CARDIFF, Wales – A hospital trust has removed a bust of a haemophilia expert who is at the centre of the contaminated blood scandal.

The bust of the late Professor Arthur BLOOM was removed from the haemophilia centre of the University Hospital of Wales Cardiff, after a campaign by families of some of those who were infected and requests from current patients. BLOOM, who died in 1992, was one of the UK’s (supposed) leading haematologists but his name has cropped up repeatedly during the infected blood inquiry. The blood scandal gets uglier as it exposes those who covered it up.

Read more the the UK Guardian’s story:

Families wanted bust of Professor Arthur Bloom removed from haemophilia centre in Cardiff

NEWCASTLE, NSW – Hunter New England Health district has paid out more than $69 million in the past 2 years, but the HNEH refuses to hide the details.

Medical negligence claims in the Hunter New England Health district, north of Sydney, cost taxpayers $69 million in two years.

John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle and Maitland District Hospital make a lot of mistakes. The HNEH CEO just continues to ignore these escalating mistakes are under his watch and for all the years MEAG has pointed out patient harm and deaths, he remains in denial there is a problem.

Beware entering these hospitals.

Read more of Anita Beaumont’s story…

SYDNEY —

The New South Wales government has promised to make sure there is no repeat of the “horrible mistake” that saw the wrong side of a patient’s bowel at the troubled public-private 488-bed Northern Beaches Hospital on Sydney’s north shore.

The patient has undergone further surgery, the third operation in as many days.

Minister for Health Brad Hazzard MP said the private hospital had advised NSW Health of the “serious event”. Err, what about the other “serious events” reported to your office, minister?

Allegedly, the outsourced pathology results has in some way contributed to the mistake.

Minister Hazzard has asked the hospital to provide all possible support for the patient and family. Would that be in making a complaint to the Health Care Complaints Commission?

Read more from AAP: Botched surgery at new Sydney hospital removes strong side of cancer patient’s bowel

MEAG COMMENT: Can any victim of medical negligence believe the NSW Government’s promise?

LONDON –

Some 250 women who received breast implants are preparing a joint legal action over possible links to cancer.

The case is against the makers of ALLERGAN BIOCELL implants – Britain’s most popular range – which have been withdrawn from sale in the UK.

Read more the Daily Mail UK’s story by science correspondent Colin Fernandez:

Court battle looms as around 250 women prepare to sue breast implant manufacturer over possible links to cancer

Don’t be fooled by these figures reported in today’s The Australian.

Anyone would think Australia’s hospitals are glowing institutions of patient safety. They are not. It is an illustration of hospitals’ dishonest reporting.

FRANCE –

French police investigating an anaesthesiologist in connection with multiple poisonings have added 17 new cases to their probe.

Doctor Frederic PECHIER, 47, was previously charged in 2017 in relation to 7 cases of poisoning public prosecutor Etienne Manteaux told reporters at a televised press conference Thursday, May 16, with the 24 total cases resulting in 9 deaths.

Pechier worked at two private clinics in Besancon, eastern France.

Read more reports from CNN and The Sun:

French doctor investigated in 24 cases of poisoning during surgery; 9 patients died

Doctor accused of poisoning patients so he could show off by saving them

LONDON –

An Australian-trained doctor whose “glittering” medical career came to an end in “disgrace” after she overcharged a member of the Brunei royal family by millions of dollars, has forfeited her right to practise in the UK.

Britain is the second country to take action against now ex-doctor Susan Lim May Lee, who graduated from Monash University’s medical school in 1979, with the Singapore Medical Council suspending her 7 years ago.

It was while working in Singapore that Ms LIM treated the Queen of Brunei’s sister. It was discovered she had added hidden mark-ups to invoices that resulted in the patient, who was terminally ill, being overcharged by more than AUD$15.7million (£8 million), according to the UK Medical Practitioners Tribunal.

After being confronted by Bruneian authorities, Ms Lim immediately reduced the invoices by half.

But in 2012, the Singapore Medical Council found her guilty of 94 counts of professional misconduct, including 83 counts of overcharging. She was also found guilty of adding mark-up on her fees charged by third-party doctors on her invoices.

Read more in the UK Medical Practitioners Tribunal BMJ 2019

Article from Australian Doctor by Heather Saxena.

GOSPORT, South East coast, England —

The hospital deaths scandal continues…

A new criminal investigation is to take place into the deaths of hundreds of patients who were given “dangerous” levels of painkillers at a hospital.

An inquiry found 456 patients died after being given opiate drugs at Gosport War Memorial Hospital between 1987 and 2001.

A review has since been carried out by Kent and Essex Police to assess if there was “sufficient new evidence”.

Relatives have been told a “full investigation” will begin.

Three previous investigations into 92 of the deaths by Hampshire Constabulary resulted in no charges being brought.

Assistant Chief Constable Nick Downing, head of serious crime at Kent and Essex Police, met relatives at a meeting in Fareham.

Speaking at a press conference afterwards, he promised a “thorough and independent” investigation with a range of offences, including murder, to be considered.

He said police would not be interviewing hospital staff but meeting families individually to collect statements on their relatives’ experiences of the hospital.

The Gosport Independent Review Panel report, published in June 2018, found there was a “disregard for human life” at the hospital.

It also found an “institutionalised regime” of prescribing and administering amounts of opiate medication that were not clinically justified.

The report said the quality of previous police investigations had been “consistently poor”.

It found whistleblowers and families were ignored as they attempted to raise concerns about the administration of medication on the wards, which was overseen by Dr Jane Barton.

Dr Barton retired after being found guilty by a medical panel of failings in her care of 12 patients at Gosport between 1996 and 1999.

In a statement last year, Dr Barton said she was a “hard-working doctor” who was “doing her best” for patients in a “very inadequately resourced” part of the NHS.

MEAG COMMENT: But doctor found enough resources to bump patients off.

READ MORE OF THE BBC NEWS:

Dr Jane Barton has questions to answer

HOBART, TASMANIA – Patients are dying and being injured because of deteriorating conditions at the Royal Hobart Hospital, emergency doctors say.

The department’s registrars have written a scathing no-holds-barred 5-page letter to management, saying they have “grave concerns” and can provide examples of “direct patient injury and death” because of worsening conditions and bed block.

Read more ABC News story:

Emergency doctors warn patients dying, conditions unsafe at Royal Hobart Hospital

SYDNEY

The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) – New South Wales’ answer to “healthcare watchdog” is dysfunctional. It should be shut down. It does not know how to bark.

How many cases is it stuffing up? This is the question.

It continually fails to appropriately assess hundreds of patients’ complaints because of “a dysfunctional workplace culture”, a whistleblower has claimed. But MEAG says it’s maladministration.

Fifteen years ago the then NSW Opposition Leader John Brogden, called for 9,000 cases to be re-assessed. This did not happen. MEAG made a substantial submission to the Walker Inquiry at the time but still the government did not act.

What happened to those 9,000 complaints? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Too many cases are not being looked at, dismissed without being investigated, i.e. real investigation, not a sideways glance.

As for its claim “Protecting Public Health and Safety” – a misnomer indeed. Fake news!

MEAG says shut it down now. It serves no purpose to both patients and doctors.

Read more of the ABC News Greg Miskelly’s story:

The NSW healthcare watchdog ‘dysfunction’ jeopardising patient safety, whistleblower claims