Coroner to investigate deaths of two patients who relapsed after being underdosed in chemotherapy bungle

EXCLUSIVE: A cancer patient who relapsed after being underdosed during the chemotherapy bungle was then the victim of a second major treatment error — as a coronial inquest into the scandal is announced.

Deputy state coroner Anthony Schapel will open hearings next Thursday into the death of Christopher McRrae, 67, and Johanna Pinxteren, 76.

• Five chemotherapy bungle victims accept $100,000 compensation offer
• ‘Chemo underdosing could have been avoided by SA Health’
• Fears chemo blunder will kill patients
• How a ‘typo’ led to underdosing of chemo patients
• Andrew Knox tells his story of blunders and cover-ups

A CANCER patient who relapsed after being underdosed during the chemotherapy bungle exposed by The Advertiser then fell victim to a second major treatment error at the RAH in May this year.

According to information given to a parliamentary inquiry, the woman — whose name has been withheld at the family’s request — fell ill and was admitted in late April for a blood stem cell transplant.

She was told on May 1 that a pre-transplant treatment product from Queensland had been missed and could not be given retrospectively.

One of her treating doctors, Dr Peter Bardy — who resigned as head of cancer services in March but is still a treating cancer specialist — told her that it was “a huge error” and that an investigation was underway as to how it could have happened.

“Dr Bardy said that if another error is made in my nursing care he will resign,” she wrote in her treatment notes.

The woman’s son and daughter gave personal evidence behind closed doors to the Chemotherapy Dosing Errors select committee inquiry yesterday after the committee agreed to their request for privacy. The information about the woman’s mistreatment comes from a medical diary filed as supporting evidence and released on Thursday by the committee.

In their submission, the woman’s family accused the hospital of being “sloppy at best” and left her unable to trust them to complete her treatment in a professional manner.

“These errors call into question the reporting culture and vital behaviours of hospital representatives,” they said.

Health Minister Jack Snelling was unable to comment on the latest blunder because of privacy restrictions relating to individual patients and their records.

Relapsed patient Bronte Higham gave evidence at the Parliamentary inquiry into the chemo scandal last month.

INQUEST ANNOUNCED

In another development on Thursday, the deaths of two patients who relapsed after being underdosed in the chemotherapy bungle will be the subject of a coronial inquiry.

Deputy state coroner Anthony Schapel will open hearings next Thursday into the death of Christopher McRrae, 67, who died last November, and Johanna Pinxteren, 76, who died in June last year of a secondary infection relating to her relapse into acute myeloid leukaemia.

Mrs Pinxteren was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in November 2014 and was one of the ten patients, along with Mr McRae, who received half the recommended dose of the chemotherapy drug Cytarabine. The dosing error — the result of a “typo” in a protocol for treatment relied on by the RAH and Flinders Medical Centre — triggered an inquiry that uncovered significant problems in governance, particularly at the RAH, and failure to disclose the error once it was discovered.

Mrs Pinxteren and Mr McRae both fell ill again in March last year and died within a few months of each other.