Seven possibly ‘avoidable’ baby deaths at Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital

SEVEN babies died in possibly “avoidable” circumstances at a Victorian hospital after concerns were raised about a doctor’s competency, while authorities took more than two years to act.

• Grieving families demand answers
• Doctor flees after bosses take action
• Hospital never raised alert

SEVEN babies died at a Victorian hospital in possibly “avoidable” circumstances after concerns were raised about a doctor’s competence.

But authorities took more than two years to act.

The man at the centre of the scandal – former director of obstetrics at Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital. Dr Surinder Parhar – has left Australia.

The hospital, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the Victorian Health Department must now answer for the tragedies.

Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy said an investigation into the “catastrophic event” had found:

SEVEN of 11 stillborn or newborn deaths at Djerriwarrh Health Services – five in 2013 and two in 2014 – may have been avoidable;

A SERIES of oversights, including an AHPRA probe into Dr Parhar’s care of a woman in February 2013 that took 28 months to complete and was not passed on to the hospital;

THE hospital has raised no concerns with the department despite twice the number of babies dying as should have been expected, and;

THE entire board and hospital CEO has been removed.

Schazz Curran with a photo of baby, Tiffany, before she died. Picture: Alex Coppel.

It was only in March that senior clinicians on the Consultative Council of Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity noticed an unusually high number of deaths that the alarm was raised.

Schazz Curran’s daughter, Tiffany, was one of the 11 babies whose deaths were investigated and was stunned by the news.

“I smile, but I’m fooling myself,” she said.

“You are really just pretending because you don’t want people to know how you feel”.

Maurice Blackburn negligence lawyer Dimitra Dubrow said three families were considering legal action over the potentially preventable deaths of their children.

The families say they are angry and devastated by this week’s revelation.

“I had got to a point where I thought I could move on after years of questioning and now it’s taken me right back,” said a mother whose complicated labour should have led to her being transferred to another hospital.

Bacchus Marsh Hospital where a 11 babies died in the past three years. Picture: Nicole Garmston

Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital.

Another couple, who have just learnt that the quality of the monitoring of their baby’s heartbeat and contractions is now in doubt, said they had been forced to relive the pain of their baby’s death this week.

“We have been trying to move on and we now can’t help but feel angry because we now know that there could have been a different outcome,’ they said.

The scandal has led to sweeping changes at the hospital and across Victoria’s health system, including a review of all peri-natal deaths across Victoria over the past seven years, a new statewide peri-natal autopsy service and a new system forcing Bacchus Marsh hospital to closely review all in-hospital deaths.

AHPRA chief executive Martin Fletcher apologised for the time taken to deal with complaints but said no concerns had ever been raised about abnormally high infant mortality rates.

AHPRA said it had launched a wider investigation into other doctors and midwives at the Djerriwarrh Health Service.

The Coroners Court confirmed it was advised in the last month of three of the deaths, from 2013 and 2014, and it was looking into whether it would investigate.

Djerriwarrh board member Dr John Ballard said the hospital had implemented “all possible measures” to improve maternity services, and said they were now safe.

@mcarthurg

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