State Government may pay chemotherapy bungle victims’ legal costs for coronial inquest

THE State Government will consider paying legal costs for victims of the chemotherapy bungle if asked to do so by their families, Health Minister Jack Snelling has said.

Chemo underdosing victim Andrew Knox.

• Chemotherapy bungle victim Andrew Knox told on his birthday that his acute myeloid leukaemia has returned

THE State Government will consider paying legal costs for victims of the chemotherapy bungle if asked to do so by their families, Health Minister Jack Snelling has said.

It came after the Opposition called on the government to fund legal reprentation for the 10 patients who were given incorrect chemotherapy doses at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Flinders Medical Centre over six months from 2014.

Liberal health spokesman Stephen Wade said the government should foot the victims’ legal costs so they could be adequately represented at a coronial inquest into the scandal early next year.

The move followed the revelation that victim Andrew Knox, who has been bravely campaigning for justice for those affected by the scandal, had relapsed and his cancer – acute myeloid leukaemia – had returned.

Mr Knox found out the devastating news on Tuesday – his 68th birthday – and said he would no longer be able to appear at the inquest to represent the families as he will be undergoing intensive chemotherapy treatment over the next three to four months.

Mr Wade said the patients had been “very poorly treated by the Weatherill

Government and it’s time their interests were put first”.

“The perspective of victims and families is a unique perspective which leads to questions which other parties might not think of,” he said.

“Mr Knox, the other victims, and their families deserve to have the opportunity to have their questions put and their voices heard at the inquest.

“There is no better way to give them a voice than for them to have their own counsel at the inquest.”

Mr Wade also called on the government to drop its jurisdictional objections to the inquest.

Mr Knox, who began his treatment on Wednesday, said he was “extremely disappointed” he could not take part in the inquest and agreed the government should pay for legal representation for the families.

“To not do that would be to be less than the model litigant,” he said.

“It would be an uneven playing field and that would make it difficult for the Coroner to get to the truth.”

Mr Snelling said the Health Department will offer support to the victims.

“I’ve asked the Department to reach out to the families to see what support is required ahead of the coronial inquest,” he said.

“If requests for legal assistance are made I am happy to consider them.

“It’s pretty disappointing that Stephen Wade would seek to play politics at a time of great distress for the families.”

Mr Knox’s diagnosis meant all of the known victims of the bungle had now relapsed or died.

Christopher McRae, 67, and Johanna Pinxteren, 76, both died in 2015 while Bronte Higham, 67, passed away in August this year.

The State Coroner is investigating their deaths.

The dosing error, which was the result of a “typo” in a protocol for treatment at the hospital, triggered an inquiry that uncovered significant problems in governance, particularly at the RAH, and a failure to disclose the error once it was discovered.