Australia: Government warned about butcher doctor but hired him anyway

A SENIOR NSW health department executive was warned that disgraced doctor Graeme Reeves was "not meant to do obstetrics" but agreed to hire him anyway. A NSW Greater Southern Area Health executive, involved in the hiring of Reeves, wrote a diary note in April, 2002 which reveals he was told of the obstetrics restriction during a phone call with one of Reeve's referees for a job at Bega and Pambula District Hospitals, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The executive's handwritten notes detail his phone conversation with an unknown referee of Reeves on April 11, 2002. A transcript of the executive's notes describes Reeves as: "technically well trained ... had depression there was a catastrophe ... OK when normal and has apparently been normal ... last heard not meant to do obstetrics."

After a request by the NSW opposition, 23 documents about Reeves have been tabled in the NSW upper house including the referee check. Reeves is accused of botching procedures on hundreds of women and sexually assaulting women, including several during his time at NSW South Coast hospitals in 2002 and 2003.

The executive's notes also say Reeves has had "... few arguments with nursing staff and junior registrars". The documents reveal the only other background check done on Reeves in 2002 was a criminal history check that came back negative. Reeves beat two other applicants for the position and supplied three references with his resume.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has deflected several calls for a national registration system for doctors, saying it does not prevent malpractice.

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Woman in labour left in Australian public hospital storeroom

A WOMAN in labour spent several hours on the floor of a storeroom of Gold Coast Hospital because there were no beds in the maternity ward. Mitch and Erica, who asked for their surname not to be published, arrived at the hospital last Friday at 8am with Erica in labour, only to be told there were no beds available. "They said they were too busy and we would have to wait for a bed and we might have to have the baby in the foyer," said Erica. "The lady said 'We know how to do that and if you want to get more comfortable, get on your hands and knees'," she said. "I didn't feel like doing that with people walking past."

After waiting in the foyer for more than an hour, the couple were moved onto a mattress in a linen storeroom. The room had no airconditioning and Erica had to wait another 45 minutes to get a pillow. After three uncomfortable hours, Erica was finally moved into a bed where she gave birth to a boy.

Erica said that after the ordeal, and other bad experiences at hospitals, she did not want to have any more children. "I guess that I was pretty unlucky. Out of all labours and births that did happen that day that I was the one who had to spend a good part of my labour in a linen storeroom which did make the whole experience unpleasant and uncomfortable, and also a little bit degrading." Mitch said he was disgusted with Queensland Health. "If they can't cope with someone having a baby, how are they going to cope if there is a disaster?" he said. "Four hours to get into a bed is ridiculous. The Queensland Government need to pull their head in and give more resources to the hospital."

A Gold Coast Hospital spokeswoman said there had never been an instance where a woman in labour was not found a bed in time to deliver their baby. "There has been one instance last Friday where a woman was offered the option of undertaking part of her labour in a room not set up for delivery, in order to have direct regular access to her midwife, a toilet and shower facilities," said the spokeswoman. "It was acknowledged at the time and subsequently ... the physical surroundings were less than ideal."

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