Damning evidence of Qld Health heard at Doomadgee death probe
An inquest has heard evidence of communications failures and exhaustion at a remote health facility. A locum doctor shared details of her spell at the hospital.
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WITHIN hours of arriving as a locum at the remote indigenous community of Doomadgee, Dr Mary Anderson was fighting to save the life of critically ill-patient Betty Booth with no access to patient records or a proper handover from the outgoing medical professional an inquest has heard.
The second day of a Cairns-based coronial inquest into the rheumatic heart disease related deaths of 18-year-old Betty, 37-year-old Sandy, and 17-year-old Kaya was held before Northern Coroner Nerida Wilson on Tuesday.
In evidence damning of the North West Hospital and Health Service the inquest heard of IT failures that meant systems at the Doomadgee Hospital were not linked to secondary health provider Gidgee Healing.
And Dr Anderson stated she was locked out of patient records and a cursory handover was done via text message.
The inquest also heard evidence that a nurse, against Queensland Health cultural policy, inappropriately informed the family of Betty’s death and mistakenly reported morphine administered by Dr Anderson contributed to the death of the 18-year-old.
Dr Anderson is not accused of any wrongdoing.
An outpouring of anger within the community forced health staff to lock themselves in the pharmacy within the hospital while police defused the situation.
Dr Anderson having previously worked in remote communities of Bamaga, Mornington Island and Normanton was critical of rosters and a workload that included being on call 24-hours a day for seven days, domestic cleaning of her own accommodation, shopping and cooking her own meals.
Dr Anderson said she was called into the hospital up to four times a night to treat emergency patients and then turned up at 9am to begin the usual day roster at the hospital.
“Those rosters individually were very taxing on my physical body and my mental stress and very exhausting,” she said.
“The community had an alcohol ban and they were more awake at night, so we were awake at night to resolve issues on top of normal medical duties.
“Every night I would have phone calls and most nights it would be three to four calls to give them advice on how to manage the patient.”
Dr Anderson arrived in Doomadgee for a seven-day rotation on the morning of September 23 2019.
She picked up the key to her accommodation and shopping vouchers for the local grocery store before being thrown in the deep end when a very ill Betty Booth presented to the Doomadgee Hospital.
“She was a young girl that had come to me for the first time, essentially (she) walked through with a heart failure, with a chest infection that was going into sepsis,” she told the court.
Records reveal a Royal Flying Doctor Service aircraft was ordered at 5pm but by the time the plane arrived Betty had been dead for two hours.
At one point during Dr Anderson’s evidence an angry family member yelled across the courtroom to challenge the medical professional.
The doctor told the court she had received no cultural training and in the immediate aftermath of the death no support was provided through the North West Hospital and Health Service.
“It has been very distressing … this incident was quite traumatic for me. I have been back to Doomadgee one or two times … but it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the same community, the trust has been broken,” she said.
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Originally published as Damning evidence of Qld Health heard at Doomadgee death probe
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