Failing Emily: Young girl discharged to die but family denied answers, top lawyer says
A top lawyer says Emily’s horrific case is just the tip of the iceberg, with a broken system leaving distressed families without answers. See the special investigation.
Distressed families need a legal road map to prevent anguished families like Emily Williams’s being denied information about their loved ones’ deaths, a top lawyer argues.
Thomson Geer partner Andrew Chalet, a specialist in regulatory issues including privacy and data protection, said the lack of a clear process for discovering health information details about deceased relatives was causing needless confrontation.
Watch the heartbreaking documentary in the video player above
Emily was admitted to Flinders Medical Centre as a suicidal patient. But within 24 hours, she was discharged, taking her own life in a park across the road.
Her family is convinced the hospital has covered up mistakes that led to her tragic death in late 2023, aged just 29.
A three-month investigation by The Advertiser has triggered an independent review into Emily’s case, ordered by Health Minister Chris Picton.
They are begging for answers but Flinders has refused to hand over Emily’s medical records, even after official Freedom of Information requests and an unsuccessful Ombudsman’s appeal.
Mr Chalet explained his call for a legal road map in The Advertiser’s documentary, Discharged to Die: Failing Emily.
“It looks like something’s gone wrong here. There’s certainly, there’s ability to get this information disclosed by the FOI legislation in South Australia,” he said.
“They have standing, the parents have standing to request that information.
“But equally those rights of others who are trying to treat, trying to help her need to be protected and respected as well”
Mr Chalet said a road map was a less confrontational alternative to prolonged and frustrating legal proceedings.
“What’s clear, though, is that there probably needs to be a road map rather than the position the parents find themselves in of trying to go through court action to get information and also a road map that allows government to disclose … instead of making the decision voluntarily to disclose,” he said.
“So it says in these circumstances that the right thing to do is to help the parents. But there isn’t a clear road map and they’re therefore left to pursue legal options and avenues at cost and turn it into an adversarial process where it probably shouldn’t be in the first instance anyway.”
Mr Chalet said there was no specific South Australian law relating to the protection of personal information of individuals or, particularly, to health information.
“What there is, is a directive and instruction from government as to how that information should be handled and how it should be protected and when it should disclosed and used,” he said.
“And what those principles and those policies say is that if you need to or want to give access to that information to anybody, including if they ask for it, you have to go to the Freedom of Information legislation and handle it through that process, which I think has happened in this particular case.”
This process relates to freedom of information, rather than part of the privacy regime, he said.
Health Minister Chris Picton told The Advertiser that as well as a coronial investigation, the state’s Chief Psychiatrist will now commission an independent review into Emily’s case.
Watch the full special investigation Discharged to Die: Failing Emily
If you or someone you know needs help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14
More Coverage
Originally published as Failing Emily: Young girl discharged to die but family denied answers, top lawyer says
