Ten years on, SA Health chemotherapy underdosing victim Andrew Knox is ‘worn out’ fighting the good fight

January is a grim anniversary for Andrew Knox — it marks a decade since he was caught in the chemotherapy underdosing scandal and after years of fighting for change, he is “worn out.”

After years of fighting the good fight to try to ensure what happened to him does not happen to others, Andrew Knox is “worn out”.

Mr Knox, of Belair, became the public face of SA Health’s chemotherapy underdosing scandal, exposed by The Advertiser, when in January 2015 10 patients with leukaemia were mistakenly given only a single daily dose of cytarabine instead of the appropriate twice daily dose.

Despite ongoing health battles including 18 surgeries and procedures since the underdosing, Mr Knox has fought for change but feels it has been in vain.

“Successive governments could not be seen to publicly criticise me as a victim, so adopted a strategy to politely ignore me,” he said.

“After these 10 years I’m worn out.”

Chemotherapy bungle victims – Ricki Higham who is the widow of Bronte Higham with son Kym Higham and daughter Jodi Mitchell, Rebecca Emery who is the daughter of the late Chris McRae, and Andrew Knox with wife Jayne, pictured in 2019. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Mr Knox said since the Deputy Coroner’s findings of March 2019 he has been trying in vain to have the state government and SA Health apply his demand that SA Health’s Safety Learning System (SLS) be replaced by an adverse event management system.

The SLS allows SA Health services to record, manage, investigate and analyse patient and worker incidents as well as consumer feedback.

Then-deputy state coroner Anthony Schapel slammed the SLS and recommended it be abandoned, saying “it does not work.”

He recommended it be replaced with a new system that reports adverse events immediately to every hospital’s chief executive and the head of SA Health.

Mr Knox said meetings with successive health ministers on the issue have achieved little, despite assurances action would be taken.

“The strategy has been obvious; humour Knox and it — or he — will eventually go away and so the SLS will be protected for the benefit of the risk managers and the avoidance of liability,” he said.

Mr Knox provided The Advertiser with a list of surgeries and procedures since the bungle with an estimated price tag to the public health system of $2m.

“With my ever cascading collateral complications, it is more likely than not the SA Health will be rid of me sooner than later,” Mr Knox said.

“The crux of the issue is now how to deal with errors when they are first discovered and, moreover when they are, they are not handled or influenced by those who have any possible conflict of interest. SA Heath has never addressed that.”

The bungle ranks among SA Health’s biggest bungles which include dozens of children having incorrectly programmed cochlear implants, more than 100 men receiving false positives from prostate cancer tests, and 72 breast cancer cases missed by mammograms over two years.

Originally published as Ten years on, SA Health chemotherapy underdosing victim Andrew Knox is ‘worn out’ fighting the good fight