Sick to Death – Episode 14: Payback

Podcast: Sick to Death
Host: Hedley Thomas (The Australian)
Date: March 13, 2026
Main Theme:
This gripping installment of "Sick to Death" explores the explosive fallout from the Bundaberg Hospital Inquiry, focusing on the backlash against media, legal, and health staff, the exposure of deep-seated health system failures and cover-ups, and the shocking revelation of a fake psychiatrist. Hedley Thomas provides a vivid insider account of official attempts at damage control, personal and political blowback, and the extraordinary efforts required to get justice for victims.

1. The Episode Unfolds: Tension & Fallout at the Inquiry

Bundaberg Inquiry at a Turning Point

• [00:27-01:54] Hedley Thomas sets the scene: months of graphic, gut-wrenching evidence—bloody wounds, cover-ups, missed opportunities, and mounting tension over a looming Supreme Court challenge (by Darren Keating and Peter Leck) that threatened to derail the entire inquiry.
• The inquiry’s head, Tony Morris, delivers an emotional reflection on the personal consequences for those desperately seeking answers.
  • Quote:
    "The thing that presses most upon my mind is the gruesome stories that we've heard over the past three or four weeks."
    — Tony Morris [01:54]

Mock Awards & The Catalyst for Scandal

• [02:07-08:12]
  As the hearings wind down, reporters and inquiry staff gather for a farewell dinner at Patel’s favored Indian restaurant, organizing a series of irreverent “mock awards” aimed at themselves and fellow participants—a form of comic relief after grueling weeks.
  • Jokes and camaraderie turn to discomfort when a nearby diner, Pat Matthews (head of Patient Liaison, Queensland Health), expresses sharp disapproval.
  • By the next day, Queensland Health staff submit affidavits alleging the event mocked patients, triggering a bureaucratic maelstrom.

2. Media, Politics, and Power: The Scandal Blows Up

From Dinner Party to Public Scandal

• [09:00-13:02]
  News of the dinner explodes into a full-blown scandal after Sean Parnell publishes a story in The Australian, painting the event as a grossly insensitive “raucous dinner.” Premier Peter Beattie leaps on the complaints as grounds for official misconduct.

  • Quote:
    "A raucous dinner involving barristers for the so-called Dr. Death Inquiry and journalists covering the proceedings has sparked a scandal..."
    — News Reporter (reading Parnell's article) [12:06]

• [13:02-16:13]
  Profound rift emerges between media, inquiry staff, and government. Beattie orders state government resources for hospital visits and photo ops, trying to shift blame and distract public anger.

  • Quote:
    "The major players in this shouldn't cover the inquiry anymore."
    — Peter Beattie [16:09]

• Beattie demands journalists implicated in the “awards night” scandal (including Thomas) be removed from covering the inquiry.

“A Monstrous Beat Up”: Inquiry Strikes Back

• [16:13-17:30]
  Tony Morris denounces The Australian’s coverage at a fiery press conference, accusing Parnell of unethical journalism and Queensland Health of orchestrating a campaign to discredit the inquiry.

  • Quote:
    "The story written by Sean Parnell is a monstrous beat up and calls into serious question the author's motives, if not his journalistic ethics and professionalism."
    — Tony Morris [16:28]

• Tensions escalate as reporters and government officials cross-examine each other, further fueling public and political drama.

3. Systemic Failure and Payback at the Top

The Game of Blame – Sacking and Retaliation

• [18:32-21:54]
  Ultimately, public opinion sides with the journalists and inquiry staff, seeing through the government’s opportunistic outrage. Beattie quickly drops the matter.

  • Quote:
    "I don't want to pursue the matter any more. I've made my point about it."
    — Peter Beattie [18:27]

• The health crisis triggers a political bloodletting. Health Minister Gordon Nuttall is fired. Queensland Health Director-General Steve Buckland is sacked—ironically echoing his earlier dismissive attitude toward nurses demanding investigation of Dr. Patel.

  • Quote:
    "What part of there's going to be no inquiry don't you understand?"
    — Steve Buckland, recalling an earlier confrontation with a nurse [21:37]
  • Reversal:
    "What part of sacked don't you understand?"
    — Message from Karen Jenner to Buckland [21:54]

4. Scattered Family, Heavy Toll

The Personal Undercurrents

• [21:59-22:38]
  Amid this chaos, Hedley Thomas interjects with a personal note: his own mother’s grave illness and her experience within Queensland’s strained health system, providing a poignant counterpoint to the bureaucracy’s political maneuvering.

5. On the Bench: Supreme Court Decides Inquiry’s Fate

• [25:20-29:32]
  Justice Martin Moynihan must decide whether Morris’s inquiry is hopelessly biased and should be aborted. Lawyers for Keating and Leck argue Morris is a sarcastic bully, while the Solicitor General defends the inherently tough and inquisitorial style of the inquiry.
  • Quote:
    "Would it be a good start to have hospitals run by doctors who are real doctors?"
    — Tony Morris [26:34]
  • Moynihan’s assessment:
    "They're not questions really, are they? They're assertions..."
    — Martin Moynihan [26:44]
• A decision looms. Political stakes are immense.

6. Shocking Revelations: The Fake Psychiatrist

The Victor Berg Scandal

• [31:50-38:12]

  • Investigators discover Dr. Vincent Berg (aka Viktor Vladimirovich Chekhovin)—a psychiatric registrar in Townsville—was a total fraud. He forged documents, had zero medical training, yet treated hundreds of vulnerable patients.

    • Quote:
      "He was a plausible rogue."
      — Tony Morris [36:22]
    • Response:
      "Basically, a con man."
      — Dr. Andrew Johnson [36:24]

  • Despite explicit warnings from professional bodies, Queensland Health and the Medical Board covered up Berg’s fraud and failed to inform patients or take action, instead allowing him to quietly move on.

    • Quote:
      "Our issue is about the quality of performance. In discussions with the board, they refused to acknowledge that he was not registrable. Game, set and match. Therefore, there is no official misconduct and no need to report."
      — Steve Buckland, email [37:59]

• [39:15]
  Dr. Johnson explains the root cause:

  • "Politics has really taken over the delivery of healthcare to an unreasonable extent... the only reason I can think of for suppressing information is, is for short term political advantage."
    — Andrew Johnson [39:15]

7. Systemic Rot: Hidden Waiting Lists & Bureaucratic Cover-Ups

Concealed Waiting Lists Exposed

• [46:40-47:36]

  • Investigators uncover secret, “unofficial” waiting lists, destroying Premier Beattie’s boasts about short wait times—over 108,000 people statewide had been hidden from the public record, some waiting up to eight years for surgeries.
    • Quote:
      "It is simply a matter of revealing as much as possible that people want to see and covering up anything that's going to cause public disquiet."
      — Tony Morris [47:36]

• [48:14-48:47]
  Beryl Crosby, patient advocate, lambastes the culture of secrecy:

  • "It's a disgusting covered up mess... It's like a boil—when it burst with Patel, all the gunk started coming out. Until it is all oozed out, it will never begin to heal. But how do you heal it?"
    — Beryl Crosby [48:14]

• [49:34-51:47]
  Senior clinicians speak out about the desperate conditions, the lack of resources, and the dehumanizing pressure from administrators and politicians, leading to dangerous care shortfalls.

  • Quote:
    "We're playing politics with health. Health is people. And the problem at the moment is we're messing with it with politics. They need to speak to clinicians and ask them what needs to be done, not have administrators telling us what clinicians should be doing."
    — Dr. Jason Jenkins, Royal Brisbane Hospital [49:34]

8. Political Fallout and Public Outrage

• [52:22-53:03]
  The crisis sparks a political catastrophe: Labor suffers stunning by-election losses, signaling deep public anger and the potential end of the Beattie government.
  • Quote:
    "The Beatty government faces its first serious electoral test at the next state election after voters handed it two shattering defeats in weekend by-elections."
    — Malcolm Cole [52:40]
  • Summary by Stephen Coates:
    "Unless he can slay dragons and put on a sparkling electoral performance, he faces a fall from power in disgrace."
    — Stephen Coates [53:03]

9. Memorable Moments & Key Quotes (with Timestamps)

• [01:54] Tony Morris: "The thing that presses most upon my mind is the gruesome stories that we've heard over the past three or four weeks."
• [06:41] George Connolly: "I have nothing but more appreciation for that man, Mr. Morris, for standing up and showing guts and standing up and fighting our health system. And I'd like everyone now to stand up, put their hands together for Mr. Morris."
• [16:09] Peter Beattie: "The major players in this shouldn't cover the inquiry anymore."
• [16:28] Tony Morris: "The story written by Sean Parnell is a monstrous beat up..."
• [18:27] Peter Beattie: "I don't want to pursue the matter any more. I've made my point about it."
• [21:37] Steve Buckland: "What part of there's going to be no inquiry don't you understand?"
• [26:34] Tony Morris: "Would it be a good start to have hospitals run by doctors who are real doctors?"
• [36:22] Tony Morris: "He was a plausible rogue."
• [39:15] Andrew Johnson: "The only reason that I can think of for suppressing information is, is for short term political advantage."
• [47:36] Tony Morris: "It is simply a matter of revealing as much as possible that people want to see and covering up anything that's going to cause public disquiet."
• [49:34] Dr. Jason Jenkins: "We're playing politics with health. Health is people..."
• [52:40] Malcolm Cole: "The Beatty government faces its first serious electoral test..."

10. Conclusion: A System on the Brink

• This episode powerfully illustrates the human, political, and bureaucratic consequences of cover-ups in Queensland’s public health system. The pursuit of truth, often at great personal and professional cost, is stymied by a culture more devoted to self-protection than patient safety.
• Revelations about fake doctors, falsified records, and hidden suffering add further weight to calls for systemic reform.
• As legal and political reckoning gathers pace, “Sick to Death” asks the central question: How does a broken system begin to heal itself?

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