one day a

383
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Speaker 1: week to develop applications and reply to FOI officers when

384
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:57,120
Speaker 1: they used spurious reasons to justify concealment. Doyle was kept

385
00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:00,680
Speaker 1: busy battling a culture of secrecy foster at the top

386
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:04,480
Speaker 1: by Peter Beatty and his ministers and their political advisors.

387
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Speaker 1: As a public servant, he had been a part of

388
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:13,840
Speaker 1: the system, but he was never a political hostage. Doyle

389
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 1: released documents during his time as FOI chief if the

390
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:22,560
Speaker 1: applications were appropriately targeted and there were no legitimate reasons

391
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Speaker 1: to prevent disclosure. Now working for US, he witnessed his

392
00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:32,120
Speaker 1: former counterparts in other departments, clutching its straws and relying

393
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:37,720
Speaker 1: on nonsense arguments to stymy a request. We were awaiting

394
00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:40,840
Speaker 1: a response from Queensland Health to one of our targeted

395
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 1: requests unrelated to Patel. A source had explained how all

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00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 1: FOI applications to Queensland Health, and particularly those made by

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00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:55,600
Speaker 1: journalists and the state opposition or by patients where the

398
00:28:55,640 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 1: information sought was sensitive, were vetted at every state, in

399
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 1: the department and in the Minister's office. This was highly inappropriate.

400
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 1: It put further pressure on the officers tasked with deciding

401
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 1: whether documentation could be released. Before the FOI officers could

402
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:19,640
Speaker 1: release a single page, the political hacks in the Minister's

403
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:24,920
Speaker 1: office were consulted and afforded every opportunity to sabotage the exercise.

404
00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:31,600
Speaker 1: Principles of transparency and openness had been discarded. The game

405
00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 1: sanctioned at the leadership level of government involved concealing as

406
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:40,720
Speaker 1: much as possible for purely political reasons. The cover up

407
00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:46,960
Speaker 1: had been perfected. Democracy could rot. John Doyle grinned mischievously.

408
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,560
Speaker 1: Our latest application to Queensland Health aimed to catch them

409
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 1: out at their own game. It sought all the documents

410
00:29:55,560 --> 00:30:01,360
Speaker 1: created by policy advisers, media advisers, the FOI officers themselves,

411
00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:05,440
Speaker 1: the minister, and any other bureaucrats which related to the

412
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:10,600
Speaker 1: handling of previous FOI applications. It was a nightmare for

413
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 1: a secretive department full of control freaks because it could

414
00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 1: potentially show up the brazen efforts to hide material. After

415
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 1: Doyle walked away, I renewed contact with the nurse from Bunderberg.

416
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:31,040
Speaker 1: I wrote an email to her. Hi, Tony, I'm back

417
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:35,440
Speaker 1: after Easter Hols. Thanks for applying last week. You can

418
00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:38,480
Speaker 1: be assured of a couple of things. Nobody will know

419
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:42,560
Speaker 1: about our contact, and if asked, I will refuse to

420
00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:47,320
Speaker 1: disclose your identity or anything that could identify you. When

421
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:51,520
Speaker 1: would be convenient to meet or talk What is happening now?

422
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:56,000
Speaker 1: I saw the AMA President David Malloy went on the

423
00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,880
Speaker 1: offensive in attacking your local MP, which I guess he

424
00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:03,320
Speaker 1: had to do in defense of one of his members, Bettel,

425
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,640
Speaker 1: but it seemed to deflect attention away from the doctor's conduct.

426
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:11,160
Speaker 1: While on leave. I showed the statements to my father

427
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 1: in law, a very experienced doctor, who was appalled at

428
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:18,600
Speaker 1: the many botch ups and he decoded the medical language

429
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:22,960
Speaker 1: for me. I gather that the report by Fitzgerald is

430
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,600
Speaker 1: close to completion. Do you know about that and what

431
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 1: it is likely to find? Regards Headley, Tony Hoffman's reply

432
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:35,920
Speaker 1: came just a couple of hours later.

433
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 2: Hi, Hedley, thanks for your reply. I've never been in

434
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,000
Speaker 2: this situation before, and I am appalled at what has

435
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,440
Speaker 2: happened to the nurses. In this situation, everyone has the

436
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 2: right of reply, but us. At least eight ICU nurses

437
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 2: had made the initial and related complaints. The report is

438
00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:58,479
Speaker 2: with the DG now. I do know a little of

439
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:01,000
Speaker 2: what is in it, but I'm so scared about being

440
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:05,080
Speaker 2: whistleblonde that I don't want to say much. Jerry Fitzgerald

441
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,640
Speaker 2: is a really nice man, and I would rather someone

442
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,959
Speaker 2: else say what is in it. Our concerns were valid.

443
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:14,480
Speaker 2: Rob Messinger has really gone out on a limb with this,

444
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:16,960
Speaker 2: but I feel he's a loose cannon and.

445
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:18,440
Speaker 6: Even more naive than me.

446
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:20,120
Speaker 3: In some ways.

447
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:23,120
Speaker 2: There is so much going on here, and so many

448
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,960
Speaker 2: lies and so much politics that it really bothers me

449
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:29,840
Speaker 2: about the veracity of people who want to work in

450
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 2: this field. I'm sure your father in law would be

451
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,280
Speaker 2: really horrified at what was in the letter. Imagine living

452
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:40,160
Speaker 2: through it on a daily basis. I'm coming to Brisbane

453
00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 2: on Thursday for a conference at Royal Brisbane Hospital. It

454
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 2: is finished at three point thirty. If you think we

455
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 2: could meet at the airport elsewhere, we are catching the

456
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,920
Speaker 2: last plane back to Bunderberg. I think it leaves about

457
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 2: six forty. If this is not a good idea and

458
00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:59,920
Speaker 2: you want to come up here, I will make myself

459
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,560
Speaker 2: available at the moment. This is the only thing I

460
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,800
Speaker 2: haven't done to break the Code of Conduct, which is

461
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:11,080
Speaker 2: supposed to protect whistleblowers, so I'm quite worried about it all.

462
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:15,520
Speaker 2: This is not politically motivated. I've always voted Labor. I

463
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,400
Speaker 2: say this because my only concern is for the patients

464
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:22,640
Speaker 2: and the staff. I'm disgusted with the AMA and executive

465
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 2: though they all called Patel doctor Death and Dr Ecole etc.

466
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:29,040
Speaker 2: Incredibly two faced.

467
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:35,280
Speaker 1: She ended it with her mobile and home phone numbers.

468
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:41,719
Speaker 1: I responded, Hi, Tony, tomorrow afternoon would be fine. I

469
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,680
Speaker 1: think the airport, being such a busy place with people

470
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 1: whom you and I may know coming and going, would

471
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:50,440
Speaker 1: not be a good location. Would you be able to

472
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,840
Speaker 1: come by the Courier Mail's offices in Campbell Street, Bowen Hills.

473
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:57,640
Speaker 1: It is near the city en route to the airport.

474
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,880
Speaker 1: We can have a quiet and discreetcht in the staff

475
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:05,160
Speaker 1: restaurant where nobody will know you or your friend. Please

476
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 1: bring all relevant documents with you. Regards Headley, Hi Headley.

477
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:15,920
Speaker 2: Hopefully we'll be there around four o'clock, depending on when

478
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:19,839
Speaker 2: the conference ends. I don't have much with me as

479
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,720
Speaker 2: I've only just got home now, but I can always

480
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 2: send what you want after we discuss Tony.

481
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:44,759
Speaker 1: Chapter thirty seven. What the four to six April two

482
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:51,800
Speaker 1: thousand and five, Darren Keating returned from his Easter vacation

483
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,920
Speaker 1: to a shambles. He had missed all the action, the

484
00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:59,759
Speaker 1: furor over rob messengers disclosures to State Parliament on tw

485
00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 1: two and twenty three March, the fallout at the hospital,

486
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:08,319
Speaker 1: and the sudden resignation and departure of Jayant Patel to

487
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 1: the United States. Keating was angry everything had spiraled out

488
00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:17,440
Speaker 1: of control. As he took a fortnight's break with his family,

489
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,960
Speaker 1: he knew that the Queensland Health chiefs in Charlotte Street

490
00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:29,160
Speaker 1: would be decidedly unimpressed. With the negative feedback and media interest. Thankfully,

491
00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:32,400
Speaker 1: it appeared to have died down after a burst of

492
00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 1: reporting by a Current Affair Today Tonight, the Bunderberg Newsmail

493
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:42,200
Speaker 1: and the Courier Mail. The official line for public consumption

494
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:46,759
Speaker 1: was being scripted out of Queensland Health's headquarters in Brisbane.

495
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 1: Doctor Keating would leave the PR to the pr Flax.

496
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,400
Speaker 1: He had his hands full in dealing with the ramifications

497
00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:59,080
Speaker 1: of losing JNT Patel. The elective surgery targets would be

498
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:03,440
Speaker 1: even harder, if not impossible, to meet all the work.

499
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:06,960
Speaker 1: The throughput of hundreds of patients had blown up in

500
00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:13,200
Speaker 1: management's face. It was humiliating. Keating had made an educated

501
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:16,799
Speaker 1: guess about the probable source of the information that had

502
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:22,359
Speaker 1: fallen into Rob Messenger's hands, Tony Hoffman. He would deal

503
00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:27,520
Speaker 1: with her and any other collaborators later. The paperwork came first.

504
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:32,440
Speaker 1: Keating wrote to the Department of Immigration on five April,

505
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:38,960
Speaker 1: formally withdrawing the hospital's sponsorship of Patel's visa. Peter Leck

506
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:43,480
Speaker 1: was also busy writing. He drafted a note to Patel.

507
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:49,040
Speaker 1: Leck wanted it signed by the hospital's community representative, Viv Chase,

508
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:51,440
Speaker 1: and sent to Patel in Oregon.

509
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 9: Dear doctor Patel, I am writing on behalf of the

510
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,280
Speaker 9: District Health Counsel to offer our support and to advise

511
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:02,480
Speaker 9: that we are deeply saddened and appalled by the disclosure

512
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:07,040
Speaker 9: and State Parliament of confidential information which has subsequently led

513
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:10,480
Speaker 9: to your decision to leave Bunderberg. I'd like to express

514
00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:12,640
Speaker 9: my thanks for all your hard work while you were

515
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:15,680
Speaker 9: here and for the care you provided to the residence

516
00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:20,040
Speaker 9: of our community. All the best wishes for your future Yours, sincerely,

517
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:24,760
Speaker 9: Viv Chase, Chairperson Bunderberg District Health Council, fitth of April

518
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:25,880
Speaker 9: two thousand and five.

519
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:31,080
Speaker 1: After Peter Leck's secretary Joan Dooley had typed the draft

520
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,879
Speaker 1: and told Chase that it was ready, he came in

521
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:36,200
Speaker 1: to sign and post it.

522
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:39,440
Speaker 9: It's probably not exactly what it would have said, but that'll.

523
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:44,520
Speaker 1: Do, Chase commented as he perused the letter The next morning.

524
00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:49,040
Speaker 1: Darren Keating, after reflecting overnight on the damage caused by

525
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:53,080
Speaker 1: the disclosures and the embarrassment being suffered by Queensland Health

526
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 1: and the Health Minister, prepared a memorandum for distribution to

527
00:37:57,320 --> 00:38:02,680
Speaker 1: all medical and nursing staff, nobody least of all management

528
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:06,440
Speaker 1: in Charlotte Street, Brisbane, which took a dim view of

529
00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:12,160
Speaker 1: uncontrolled leaks, would misunderstand Keating's position. Dear all.

530
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 5: Since my return from leave, I have become very aware

531
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:20,320
Speaker 5: that all medical staff at Bunderberg Based Hospital are unhappy

532
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,680
Speaker 5: with the recent events leading up to doctor Pateell's resignation.

533
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:28,239
Speaker 5: The lack of natural justice afforded to Dr Patel so

534
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,480
Speaker 5: as to respond to the allegations due to the leaking

535
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:35,320
Speaker 5: of an internal letter to a local MP who tabled

536
00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:39,879
Speaker 5: this letter in Parliament to his political advantage is scarrelous.

537
00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 5: The potential damage to the working relationship between medical and

538
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:49,839
Speaker 5: nursing staff at Bunderberg Based Hospital is very worrying. Nevertheless,

539
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:53,760
Speaker 5: patient care must continue and I ask you to continue

540
00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:57,279
Speaker 5: to perform your jobs to your normal high standard, while

541
00:38:57,320 --> 00:39:01,239
Speaker 5: continuing to build upon the professional links that exist in

542
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:05,880
Speaker 5: all departments. Locums have been arranged from eleven April, while

543
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,400
Speaker 5: interviews are occurring shortly for the Director of Surgery position,

544
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:11,760
Speaker 5: and I hope it is filled as soon as possible.

545
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:16,960
Speaker 5: This incident provides an opportunity to ensure that nothing similar

546
00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:20,719
Speaker 5: occurs in the future. I would welcome your feedback in

547
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:24,760
Speaker 5: whatever form about what strategy should be used to prevent

548
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:26,160
Speaker 5: a similar occurrence.

549
00:39:27,840 --> 00:39:31,800
Speaker 1: The memo flattened the nurses. They were copying the blame

550
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:35,840
Speaker 1: in the wards. Hoffmann noticed that some of the staff

551
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:39,200
Speaker 1: were avoiding her. A few of the doctors who had

552
00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:43,800
Speaker 1: been extremely concerned about Patel's surgery now changed their tune,

553
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 1: siding with management as it worked to shut the issue down.

554
00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:52,040
Speaker 1: Doctor keyes n item was still stroppy. Some of the

555
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:56,200
Speaker 1: doctors believe they had to stick together who might be

556
00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:59,719
Speaker 1: targeted next. They asked if the nurses thought they could

557
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:04,960
Speaker 1: get away with scandalous public leagues such as this. Keating

558
00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:08,759
Speaker 1: realized that several of the senior medical staff worried they

559
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:12,359
Speaker 1: could be in the firing line in future. Some of

560
00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:17,040
Speaker 1: the overseas trained doctors told him so. The culture of

561
00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:22,280
Speaker 1: concealment kicked right back in. Hoffmann doubted she had any

562
00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:25,600
Speaker 1: future at the hospital. A few of the nurses who

563
00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:29,480
Speaker 1: were Patel's supporters whispered behind her back as word went

564
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:32,520
Speaker 1: around that she was the one who went to messenger

565
00:40:33,719 --> 00:40:37,520
Speaker 1: after stating management's position in the memo. Keating left his

566
00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 1: office in the early evening with a nagging worry, having

567
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:46,560
Speaker 1: received so many complaints from different people about the bombastic surgeon.

568
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:52,120
Speaker 1: Keating knew Bettel was trouble. Where there is smoke, there

569
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:56,840
Speaker 1: is potentially fire. Keating thought, does he have any history

570
00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:01,560
Speaker 1: in the United States? For the first time, he decided

571
00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:06,760
Speaker 1: to do some independent homework. Maybe Patel had baggage elsewhere.

572
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,160
Speaker 1: On six April, Keating did an Internet search on his

573
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:15,160
Speaker 1: home computer. He went to the Google search engine and

574
00:41:15,239 --> 00:41:19,520
Speaker 1: typed in Jayan Patel, but there were too many hits

575
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:24,560
Speaker 1: it would take forever to read them. Keating then remembered

576
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:29,880
Speaker 1: that Patel's middle initial was M for meu coundre. He

577
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,040
Speaker 1: tried it and noticed a reference to a Jant Patel

578
00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:39,560
Speaker 1: in Oregon. Something twigged. Keating recalled Patel, saying that was

579
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:43,800
Speaker 1: where he had come from. Patel had also boasted about

580
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:47,920
Speaker 1: his work in New York State. Keating went first to

581
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:51,719
Speaker 1: the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners, the equivalent of the

582
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:56,640
Speaker 1: Medical Board of Queensland. The result that he found online

583
00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:00,120
Speaker 1: immediately stunned him. Under the heading.

584
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:05,320
Speaker 10: Board actions taken between April first, two thousand and December first,

585
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:06,480
Speaker 10: two thousand.

586
00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:09,120
Speaker 1: The following entry appeared.

587
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:16,520
Speaker 10: Patel Giant m MD one five nine nine one Portland Oregon.

588
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:21,000
Speaker 10: A stipulated order was entered on September twelfth, two thousand.

589
00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 10: The order restricted licensee from performing surgeries involving the pancreas,

590
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:30,000
Speaker 10: liver resections, and ilioanal pouch constructions.

591
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:34,840
Speaker 1: Kating found the definition of stipulated order.

592
00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:39,520
Speaker 10: It was an agreement between the board and a licensee

593
00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:44,360
Speaker 10: which concludes a disciplinary investigation. The licensee admits to a

594
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:48,440
Speaker 10: violation of the Medical Practice Act, and the order imposes

595
00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:53,520
Speaker 10: actions the board and licensee agree are appropriate. Stipulated orders

596
00:42:53,719 --> 00:42:55,200
Speaker 10: are disciplinary actions.

597
00:42:56,520 --> 00:42:59,839
Speaker 1: It was more than a dilemma. Kating had stumbled on

598
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:05,320
Speaker 1: a potential catastrophe. Patel, the man Keating was publicly defending,

599
00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:09,879
Speaker 1: had been severely censured in the US and banned from

600
00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:15,719
Speaker 1: performing the same complicated surgical procedures which had led to deaths, injuries,

601
00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:21,520
Speaker 1: and a litany of complaints. Keating delved deeper. He double

602
00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 1: clicked on the links to the Board for Professional Medical

603
00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:29,360
Speaker 1: Conduct in New York State. The revelations there were worse.

604
00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:32,720
Speaker 1: The board on the other side of the United States

605
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:34,080
Speaker 1: had ordered Patel b.

606
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:37,960
Speaker 10: Stricken from the roster of physicians in the state of

607
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:39,200
Speaker 10: New York on.

608
00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:41,400
Speaker 1: Five August two thousand and one.

609
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:46,480
Speaker 10: For his gross negligence and negligence on more than one occasion.

610
00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:51,359
Speaker 1: In complicated surgical cases. There was more detail on the

611
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:55,880
Speaker 1: New York site, including a PDF file containing correspondence between

612
00:43:55,960 --> 00:44:00,840
Speaker 1: Patel and the board. It was all there, a public

613
00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:05,759
Speaker 1: portrait of incombatants. The ease with which Keating had discovered

614
00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:10,360
Speaker 1: Patel's background and fraudulent conduct meant others would surely also

615
00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:15,719
Speaker 1: discover it. Keating's career, his family, the hospital's future, and

616
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:19,799
Speaker 1: everything else he held dear could turn on this unexpected

617
00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:25,920
Speaker 1: discovery of Patel's shocking past. Everything sped up. He knew

618
00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:30,520
Speaker 1: that the next day, Minister Gordon Nuttle, the Director General,

619
00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:34,719
Speaker 1: Doctor Steve Buckland, and there entourage usually at least one

620
00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:38,800
Speaker 1: media adviser and a policy adviser, would be visiting the hospital.

621
00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:44,360
Speaker 1: Keating confided his discovery to his wife, Jeanine. He told

622
00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:47,480
Speaker 1: one other person, a close friend whom he knew he

623
00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:51,560
Speaker 1: could trust, Jennifer Kirby, who headed the district Quality and

624
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:55,680
Speaker 1: decision support unit at the hospital. He talked it over

625
00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:59,520
Speaker 1: with Kirby. She could scarcely believe the turn of events.

626
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:02,960
Speaker 1: Was it all true? Did the complaints that she was

627
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:07,840
Speaker 1: supposed to take seriously, really have substance after all, Keating

628
00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:11,160
Speaker 1: went to bed in a quandary. In the end, he

629
00:45:11,239 --> 00:45:14,680
Speaker 1: decided to share the pain. He decided to pass it

630
00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:17,640
Speaker 1: to a manager with as much to lose as he did,

631
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:24,200
Speaker 1: Steve Buckland. Keating an administrator who routinely made file notes

632
00:45:24,239 --> 00:45:29,680
Speaker 1: about innocuous conversations with staff or actions taken. Printed nothing

633
00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:33,560
Speaker 1: from his home computer. He made no physical record of

634
00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:37,960
Speaker 1: the most remarkable discovery in his career. He withheld the

635
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:42,960
Speaker 1: information from Peter leck the hospital boss, and no paperwork

636
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:46,920
Speaker 1: would be handed to Steve Buckland during his visit. This

637
00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:51,520
Speaker 1: would be an oral briefing, face to face, less chance

638
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:59,080
Speaker 1: of it leaking. Chapter thirty eight, Grind Them Down. Three pm,

639
00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:04,320
Speaker 1: seven April two thousand and five, Margaret Meers entered the

640
00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:10,760
Speaker 1: large staff dining room. The atmosphere was charged doctors, nurses, administrators,

641
00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:14,920
Speaker 1: clerical staff. More than one hundred people across every department

642
00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:18,719
Speaker 1: of the hospital had temporarily left their workstations for the

643
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:22,040
Speaker 1: visit of the Health Minister Gordon Nuttle and Director General

644
00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:27,319
Speaker 1: Doctor Steve Buckland. Meares, a highly experienced nurse whose job

645
00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:33,120
Speaker 1: involved interviewing and preparing patients before their operations, booking the procedures,

646
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:37,200
Speaker 1: and coordinating staff to deal with the admissions. Was prepared

647
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:40,640
Speaker 1: to give Nuttle the benefit of the doubt. As a politician.

648
00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:45,480
Speaker 1: His previous two official visits to Bunderberg as Health Minister

649
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:50,799
Speaker 1: had been conciliatory and productive. She recalled him urging cooperation

650
00:46:51,040 --> 00:46:54,520
Speaker 1: and trying to build a team spirit. On one of

651
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:58,480
Speaker 1: those visits, Nuttle had told Meares and her colleagues.

652
00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:01,719
Speaker 11: We are sitting in a boat and everyone should be

653
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:04,919
Speaker 11: rowing the same way. Those who don't want to row

654
00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:06,560
Speaker 11: with us can get out of the boat.

655
00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:11,360
Speaker 1: Now. She liked his style. He was, she believed, working

656
00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:16,040
Speaker 1: towards a better health system. Meares, like most of those

657
00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:20,040
Speaker 1: in the staff dining room, strongly suspected Nuttle's third visit

658
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:23,400
Speaker 1: was tied to the events two weeks earlier in State Parliament.

659
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:27,840
Speaker 1: Although she did not support the leaking two rob messenger

660
00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:31,960
Speaker 1: of the documentation about patient outcomes, she was glad that

661
00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:36,800
Speaker 1: it meant the Patel debarcle would finally be addressed. Meares

662
00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:42,600
Speaker 1: too had long standing concerns about Patel's conduct. On two occasions,

663
00:47:42,719 --> 00:47:45,840
Speaker 1: after he had been aggressive and shouted at her, she

664
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:49,799
Speaker 1: talked to Carolyn Kennedy, the assistant director of Nursing, but

665
00:47:49,920 --> 00:47:54,400
Speaker 1: decided to take no further action. On many other occasions,

666
00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:58,080
Speaker 1: the junior doctors with whom Meares regularly came in contact,

667
00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:02,479
Speaker 1: would confide examples of patel bullying and his reckless care

668
00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:06,839
Speaker 1: of patients. She had seen Patel speaking over the top

669
00:48:06,880 --> 00:48:10,840
Speaker 1: of doctor Martin Carter and rudely interrupting other people in

670
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:17,520
Speaker 1: meetings involving issues of wounddhesions, infection rates, mortality and morbidity registers,

671
00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:23,440
Speaker 1: investigation registers, and risk registers. The meetings became so heated,

672
00:48:23,719 --> 00:48:28,360
Speaker 1: the animosity so obvious, and the interjections from Patel so constant,

673
00:48:28,360 --> 00:48:32,560
Speaker 1: that little of substance was ever resolved. Since the Rob

674
00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:36,840
Speaker 1: Messenger outpouring. Meares had also heard rumors that doctor Jerry

675
00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:42,600
Speaker 1: Fitzgerald's preliminary findings backed up the nurses nuttle shirt sleeves

676
00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:45,759
Speaker 1: rolled up, strode to the front of the room. He

677
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:49,640
Speaker 1: could act tough too, and in talks beforehand with Buckland,

678
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:54,239
Speaker 1: they had decided to fight fire with fire. They were

679
00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:58,520
Speaker 1: acutely embarrassed at being caught unawares by Rob Messenger and

680
00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:03,120
Speaker 1: his National Party Colin Stuart Copeland, but the problem was

681
00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:07,560
Speaker 1: now much worse. Patel had left. The rate of surgery

682
00:49:07,719 --> 00:49:11,239
Speaker 1: was almost at a standstill, and some of those in

683
00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:15,400
Speaker 1: the room were to blame. Earlier that day, before the

684
00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:19,600
Speaker 1: detour of the state government King Air to Bunderberg, Nuttle's

685
00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:22,319
Speaker 1: visit to the nearby little town of spring Shore had

686
00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:26,000
Speaker 1: shown him what could happen when everyone in the same

687
00:49:26,080 --> 00:49:31,640
Speaker 1: boat rowed together. Queensland Health went forward. Nothing leaked, nobody

688
00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:32,759
Speaker 1: was lost overboard.

689
00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:36,919
Speaker 11: I have been to spring Share today, wonderful town, nine

690
00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:40,160
Speaker 11: hundred people, and I've opened a community health center which

691
00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:43,520
Speaker 11: cost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and the town

692
00:49:43,680 --> 00:49:46,080
Speaker 11: raised that money. What a wonderful town.

693
00:49:46,800 --> 00:49:50,120
Speaker 1: Nuttle paused for dramatic effect before plowing on.

694
00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:52,200
Speaker 11: And now I'm in Bunderberg.

695
00:49:53,239 --> 00:49:56,480
Speaker 1: Meares heard Nuttle say that the only way to stop

696
00:49:56,520 --> 00:50:01,360
Speaker 1: the nonsense involving Bunderberg Base Hospital was to oat Messenger out.

697
00:50:02,160 --> 00:50:06,840
Speaker 1: The minister called on all patients affected by Patel's resignation.

698
00:50:06,920 --> 00:50:10,600
Speaker 11: To write to mister Messenger personally. Can we put an

699
00:50:10,600 --> 00:50:14,200
Speaker 11: official report out relating to the allegations. The answer is no,

700
00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:17,799
Speaker 11: There's no point in it continuing. There cannot be a

701
00:50:17,840 --> 00:50:21,240
Speaker 11: report based on the lack of natural justice.

702
00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:24,719
Speaker 1: When Nuttles stepped aside and Buckland took the floor, the

703
00:50:24,800 --> 00:50:29,040
Speaker 1: Director General went further forcefully lecturing the staff about the

704
00:50:29,120 --> 00:50:31,600
Speaker 1: damage they had done to the hospital and to the

705
00:50:31,640 --> 00:50:36,520
Speaker 1: reputation of Queensland Health and doctor Patel as a result

706
00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:41,440
Speaker 1: of the leak. Buckland fulminated the staff had completely screwed

707
00:50:41,480 --> 00:50:45,960
Speaker 1: everything up. Buckland said that no decent doctor would want

708
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:50,319
Speaker 1: to come to Bunderberg to work in these circumstances. The

709
00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:54,600
Speaker 1: tone of the meeting was condescending and belittling. Instead of

710
00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:58,759
Speaker 1: receiving feedback about Patel, the nursing staff were hit by

711
00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:04,239
Speaker 1: recriminations for speaking out misleadingly. The doctors and nurses were

712
00:51:04,280 --> 00:51:07,959
Speaker 1: told that not even the investigation by Jerry Fitzgerald would

713
00:51:07,960 --> 00:51:12,640
Speaker 1: be completed. As for any findings, Buckland said the staff

714
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:16,640
Speaker 1: could forget it. Nothing would be released because Patel had

715
00:51:16,680 --> 00:51:21,600
Speaker 1: been denied natural justice. He was now far away and

716
00:51:21,880 --> 00:51:27,560
Speaker 1: unable to give his side. Meares By, now infuriated, could

717
00:51:27,600 --> 00:51:31,479
Speaker 1: not follow the logic. Surely, just because a doctor goes

718
00:51:31,560 --> 00:51:36,840
Speaker 1: missing does not mean an investigation cannot continue. If police

719
00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:40,000
Speaker 1: reverted to such a policy, nothing would ever be solved.

720
00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:46,480
Speaker 1: Did Buckland somehow imagine that if Patel had stayed, notwithstanding

721
00:51:46,560 --> 00:51:51,160
Speaker 1: his arrogance and self belief, he would have confessed, Yes,

722
00:51:51,239 --> 00:51:55,560
Speaker 1: it's all true. I'm completely incompetent and those deaths and

723
00:51:55,640 --> 00:52:00,600
Speaker 1: injuries are all down to my ineptitude. Meares asked Buckland

724
00:52:00,640 --> 00:52:04,839
Speaker 1: what could be done about Patel? He replied, how are

725
00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:08,200
Speaker 1: we going to get him back from America? In other words,

726
00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:13,200
Speaker 1: nothing would be done. Karen Jenna listened in amazement. The

727
00:52:13,239 --> 00:52:16,799
Speaker 1: intensive care unit nurse walked into the staff dining room,

728
00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:20,160
Speaker 1: confident that Nuttle and Buckland were going to start a

729
00:52:20,239 --> 00:52:25,319
Speaker 1: full inquiry into Patel's conduct. When she heard Nuttle and

730
00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:30,400
Speaker 1: Buckland dismissing the deaths, the injuries, the incompetence, and everything

731
00:52:30,400 --> 00:52:33,360
Speaker 1: else she and the other nurses had striven to document.

732
00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:38,120
Speaker 1: After witnessing carnage on a dramatic scale, she became enraged.

733
00:52:39,040 --> 00:52:42,080
Speaker 1: From the back of the dining room, she shouted out.

734
00:52:42,440 --> 00:52:46,799
Speaker 12: Doctor Patelkin replied to the allegations from the United States, but.

735
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:50,920
Speaker 1: Buckland responded with a rallying call, saying he supported his

736
00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:55,239
Speaker 1: staff one hundred percent and would not tolerate anyone being

737
00:52:55,320 --> 00:53:00,319
Speaker 1: tried by the media and denied natural justice Karen Jenna

738
00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:01,279
Speaker 1: was disgusted.

739
00:53:02,280 --> 00:53:06,200
Speaker 12: Jenna replied, if you support your staff one hundred percent,

740
00:53:06,360 --> 00:53:08,640
Speaker 12: then where is the support for the nurses who made

741
00:53:08,680 --> 00:53:12,319
Speaker 12: the multiple formal complaints about doctor Patel. Just because one

742
00:53:12,440 --> 00:53:14,799
Speaker 12: letter was leaked does not mean that the nurses are

743
00:53:14,840 --> 00:53:16,240
Speaker 12: not entitled to your support.

744
00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:21,000
Speaker 1: Buckland slapped the question and the plea for support away.

745
00:53:21,960 --> 00:53:27,040
Speaker 1: He patronizing rejoinder stung Jenna, what part of there's going

746
00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:32,840
Speaker 1: to be no inquiry? Don't you understand? Even doctor keyes

747
00:53:32,960 --> 00:53:37,280
Speaker 1: Ndem believed Buckland and Nuttle were overly harsh and severe.

748
00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:41,840
Speaker 1: Jail Almer, whose job as the nurse consultant in charge

749
00:53:41,840 --> 00:53:45,960
Speaker 1: of infection control had put her in regular conflict with Patel,

750
00:53:46,239 --> 00:53:47,120
Speaker 1: became angry.

751
00:53:47,880 --> 00:53:50,520
Speaker 10: She called out, are you trying to say that we're

752
00:53:50,560 --> 00:53:52,960
Speaker 10: not going to find out the outcome of that report?

753
00:53:53,960 --> 00:53:59,560
Speaker 1: Buckland answered, the report can't be released. She wanted Buckland

754
00:53:59,719 --> 00:54:04,040
Speaker 1: or to publicly acknowledge the dire problems, not bury them

755
00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:08,720
Speaker 1: with such a ludicrous justification. Even if they had said, look,

756
00:54:08,840 --> 00:54:11,640
Speaker 1: there are some issues with doctor Patel and we will

757
00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:15,240
Speaker 1: investigate them, but we can't release them because doctor Patel

758
00:54:15,320 --> 00:54:18,680
Speaker 1: has left. Alma would have felt vindicated for the stand

759
00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:23,040
Speaker 1: she and other nurses had taken. Instead, she felt that

760
00:54:23,080 --> 00:54:25,759
Speaker 1: the nurses who had done the hard work were now

761
00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:29,600
Speaker 1: being held up as the villains at the very top.

762
00:54:29,880 --> 00:54:33,920
Speaker 1: Despite everything that had happened, the chiefs still weren't listening.

763
00:54:34,960 --> 00:54:38,480
Speaker 1: Alma feared it had all been a massive waste of time.

764
00:54:39,120 --> 00:54:43,360
Speaker 1: All the emotional energy and tears, the late nights preparing

765
00:54:43,440 --> 00:54:47,840
Speaker 1: documentation and checking charts, the battle to produce the evidence

766
00:54:48,040 --> 00:54:53,680
Speaker 1: were trashed. Their careers might be next. MIAs also feared

767
00:54:53,719 --> 00:54:58,719
Speaker 1: the repercussions. As she left the meeting still furious, a

768
00:54:58,800 --> 00:55:02,480
Speaker 1: senior staff member said to her, don't you like your job?

769
00:55:03,040 --> 00:55:06,719
Speaker 1: Is that why you spoke up? But doctor Steve Buckland

770
00:55:06,920 --> 00:55:11,360
Speaker 1: was rattled. Across town, Rob Messenger was angry.

771
00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:14,760
Speaker 7: The minister can't get away with covering this up.

772
00:55:15,080 --> 00:55:17,960
Speaker 1: He told the reporter from the Bunderberg Newsmail.

773
00:55:18,600 --> 00:55:21,400
Speaker 7: This is an issue I will continue to pursue and

774
00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:22,800
Speaker 7: keep fighting for staff.

775
00:55:23,719 --> 00:55:27,960
Speaker 1: Darren Keating could hold onto the explosive information no longer,

776
00:55:28,560 --> 00:55:32,240
Speaker 1: but he was not going to tell Peter Leck. After

777
00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:37,480
Speaker 1: Gordon Nuttle and Steve Buckland finished their official duties, alienating

778
00:55:37,600 --> 00:55:41,320
Speaker 1: most of the nurses and several doctors with stern lectures

779
00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:45,160
Speaker 1: and a shutdown of the Betel issue. Keating approached the

780
00:55:45,280 --> 00:55:49,239
Speaker 1: Director General. Nuttle had left to visit a relative in

781
00:55:49,280 --> 00:55:52,600
Speaker 1: a nearby private hospital in the hour before the party

782
00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:56,560
Speaker 1: was due to return to Brisbane. Buckland stepped away from

783
00:55:56,600 --> 00:56:00,960
Speaker 1: the staff cafeteria. Can I talk to you, said Keating.

784
00:56:02,040 --> 00:56:06,200
Speaker 1: The Director of medical Services, related his stunning Internet finding

785
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:11,640
Speaker 1: of the previous evening, repeating the words negligence, gross negligence,

786
00:56:11,920 --> 00:56:15,080
Speaker 1: and surgery bands in Oregon and New York State.

787
00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:20,960
Speaker 5: Buckland sighed, this guy, he's got problems with his registration.

788
00:56:21,719 --> 00:56:27,080
Speaker 1: Keating said, a truly awful day was turning into a disaster,

789
00:56:27,680 --> 00:56:31,680
Speaker 1: and it was still early. Buckland had backed the wrong horse.

790
00:56:32,280 --> 00:56:36,480
Speaker 1: Now it had bolted, and he was the biggest loser. Keating,

791
00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:40,960
Speaker 1: nervous and uncertain about what would come next, studied the

792
00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:45,640
Speaker 1: stocky bureaucrat's face for emotion. Buckland was a hard man

793
00:56:45,719 --> 00:56:51,520
Speaker 1: to read. Keating continued with the hurried, harrowing briefing. He

794
00:56:51,640 --> 00:56:54,720
Speaker 1: told Buckland that after doing the Internet search at home,

795
00:56:54,800 --> 00:56:59,440
Speaker 1: he had checked Patel's personnel file, including the documentation related

796
00:56:59,480 --> 00:57:03,120
Speaker 1: to his registration by the Medical Board of Queensland, and

797
00:57:03,200 --> 00:57:06,800
Speaker 1: he had made a further discovery, the surgeon had also

798
00:57:07,080 --> 00:57:10,560
Speaker 1: lied about his past when he sought the job in Bunderberg.

799
00:57:11,520 --> 00:57:14,200
Speaker 5: There was a copy of his application for registration as

800
00:57:14,200 --> 00:57:17,919
Speaker 5: a medical practitioner, and in that application the individual has

801
00:57:18,000 --> 00:57:21,800
Speaker 5: to yeah, declare whether they've got any restrictions, and he

802
00:57:21,880 --> 00:57:24,080
Speaker 5: said no, he had no restrictions.

803
00:57:25,880 --> 00:57:29,120
Speaker 1: By the time Keeping stopped talking, he could read Buckland

804
00:57:29,240 --> 00:57:33,680
Speaker 1: like a book. The powerful bureaucrat's eyebrows were raised high

805
00:57:33,720 --> 00:57:38,240
Speaker 1: on his forehead. The briefing over, Buckland headed for the airport,

806
00:57:38,320 --> 00:57:43,440
Speaker 1: his head swimming. Damn Could it get any worse. On

807
00:57:43,520 --> 00:57:46,800
Speaker 1: the flight back to Brisbane, Buckland decided to hold back

808
00:57:46,880 --> 00:57:51,440
Speaker 1: almost everything Keating had told him about Patel. He wanted

809
00:57:51,480 --> 00:57:55,360
Speaker 1: to do his own research first. He covered his bases

810
00:57:55,400 --> 00:57:58,440
Speaker 1: by telling Nuttle, there's more to this guy than we know.

811
00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:00,680
Speaker 1: I'll have a look at it. We need to continue

812
00:58:00,720 --> 00:58:02,680
Speaker 1: to have a look at this guy. He's not what

813
00:58:02,720 --> 00:58:04,840
Speaker 1: we think he is. I will go and have a

814
00:58:04,880 --> 00:58:06,400
Speaker 1: look at him and I will come back to you.

815
00:58:07,520 --> 00:58:10,600
Speaker 1: Above the drone of the engines powering the state government's

816
00:58:10,680 --> 00:58:14,880
Speaker 1: King Air, Nuttle and his principal media advisor, David Potter,

817
00:58:15,040 --> 00:58:18,840
Speaker 1: talked about the negative feedback from the staff. Meeting in

818
00:58:18,920 --> 00:58:22,560
Speaker 1: a town the size of Bunderberg, a high powered ministerial

819
00:58:22,720 --> 00:58:25,760
Speaker 1: visit to the local hospital to read the Riot Act

820
00:58:25,800 --> 00:58:30,840
Speaker 1: too dissatisfied staff was news local news. They hoped it

821
00:58:30,840 --> 00:58:33,920
Speaker 1: would not play out too badly in the local newspaper.

822
00:58:35,120 --> 00:58:39,240
Speaker 1: Rob Messenger was nothing if not persistent. After writing to

823
00:58:39,280 --> 00:58:42,800
Speaker 1: the Medical Board of Queensland on twenty three March about PTEL,

824
00:58:43,400 --> 00:58:47,720
Speaker 1: he wrote again on seven April to urge action. Michael

825
00:58:47,880 --> 00:58:53,120
Speaker 1: Demi Gerau, the Board's deputy Registrar, reviewed the latest correspondence

826
00:58:53,240 --> 00:58:56,080
Speaker 1: in the file. It was up to him to respond

827
00:58:56,120 --> 00:58:59,439
Speaker 1: to the politician's muck raking. It would not do much

828
00:58:59,480 --> 00:59:04,120
Speaker 1: good now that Patel had left. For Demi Gerau, the

829
00:59:04,160 --> 00:59:08,040
Speaker 1: surgeon's sudden departure was a blessing. It would save the

830
00:59:08,040 --> 00:59:13,160
Speaker 1: board the expense and trouble of investigating. Demi Gerau prepared

831
00:59:13,200 --> 00:59:16,320
Speaker 1: his reply to Messenger, writing that it.

832
00:59:16,760 --> 00:59:20,680
Speaker 13: Had been contemplated that conditions may be imposed upon doctor

833
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:21,840
Speaker 13: Patel's registration.

834
00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:25,360
Speaker 1: His timely resignation, however, meant.

835
00:59:25,200 --> 00:59:29,800
Speaker 13: That issues of ongoing public protection and assurance of professional

836
00:59:30,000 --> 00:59:32,320
Speaker 13: safe and competent practice were.

837
00:59:32,160 --> 00:59:37,640
Speaker 1: No longer relevant. Messenger interpreted the letter as a brush off.

838
00:59:38,520 --> 00:59:41,240
Speaker 1: If you were a doctor, all you needed to do

839
00:59:41,440 --> 00:59:45,600
Speaker 1: to avoid serious scrutiny was quit and try your luck elsewhere.

840
00:59:52,480 --> 00:59:56,360
Speaker 1: Sick to Death is written and presented by me Headley Thomas,

841
00:59:56,520 --> 01:00:02,880
Speaker 1: the Australian's National Chief correspondent. Harvey is The Australian's editorial director.

842
01:00:03,520 --> 01:00:08,280
Speaker 1: Audio editing, production and music have been done by Jasper Leik,

843
01:00:08,600 --> 01:00:13,720
Speaker 1: with assistance from Leah Sammaglu and Neil Sutherland. Our producer

844
01:00:13,840 --> 01:00:19,520
Speaker 1: is Christen Amias. Production management by Stephanie Coombs. Artwork by

845
01:00:19,640 --> 01:00:25,400
Speaker 1: Sean Callenan. Thanks to Ryan Osland, Matthew Condon, Karina Berger,

846
01:00:25,720 --> 01:00:31,840
Speaker 1: Ellie Dudley, David Murray, Dominique McDermott, Zach Sculander and all

847
01:00:31,920 --> 01:00:35,960
Speaker 1: our family, friends and colleagues who helped in this series

848
01:00:36,240 --> 01:00:41,000
Speaker 1: and contributed voice acting and special thanks to Tony Hoffman

849
01:00:41,440 --> 01:00:46,880
Speaker 1: and Rob Messenger. Subscribers to The Australian here new episodes

850
01:00:46,960 --> 01:00:51,440
Speaker 1: of Sick to Death first at Sick to deathpodcast dot

851
01:00:51,480 --> 01:00:56,800
Speaker 1: com and on Apple Podcasts. You can get exclusive access

852
01:00:56,840 --> 01:01:01,760
Speaker 1: to photographs, videos, timelines and more at the website.