A CATASTROPHIC error appears to have killed a Canberra Hospital patient in the past year but ACT Health has clamped down on releasing any information about what went wrong - even though Chief Minister Katy Gallagher wants to run the most transparent government in Australia.
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No specifics will be provided about this and three other medical mistakes. Two of them were classed as ''major'' incidents involving patients losing the permanent use of body functions and there was a ''catastrophic'' outcome that occurred during a birth.
ACT Health has in the past provided details of medical mistakes made after freedom-of-information requests have been submitted.
But this year the directorate has refused, citing patient confidentiality as the reason, even though no patients were identified after the previous release of documents.
FOI decision maker Frank Bowden said all four cases were referred for clinical review and investigations and improvements were made.
The directorate's refusal to release documents comes during a medical negligence campaign by The Canberra Times, which has uncovered a 523 per cent spike in compensation payouts as well as two deaths because of medical blunders at the hospital.
One was for Hue Le, who died because of contact with an infectious cannula in 2005, and another was for Suki Thurairajah, who died in 2011 because an oxygen tube was apparently put down the oesophagus and not the windpipe. Susan Ring received a payout after a medication error at the hospital caused her to go blind.
Health Services Commissioner Mary Durkin has released her annual report showing she received 275 health complaints from across the system in the past financial year.
She has cited privacy reasons for refusing to name doctors and hospitals. Her cases included:
- A deregistered doctor changing public information to imply health services could be provided by that person.
- A complaint from a medical practitioner about inadequately sterilised and unscrubbed surgical equipment.
- A surgical clinic asked to review patient identification procedures after a patient was incorrectly identified at the time he was to have surgery.
- A pathology collector was advised to obtain training in customer service, conflict resolution and anger management after allegedly telling a boy during treatment: "Shut up … if you were my kid, I'd smack you."
According to the report, one woman was concerned about a burn from a surgical instrument during a caesarean section. She said that the burn made it difficult to feed and bond with her baby as it hurt for months when pressure was applied. The woman also said she was unable to participate in parenting groups because she needed daily help from community nurses and had to remain at home. Changes were made to ensure diathermy wands were kept in holsters when not in use.
