False Covid claims spread almost as fast as the virus | Samantha Maiden

The public brawl sparked by an ABC journalist’s odd decision to link Shane Warne and a Labor MP’s deaths to Covid taught some hard lessons, writes Samantha Maiden.

ABC health guru Dr Norman Swan learnt the hard way this week that when it comes to speculating about the causes of deaths of strangers, it’s best to keep your mouth shut unless you’re the coroner.

Speaking on ABC News, Dr Swan said that it was worthy of note that the late Labor senator Kimberley Kitching and cricketer Shane Warne died from heart attacks after they had Covid-19.

Only problem was senator Kitching never contracted Covid before she died.

Both Warne and Ms Kitching died aged 52 after suffering heart attacks.

Neither of their deaths have ever been officially linked to Covid.

In senator Kitching’s case with good reason, given she was tested regularly for work reasons and never turned in a positive result.

“It’s too much of a coincidence that Shane Warne and the Labor senator in Victoria died not long after a Covid infection, and people are reporting sudden death after Covid infection. It’s not benign,” Dr Swan told the ABC’s breakfast program.

Dr Norman Swan.

Dr Swan then doubled down in the media, telling The Daily Mail that, “I’m sure the families are wondering why it happened, and this could be an explanation.”

It was a bizarre observation from the respected journalist who has emerged as something of a lockdown seer during the pandemic through his popular coronavirus podcast.

“What would be hurtful is saying Kimberley Kitching had a dreadful lifestyle, if I was blaming her for the heart attack that would be a dreadful thing to say to the family,’’ he said.

“But if it’s a side effect of Covid it starts to explain things. I think it helps to have an explanation and this might be one, and it’s a message to other people that you have to be careful and not blase about catching this.

“These weren’t private deaths, they were very public and had an impact on a lot of people who scratched their heads and wondered why, and that could have been a reason.”

It turns out her family weren’t scratching their heads about the tragic premature death of their much-loved family member.

Particularly given she had a pre-existing thyroid condition which was widely reported at the time.

But they were certainly questioning the journalist in question, speaking on the death of their wife and daughter and friend.

“These are two high-profile people,” Dr Swan said. “One of whose deaths was a complete surprise, and they both had Covid in the background.”

Late Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching.

Sydney radio personality Ben Fordham. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Later that night, Kitching’s husband Andrew Landeryou got hold of Dr Swan’s phone number and texted him to suggest his claim that his late wife had Covid – ever – was entirely false.

Dr Swan, to his credit, issued a private apology to Kitching’s family that was described as swift and “gracious.”

Perhaps, it could have ended there.

But after the furore prompted 2GB radio broadcaster Ben Fordham to intervene, Dr Swan hit back.

He dismissed as “complete bullshit” any suggestion that Covid is a benign disease.

“I got it wrong with Kimberley Kitching and I regret that, but the data are the data and if Ben Fordham wants to go and pretend that this is a benign disease that doesn’t cause any problems he’s living in cloud-cuckoo-land,’’ he told another media outlet.

Radio host Fordham took aim at the former physician and broadcaster in a fiery spray claiming Dr Swan was “no better than the anti-vaxxers who claim that every famous person who’s died in the last two years and died of the jab”.

“He should be ashamed of himself,” Fordham said.

“We called him out for that, making the point that he’s not your patient, and if he was your patient you wouldn’t be talking about him.”

He accused Dr Swan of “speculating like a gossip columnist” and questioned why the ABC was still giving him a platform.

“He hasn’t practised medicine since the 1980s for starters – that’s how long it’s been since he’s been in the doctor’s room treating a patient,” he claimed.

“Because of coronavirus he was in the right place at the right time and he became a bit of a superstar at the ABC.

“We’ve been calling out his doomsday scenarios, trying to scare the life out of people when it comes to coronavirus, always giving the worst case scenario … (but) he has overstepped the mark in a major way.”

Dr Swan is of course correct to observe that Covid is a serious disease that can cause heart problems.

The good news is that most Covid cardiac complications are treatable, and some are reversible, although there’s much scientists are still learning about the virus.

According to a recent Australian study, one in seven patients hospitalised from Covid have suffered heart injury.

But while the cardiac complications from Covid are concerning, they are not as common as we initially feared they would be.

A good reminder to beware of false prophets in the coronavirus space, where they have a tendency to proliferate as quickly as the virus.