Paltry offer by RAH to silence chemotherapy bungle victim exposed
THE Royal Adelaide Hospital offered just $5000 to compensate and silence a gravely ill victim of the chemotherapy dosing bungle after he relapsed.
- Chemo bungle: Patient paid, then gagged by RAH
- Chemo cancer error: patient seethes over bungle
- Victims fear they have lost their chance to trial new drug
THE Royal Adelaide Hospital offered just $5000 to compensate and silence a gravely ill victim of the chemotherapy dosing bungle after he relapsed.
The man’s brother, Special Justice Mike McRae, who sits in the Adelaide Magistrates Court, identified the man gagged in the RAH’s confidentiality agreement as civil celebrant Chris McRae, a former businessman who has given a lifetime to community service.
Mr McRae said he was disgusted with the way his brother and his family had been treated by the RAH, whose computer mistake halved the chemotherapy dose he should have received.
He said the offer of $5000 was made when Chris McRae, who is still seriously ill, was in hospital with a virus and was told he might not survive.
“It was absolutely dreadful,” Mr McRae said.
“They had to claw their way up, $5000 to $6000 to $7000. It was unbelievable. I thought it was quite disgraceful, in fact.”
He said he did not want to get his brother into trouble for breaching the confidentiality agreement used by the RAH to silence him and said the information he disclosed came from third parties.
He said the family’s final settlement from the RAH was $9000 each for Chris McRae and his wife, a sum he said was inadequate and did nothing to relieve the financial stress the family was under.
He was particularly angry last week to see Health Minister Jack Snelling on television saying his brother’s claim had been satisfactorily dealt with.
“They’ve only paid purely in terms of the stress,” Mr McRae said. “They haven’t gone anywhere near the hospital’s fault in applying the wrong medication.”
He called on SA Health and Mr Snelling to make ex-gratia payments to all 10 victims put through the emotional pain and distress of being told their treatment for life-threatening acute myeloid leukaemia was compromised.
Their dose of the chemotherapy drug Cytarabine was administered once a day instead of twice between July last year and January.
SA Health has not ruled out making ex-gratia payments to the patients. In a statement to The Advertiser, a spokesman said payments could be looked at after the inquiry by Prof Villis Marshall has reported.
“At the completion of Prof Marshall’s review, we will work with the patients and their families to ensure any issues or concerns they may have are addressed,” the spokesman said.
Mr McRae said he was speaking out for the love of his younger brother, with whom he had an especially close relationship.
“It (his illness) has been absolutely devastating,” he said.
“Then to find out that this terrible error had been made at the hospital has just been heartbreaking, and it’s made me very angry with the way he’s been treated.”
He said his brother’s family had struggled financially and lost two sons in the 1990s a year apart in car accidents.
He said Chris McRae had worked with former governor Sir Mark Oliphant to promote programs for young people, was a former private secretary to the Lord Mayor of Adelaide and worked with the Northern Regional Development Board.
Mr McRae said the confidentiality aspect of the agreement was completely unfair, but his brother felt he had no choice but to sign.
“It concerns me that they tied Chris down to it,” he said.
“I think it was very unfair that they did this to him because it stopped anyone else from knowing what happened to Chris and what the payout was.”
HOW THE CRISIS WAS UNCOVERED
Last Saturday — Ten seriously ill leukaemia patients at Royal Adelaide Hospital and Flinders Medical Centre given half the recommended chemotherapy dose because of typing error.
Monday — State MP outraged at RAH use of gag clause to silence a sick patient who was given the wrong dose of chemotherapy.
Tuesday — Cancer patients furious with Government’s callous handling of chemotherapy bungle and lack of support.
Wednesday — A seriously ill patient at Flinders Medical Centre given wrong dose three days after mistake discovered at RAH — Government calls inquiry.
Thursday — Health Minister won’t rule out disciplinary action over chemotherapy bungle
Friday — Cancer patients may have missed their place in a clinical trial because of dosing error, clinical trials added to inquiry’s terms of reference.