SA Health scandal: Two medicos stood down over chemo bungle
TWO senior medical professionals have been stood down over their role in the chemotherapy scandal in which 10 seriously ill leukaemia patients were underdosed at SA’s two major hospitals.
- Chemo bungle victim Andrew Knox to try stem cell treatment
- Coroner’s inquest begins as fourth victim dies
- Knox told on his birthday his cancer had returned
- Brave chemotherapy bungle victim Bronte Higham dies
TWO senior medical professionals at the RAH were stood down on Wednesday over their role in the chemotherapy scandal in which 10 seriously ill leukaemia patients were underdosed at SA’s two major hospitals.
It is understood SA Health ordered the two to leave work after the regulatory body, Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) reported on the conduct of four medical practitioners and five pharmacists referred to them more than a year ago.
They were stood down on full pay pending the outcome of the department’s disciplinary process — which could potentially involve sacking.
Neither SA Health nor the Health Minister Jack Snelling would confirm who they were or where they worked.
In a statement AHPRA said three of the most complex matters were still under investigation and could result in regulatory action.
One other doctor, named as Flinders Medical Centre consulting haematologist Dr Ashanka Beligaswatte, was cautioned for unsatisfactory professional conduct.
The AHPRA findings, which come more than a year after the referrals, conclude the error would have been picked up at the outset if professional standards among SA’s clinicians — who manage patients in life and death situations — were met.
In addition to the eight referred by Mr Snelling, three were referred by chemotherapy victim Andrew Knox, one of whom was also named by Mr Snelling.
AHPRA on Wednesday notified Mr Knox, and Mr Snelling of their findings.
Of the 10 patients who in 2014 and early 2015 received once a day chemotherapy instead of twice, four have died, and are the subject of a coronial inquiry, and at least seven of the 10 relapsed, including Mr Knox.
Seriously ill in the Austin Hospital in Melbourne where he received a stem cell transplant from a German donor a week ago, Mr Knox said AHPRA had failed by not making stronger recommendations against the three who were the subject of his complaint.
He wrote back to AHPRA saying one of them, FMC head of haematology Dr Bryone Kuss, should not have been cleared because she was copied into emails in which the half dose was queried, but she had failed to act.
“Had the professor applied even a scintilla of the duty of care required ... lives could have been saved and a great deal of pain and suffering,” Mr Knox wrote.
Information released by AHPRA to Mr Knox followed the chain of events in which the original error, which omitted the twice a day reference, was missed by the RAH clinical director of haematology, Associate Professor Ian Lewis who had requested the new chemotherapy protocol. When pharmacist Ms Kailin Teh at FMC — who was cleared of any wrongdoing — asked Dr Beligaswatte why it said only once a day instead of twice, Dr Beligaswatte told her to follow what the RAH said without checking with Professor Lewis.
“Had this conversation occurred, it is more than likely that nine patients would not have received the incorrect dose,” AHPRA found.
The AHPRA inquiry confirmed that when the mistake was discovered at the RAH on 19 January 2015 — three days before Mr Knox began a new half dose at FMC — a routine email was sent correcting the amount to twice daily but with no alert or mention of the previous error.
In addition, the way doctors handled the error with their patients was found to be unsatisfactory.
“Dr Beligaswatte accepts that an apology should have been made to you,” AHPRA wrote to Mr Knox.
Mr Knox was undergoing chemotherapy on Wednesday night to suppress potential rejection of the donor stem cells delivered to Melbourne by hand by a medical courier.
“It’s proceeding on plan, which is not very nice because it means chemotherapy again,” he said. “But it is progressing.”