Triple-0 blunder

Ambulance gets wrong address for hurt man (In Australia, 000 is the equivalent of the U.S. 911). This seems to happen a lot. Making it a firing offence for a blundering dispatcher would make it happen a lot less often, I fancy. I note that in a U.S. case the dispatcher was at least suspended

A worker who sliced his arm on a power tool was kept waiting for an ambulance because a communications operator sent out the wrong address. Told an ambulance was still an hour away after a wait of 40 minutes, the injured man's employer drove him to hospital.

Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts admitted there had been a delay in dispatching an appropriate ambulance after a mistake about the address. "It resulted from an inadvertent highlighting of an incorrect address during the dispatch process," Mr Roberts said.

Wheelchair user Val Hughes, of Glenore Grove near Laidley, called Triple 0 about 8.45am on September 18 after a contractor cut his arm with a grinder and fainted at their gravel business. She said her husband was out and she did not want to ask a 17-year-old employee to drive the man to hospital.

Mrs Hughes said a Southport ambulance communications centre worker seemed confused about her location. When the worker fainted a second time, Mrs Hughes called the emergency number again at 9.05am and was told an ambulance would be there soon. "We waited, but we were starting to get very agitated," she said.

When Mrs Hughes called again at 9.25am, she said she was told an ambulance would be sent from Toogoolawah. "I reacted a bit and said that would take an hour," she said. She was then told an ambulance would be sent from Lowood. By then her husband, who had just returned home, decided to drive the injured man to Laidley Hospital, where he received 17 stitches.

Member for Lockyer Ian Rickuss said problems were still occurring despite $6 million spent on a computer-aided communications system. He called for the Government to ensure a back-up system was in place to safeguard against further malfunctions.

The article above by Kay Dibben appeared in the the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on October 12, 2008






The evil DOCS again

Mother's 15-year struggle to keep kids

A Sydney mother who has been on the run for five years has been found in Moree in the state's north and her young son removed from her care because NSW authorities believe she suffers from the widely-discredited disorder "Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy''. Her child, who turns five in December, was taken into custody by local police and handed over to the Department of Community Services [DOCS] late on Thursday.

The boy is the fourth child removed from the 32-year-old mother, who can't be named for legal reasons. In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Telegraph the mother told how she pleaded with police. "I said, `Oh no, please don't do this, please don't take my child.'''

The mother is supported by a senior medical figure who knows the woman's case and is an Australian expert in Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP). The diagnosis of MSBP, a disorder said to make mothers want to harm or fabricate illness in their children to gain attention, was made by doctors in 1993 when the woman was 17 and had a premature baby. The baby, her second born, had severe reflux [a not uncommon childhood problem. Babies chuck all the time] and breathing problems and failed to thrive. Doctors accused her of withholding food, making the child throw up by forcing her fingers down his throat and attempting to poison him. He was removed from her care at eight months of age.

In 1994 a civil court hearing found no evidence of MSBP, but the Department of Community Services successfully appealed. Two more children were subsequently removed and placed into foster care as well. She has maintained custody of her first born, who is now 16.

The disorder was discredited in the UK after several mothers jailed for murdering their children had their convictions quashed on appeal in 2003. The women were originally convicted on the evidence of leading paediatrician Sir Roy Meadows, who coined the term in 1977. He was later struck off the British General Medical Council and a review of 250 cases were ordered. He has since been reinstated.

There are up to 70 cases in Australia where a diagnosis of MSBP has been involved in the removal of children, according to academic Helen Haywood-Brown, whose PhD looked at 31 families whose children had suffered chronic illness which had been difficult to diagnose. 17 of them had been accused or suspected of MSBP. "There are a fair number of reputable medical professionals who believe this woman is innocent,'' Dr Hayward-Brown said of the mother's case.

"The Department of Community Services only removes children from their families in cases where a child is considered to be at serious risk of harm,'' a statement from the department said. The mother has appealed and faces court tomorrow.

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Public hospital negligence causes healthy baby to be aborted

A woman aborted her healthy son because doctors told her - wrongly - the boy would die of a rare terminal genetic abnormality. Corrina, 21, and partner Brad, 25, say they have gone through hell since they ended their son's life at 12 weeks. The Melbourne couple still mourn DJ, their fetus named after Brad's father, Douglas John. They sleep beside his ashes in their bedroom.

Corrina was told her baby had rare Menkes disease - which killed her toddler brother. "I had a termination . . . I lived through it, but for a long time I wanted to die," Corrina said. Months later, she was devastated when, she says, she was told the original Menkes diagnosis was wrong. She is suing two Melbourne hospitals, an international genetic clinic and the Government of Denmark, where some tests were performed.

Corrina's lawyer, Anne Shortall, of Arnold Thomas & Becker said her case was one of the most tragic and unusual. Corrina wants the hospitals, clinic and diagnosticians to guarantee this will never happen again.

Her younger brother Shane died from Menkes disease, which causes retardation, many health problems and a shortened life span. "Shane had no life, was in pain and couldn't cry," Corrina said. "I couldn't put another child through that." Menkes disease (also called kinky hair disease) affects boys and is caused by genetic mutation or passed on by a mother as a carrier. It affects the copper levels in the body and is indicated by high coppery levels in DNA and other tests.

When Corrina became pregnant she feared for her unborn child because her mother and sisters were carriers of the disease and "there was a good chance I was too". "When I was pregnant with DJ, I thought, 'If it is a boy, I can't let him be born as sick as Shane was'," she said. "I was only three, but I remember them taking my little brother, Shane, away, zipping his little body up in a bag - he was only 18 months old.

"I asked the experts to promise me they would put in place some protocols so this mistake would never happen again. "They wouldn't, so I said 'I'll see you in court'."

Ms Shortall said that during Corrina's pregnancy the Royal Women's Hospital's genetics department carried out tests on the fetus. She said experts at a genetics institute in Denmark were consulted and a sample was taken from Corrina's fetus using a kit supplied from Denmark and locally provided saline solution. "On September 22, 2005, Corrina underwent a termination of pregnancy on the basis of the doctors' advice that the fetus was affected by Menkes disease," Ms Shortall said.

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Must not dispute claims by homosexuals?

TENS of thousands of taxpayers' dollars are being spent on a legal fight about a 30cm Barbie doll. The State Government has angered gay rights campaigners by disputing a bisexual firefighter's claim he was harassed by co-workers and given a Barbie doll at a Christmas party. Lawyers for the Government argue the controversial doll was given not because of the claimant's sexuality, but because he has the same name as Barbie's boyfriend - Ken. But claimant Ken Campagnolo said none of the other Kens at the party received dolls.

Mr Campagnolo is suing the Department of Sustainability and Environment for workplace sexual harassment. He says co-workers shouted "poofter" at him and put dolls on his locker, as well as presenting him with a Barbie doll.

At a tribunal hearing lawyers for the Government argued there was an innocent explanation. "The presentation of a Barbie doll to the complainant was just a friendly play on his Christian name - a Barbie doll for a 'Ken'," the tribunal heard.

Gay rights campaigner Rob Mitchell, of the RJM Trust, said it was outrageous the Government was fighting Mr Campognolo's complaint. "It makes me shudder to think what amount of taxpayers' money they've spent so far," he said. A DSE spokesman declined an opportunity to disclose how much the Government had spent.

The "Barbie barney" case has been running in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for six months. A formal hearing is due on December 5.

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