Patient could have died during Royal Adelaide Hospital power outage, surgeon William Tam says

LEADING surgeon and local head of the Australian Medical Association William Tam says the 97-year-old patient he was operating on could have died during Wednesday’s RAH blackout. Katrina Stokes analyses the latest debacle to hit our health system.

LET’S be frank, a patient could have died during Wednesday’s Royal Adelaide Hospital power outage – plain and simple.

That’s not embellishing the possibilities, it’s not my personal opinion – it’s the belief of the Australian Medical Association’s state president Associate Professor William Tam.

Prof Tam, who was operating on a 97-year-old patient at the time the outage occurred, told The Advertiser this morning that “absolutely someone could have died” during the 20 minutes the power cut to an area of the RAH, including two operating theatres. (A statement provided by SA Health claims the power was out for just 10 minutes and occurred during a monthly maintenance test on a generator.)

Prof Tam went on to say, the outcome could have been “disastrous” if a patient had been undergoing complex surgery, such as cardiac surgery.

Health Minister Peter Malinauskas has this morning labelled the outage “completely unacceptable” and remains adamant that no patient was adversely affected. He could not answer questions regarding exactly how long the power was out for and says an “urgent briefing” will take place this afternoon.

Health Minister Peter Malinauskas says the RAH power outage was “completely unacceptable. AAP Image/David Mariuz.

The truth is, using the Minister’s words, the outage was completely unacceptable and should have never happened.

At the time the power went out, Prof Tam was operating on an elderly patient.

Prof Tam said a power outage of 10 or 20 minutes could be the difference between “a successful and an adverse outcome”.

But, like many of the health bungles in the past few years, there’s many unanswered “whys” and “what ifs” in this latest stuff up. Stuff ups that are occurring all too frequently in the health system.

Why were doctors/surgeons not alerted that system maintenance at the RAH was occurring and while the possibility was slim, a power outage may occur? (Dr Tam said doctors were not warned).

AMA (SA) president Dr William Tam says a patient could have died during Tuesday’s RAH power outage that lasted at least 20 minutes.

Why did the hospital not halt all surgeries at the time of the testing, in case the power went out? (Like it did.)

What if the power went off during complex surgery, such as cardiac surgery and what if, heaven forbid, power cut for a patient using life support?

The truth is, South Australians are all too familiar with the state’s health system woes.

Think the backlash against the controversial EPAS system, chemotherapy and prostate cancer bungles, constant emergency department overcrowding, monetary blowouts with an over-budget $2.3 billion RAH and closure of the beloved Repat, against public opinion.

And yet, whether it’s the Minister or the health department heads, time and time again the government comes out and says sorry and falls on its sword.

Many of us are too quick to forget the state is still left with many of these issues – absolutely nothing is done to fix them.

Come State Election D-Day on March 17, South Australians have a choice to make.

Here’s hoping our health system is happier for it.

Were you affected by Wednesday’s RAH power outage? Email Katrina at [e-mail]