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- [00:00]
Katie Page
Katie I'm Katie Page, CEO of Harvey Norman. Since 2018, Harvey Norman has been a key partner in the Australians investigative podcasts such as Sick to Bronwyn Shandy's Story, the Teacher's Pet and the Night Driver. Harvey Norman are proud sponsors of the Australians podcast investigations and their award winning journalism.
- [00:27]
Hedley Thomas
My name is Hedley Thomas. Sick to Death is based on my book of the same name and it's the true story of Dr. Jayant Patel's lies and manipulation and the herculean effort it took to finally stop him. We've used voice actors throughout this series and on occasion the real people from this story have read their words for us. It is brought to you by me and the Australian. Chapter 64 payback July 2005 the evidence at the hearings in Bundaberg had been tragic, gruelling and at times gratuitously graphic. Bloody wounds, cover ups, perforated bowels, maladministration, oozing pus, missed opportunities. All of it amid tension and uncertainty raised by the looming Supreme Court challenge by Darren Keating and Peter Leck. If the challenge should succeed in bringing about the abolition of the inquiry, we feared it would all have been for nothing. In declaring himself unbiased, Tony Morris had made an impassioned speech about the ramifications of his ousting. It would, he explained, have very grave
- [01:55]
Tony Morris
personal consequences for the individuals who wish to see an outcome to this. And the thing that presses most upon my mind is the gruesome stories that we've heard over the past three or four weeks.
- [02:07]
Hedley Thomas
He omitted mention of the grave personal consequences for himself. For most of the inquiry staff, journalists and the support crew, it was almost time to return to families in Brisbane. We had been based in Bundaberg for a month. In the lecture hall in the education centre where the evidence was being heard, some of the reporters began planning a fitting farewell to Bundaberg. A dinner party at the Indian Curry Bazaar restaurant. Patel's favourite. Jane Hodgkinson, the Nine Network senior reporter, showed me a list of mock awards. They were directed mostly at the media, few lawyers and the inquiry staff. We hope they would raise a laugh for being mentioned from time to time by Toni Morris, who had that day referred to me as the most reliable oracle while clarifying something I had actually misreported. I would receive the teacher's pet gong. Sean Parnell, whose articles in the Australian had caused Morris heartburn, was deemed best ghostwriter for his absence from an inquiry he kept writing about. There were a couple of gongs for the patients for lifting his shirt to show his wound to journalists and for asking the inquiry staff to post on its official website several photographs of his swollen and split abdomen. Ian Fleming would receive a show me your wound award. And one of our favourite patients, Beryl Crosby, the indefatigable chain smoking leader of the support group, would be blessed with a dirty ashtray award. Jeff Deem, the lawyer for Darren Keating, would be flattered by his special mention, an award for courage under fire. Similarly, John Allen, the tough but eminently fair lawyer for the nurses, would receive a glowing tribute. Jane Hodgkinson, together with Channel ten's Danielle Eisdale, Channel seven's Cathy Weiss and myself expanded the list. Word of our plans to party soon reached the inquiry staff, who were all welcome. The affable senior counsel assisting David Andrews was determined to make it a success. He volunteered to bring plenty of wine before we left for the day. Linda Mulligan, the hospital's former director of nursing, whose management style was criticised by Tony Hoffman and other nurses, gave her evidence. Tony Morris looked and sounded agitated. He regarded Linda Mulligan's answers as unsatisfactory.
- [04:55]
Tony Morris
What I read in your statement is that every time there's a problem you give the textbook bureaucratic answer. You need more training, you need mediation, you need skills development, you've got communications problems. All those textbook bureaucratic answers rather than the natural reaction from from a senior nurse, which is to go and support her staff, see what they're saying, provide them with the comfort they need, ascertain the facts for herself and deal with the problem in a hands on way.
- [05:28]
Hedley Thomas
Mulligan's reply that she had suggested everyone sit down together did not placate Morris. The next witness, George Connolly, a white haired and frighteningly frail 67 year old, needed help to reach the stand. He took small steps while pushing along a large bottle of oxygen and other life saving paraphernalia. Just drawing breath was an effort for Connolly, who suffered from a collapsed lung and emphysema. He was gravely ill. He wanted to talk about the death of his wife Doreen. After a hospital bungle, Morris gave the widower a sympathetic hearing. Connolly asked to be able to say something in closing. With great effort, the emaciated pensioner slowly rose to his feet. In a rasping voice he said, today
- [06:23]
George Connolly
and over the last weeks, we've heard a man carry out an inquiry. Under enormous strain.
- [06:31]
Hedley Thomas
Connolly then raised his voice to ensure that nobody misheard the the TV reporters knew even then that this grab would lead their report for the evening. News.
- [06:42]
George Connolly
He's been pushed by the government. He's been pushed by everyone else under the sun. The hospital's taken him to court and everything. 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.
- [07:07]
Hedley Thomas
Those in the public gallery stood and gave Morris a rousing standing ovation. The lawyers and the journalists remained seated out of professionalism, and Morris looked deeply touched.
- [07:20]
Tony Morris
Thank you, Mr. Connolly. We'll take a ten minute break.
- [07:25]
Hedley Thomas
After Connolly shuffled away and news editors in Brisbane rewrote the bulletin, the hits kept coming for Linda Mulligan. Her weighty written statement was likened by Toni Morris to a telephone book. Mulligan's barrister, Alan McSporran, told Morris that his questioning was objectionable.
- [07:45]
Alan McSporran
You have entered the arena, taken an active role to denigrate this witness, and in my submission, quite unfairly, is there
- [07:53]
Tony Morris
any reason why I can't use appropriate forensic resources to get at the truth?
- [07:58]
Hedley Thomas
Morris replied.
- [08:00]
Alan McSporran
Well, no one is objecting to you conducting yourself and conducting the inquiry appropriately.
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Hedley Thomas
McSporran said.
- [08:09]
Tony Morris
Well, Mr. Leck is. He's taking me to the Supreme Court.
- [08:13]
Hedley Thomas
Morris countered. A few hours later, at the restaurant, about 35 of us headed upstairs to a special table setting organised by Pam Samra, who used to look forward to Patel's visits there. We had most of the dining room to ourselves. The only other diners were at a table on the far side. About 10pm, Jane Hodgkinson asked me to join her in announcing the mock awards. Halfway into the announcements, the diners on the far side arose to leave. On her way across the room, one woman, Pat Matthews, spoke sharply. She said, oh, very nice. I'm sure the patients would love to hear that. We groaned when we discovered later that she was head of the Patient Liaison service for Queensland Health, her words had cut the jovial atmosphere to ribbons. The banter was muted in the hour before we headed back to our accommodation. The next morning, David Andrews, chipper as ever despite his sore head, joined Tony Morris and the deputy commissioners on a visit to the hospital. Andrews recognised the district manager, Monica Seth, who had taken over from Peter Leck as the hospital's manager. In these trying times, she had been in the group with Pat Matthews at the restaurant on the last day of evidence in Bundaberg, other Queensland Health staff took time out to visit the inquiry. They jotted notes while scanning the public gallery to identify journalists and inquiry staff. Then they went back to work to swear statutory affidavits accusing us of lampooning the patients. In clinical episodes involving harm to patients, Queensland health staff had moved like aged sloths. They took an eternity to investigate even where lives were at risk. But within 12 hours of last drinks at the Indian Curry Bazaar in Bundaberg, the acting head of Queensland Health, Dr. John Scott, was relaying to Premier Peter Beattie a dozen affidavits from the staff in Bundaberg. Oblivious to the gathering storm, many of the reporters in the inquiry room were visibly moved by widow Tess Bramwich. She told Toni Morris and his two
- [10:43]
Narrator/Commentator
deputies, the only comfort for me to let my husband and soulmate go is to think the health system will be fixed. I thank you on behalf of our children and all the rest of Desmond's family.
- [10:57]
Hedley Thomas
In Brisbane, John Scott raised with Premier Peter Beattie whether our antics at the Indian Curry Bazaar might constitute official misconduct, a criminal offence. So Beattie wrote to Robert Needham, the head of Queensland's anti corruption body, the Crime and Misconduct Commission. As we boarded the last flight from Bundaberg to Brisbane that Thursday afternoon, Morris already knew that Peter Beattie had a bee in his bonnet about the previous night. Jane Hodgkinson and I swapped intelligence on what we had heard might be brewing. We knew that something had been leaked to Sean Parnell at the Australian. I felt sure that if Parnell planned to write anything, he would call me first to check on the claims or to seek comment. We had been colleagues. David Andrews was unworried as the aircraft left Bundaberg behind.
- [11:54]
Martin Moynihan
Nobody did anything wrong. It's a nonsense.
- [12:01]
Hedley Thomas
The next morning, while reading the Australians online edition, I see that the story
- [12:07]
News Reporter
that was published, a raucous dinner involving barristers for the so called Dr. Death Inquiry and journalists covering the proceedings has sparked a scandal in the central Queensland sugar town of Bundaberg. Premier Peter Beattie will be asked to take action over the dinner at Bundaberg's Indian Curry Bazaar, which was attended by 33, three people and featured a mock awards ceremony. The complaints to Mr. Beattie raised the prospect of an official misconduct investigation which could only be done by the Crime and Misconduct Commission. The Australian has learned the barristers assisting the $4 million inquiry, David Andrews, SC and Errol Morzone and other commission staff were present at the dinner. On Wednesday night, on the eve of the completion of the inquiry's Bundaberg sittings, two journalists presented a series of awards to those present at the dinner, seemingly unaware that a group of health staff was seated At a nearby table.
- [13:02]
Hedley Thomas
The story went on to smear the inquiry staff, none of whom had any prior knowledge of the mock awards. Surprisingly, none of the inquiry staff or the journalists had been contacted for an on the record comment. The angle cut us deeply. The mock awards were poking fun at ourselves. Where the patients were mentioned. It was good humoured. To me, the Patel story was simple. Negligent health system introduces negligent surgeon to unwitting patients, resulting in very poor outcomes. I saw Patel as part of a big picture and the catalyst for overdue reform. Sean Parnell took a generally contrary approach in his reporting. To his great credit, he had identified major flaws in the conduct of Tony Morris as inquiry head. The explanation by Sean Parnell of these flaws was a recurring theme in his articles. But it seemed to me that in playing Morris the man harder than the ball, he focused less on the serious systemic issues of the health system. This had the effect of immunising the political leadership and Queensland Health's chieftains. The conduct of Morris paled into insignificance compared with the plight of those patients unnecessarily dying or being maimed in hospitals because of unsafe or inadequate care. The awards night triggered farce. Beattie and his staff began to flood media outlets with copies of the affidavits. The Premier ordered the state government jet to go to Bundaberg to meet patient Ian Fleming on the tarmac. And in one of his most repugnant performances of 2005, the politician hugged him like a long lost brother while apologising repeatedly. Danielle EISDALE and the ABC's reporter Alex Graham, both of whom witnessed the embrace and the platitudes, were disgusted. Fleming appeared to be crying. When Alex Graham asked Beattie at an impromptu press conference on the airport tarmac whether his calls for a Crime and Misconduct Commission inquiry, his apparent outrage and his use of public funds to divert the jet to Bundaberg for the photo opportunity with Ian Fleming were really desperate attempts to divert attention from the crisis plaguing his government. Beattie turned on the aggression. As Alex Graham had been at the restaurant, Beattie angrily declared to her that she had no right to be asking him about his responses. She showed great composure and common sense. She turned to an ABC colleague and asked him to repeat the question. Beattie wanted the reporters, who had been what he called ringleaders at the awards night, banned from covering the inquiry. He wanted me taken off this assignment, if not fired. It was the ultimate get square. His staff sent the affidavits to David Fagan, the Editor Beattie thundered, the major
- [16:09]
Peter Beattie
players in this shouldn't cover the inquiry anymore.
- [16:14]
Hedley Thomas
Back in his chambers at George Street, Brisbane, Tony Morris was almost apoplectic with fury. He had the Australian newspaper in his sights in a 10am media release and a subsequent fiery media conference.
- [16:29]
Tony Morris
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.
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Hedley Thomas
Morris said. He accused Sean Parnell of acting as
- [16:44]
Tony Morris
unofficial press correspondent for the senior bureaucracy at Queensland Health and of failing to
- [16:50]
Hedley Thomas
consult others at the dinner to ascertain what it was all about. At his media conference, Maurice and the Australian's Queensland bureau chief, my friend Sid Meagher slugged it out. Marr, a staunch and loyal defender of his colleague, was not going to stand by in silence as Tony Morris continued the tirade. When Sid Meagher started asking Morris tough questions, the lawyer cross examined Sid on Parnell's actions and ethics. It was pure theatre.
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Tony Morris
I'm under no illusion that Sean Parnell is being used by senior bureaucrats in Queensland Health to to disseminate stories like this.
- [17:31]
Hedley Thomas
Beattie and his staff worked to fan the flames. It was the first sign of dissent between the Premier and Morris, who had not attended the infamous dinner. The Crime and Misconduct Commission decided to leave it well alone. One of their staff had been among the dinner party. Beryl Crosby reckoned the awards were a harmless hoot. She knew we were letting our hair down and she appreciated how hard the media had worked. She embarrassed Beattie by revealing that she had been trying to have him visit Bundaberg to address the victims for weeks. Yet it was the opportunity to shoot the messengers which finally brought him to the town. On hearing of her award, Beryl had just one request.
- [18:16]
Beryl Crosby
She asked, can I have the ashtray?
- [18:19]
Hedley Thomas
Public opinion was not with Peter Beattie. Most people saw through the mock indignation. He let it go after a couple of days.
- [18:28]
Peter Beattie
I don't want to pursue the matter any more. I've made my point about it.
- [18:33]
Hedley Thomas
The stoush between Morris and Sean Parnell was inevitable. Conflict had been simmering for weeks. Parnell had enjoyed a close working relationship with health chiefs. Over several years. He had angered Morris by wrongly reporting that Patel was within error rates and that none of the disciplinary action previously taken in the US would have prevented him doing procedures for which he was being investigated in Australia. After one of his reports stated that Patel was linked to, as Shaun put it, only eight deaths, Morris sarcastically mused whether a century ago Parnell might have
- [19:12]
Tony Morris
Written Jack the Ripper, linked with only eight deaths.
- [19:16]
Hedley Thomas
Twelve days after the infamous awards night, Toni Morris wrote to Buckland and pointedly condemned what he described as a concerted
- [19:26]
Tony Morris
campaign of disinformation being orchestrated from within Queensland Health, apparently designed to discredit and derail this commission of inquiry, characterised by the strategic leaking of information to Sean Parnell of the Australian.
- [19:42]
Hedley Thomas
But in most respects, Parnell's reporting was courageous. He went against popular opinion to expose serious chinks in the armour of the inquiry chief. He pulled no punches in criticising Morris, who was obsessed with the media. The more that his unorthodox handling of the inquiry was highlighted, the more Tony Morris reacted. In my view, in his zeal to please everyone, he had jeopardised the inquiry. Meanwhile, Dr. Buckland and Dr. Scott were doomed. The organisation they led was in disarray. They were at loggerheads with their minister, Gordon Nuttall. They had lost Peter Beattie's confidence and the waiting lists for surgery in the public hospitals were growing. In late July, Nuttall was sacked as Health Minister.
- [20:34]
Peter Beattie
Beattie said, minister Nuttall is of the view, and I agree with him, that we need a fresh start to enable health reform so that Queenslanders have confidence that their health system is second to none in the world.
- [20:49]
Hedley Thomas
Buckland was axed a few days later. The state government's top public servant, Leo Kelleher, told Steve Buckland that Beattie no longer had confidence in him. He was given no reasons.
- [21:01]
Steve Buckland
It is with great sadness that I let you know I will be leaving Queensland Health as Director General effective at
- [21:07]
Hedley Thomas
midday today, buckland told staff on 26 July.
- [21:12]
Steve Buckland
I'm incredibly proud of the journey we began 18 months ago to reform public health care.
- [21:17]
Hedley Thomas
Buckland's friend and loyal deputy, John Scott, was the next to go. When the nurse, Karen Jenner, heard about Buckland's sacking, she recalled his fateful seventh April visit to the hospital when she asked him why there would be no proper investigation into Dr. Patel. And she recalled his demeaning answer.
- [21:38]
Steve Buckland
What part of there's going to be no inquiry don't you understand?
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Hedley Thomas
Buckland had asked her in the crowded room that day. Now the tables were turned. Jenna sent Steve Buckland a message on the day he was told to clear out his office.
- [21:54]
Narrator/Commentator
What part of sacked don't you understand?
- [22:00]
Hedley Thomas
My mother. Diana had been troubled by chronic back pain for a long time. She was losing weight and looked pale and frail. But she soldiered on without fuss and looked forward to another overseas jaunt. She might afford only in her dreams on the day, the story about the awards at the Indian restaurant in Bundaberg gave Beatty an opportunity to call for scalps. Mum's underlying illness prompted drastic action. It was the first indication of something serious. My older sister, Peter, sent me a text message just before noon.
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Beryl Crosby
Mum is going to hospital for a lengthy stay.
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Hedley Thomas
She is not in good shape. We'll call with more news. Our youngest sister, Kate, was giving birth to her daughter Mia in Sydney that day, and Mum was upset at being unable to be there for the arrival of another grandchild, her ninth. The kids called her Mouth Never Granny, and if you knew my mother, you would understand why. She saw herself as being more youthful than her own four children. In some ways she was a tall, beautiful and still willowy blonde. She carried herself proudly in the latest designer ripped denims or an expensive Italian suit. Hospital gowns were not for her. In her 60s, she had taken herself off to Italy, where she spent a year learning language and immersing herself in village life. She was admitted to a ward on the eighth floor at the Gold Coast Hospital after her heart specialist expressed alarm at worsening symptoms. Mum was gasping for breath. Her pulse raced. Her back pain had become excruciating. I can't believe that you are still walking around, the specialist told her as Mum rolled her eyes at being moved from floor to floor in the overcrowded public hospital and gossiped with my younger sister Rebecca, and leafed through Power of Positive Thinking books. Doctors ran tests. The elevator carried a notice warning patients and visitors that unfair criticism and racist slurs against the hospital's overseas trained doctors would not be tolerated. They had been copping a hard time since the Patel scandal erupted. The doctor's new mum had stomach ulcers and an internal bleed. But there was something else. A tumor. It was on her adrenal gland, silently squeezing life from a woman who, at 65, still had grand plans. Chapter 65 on the bench early August 2005, Martin Moynihan, the Supreme Court justice with the unenviable task of determining if the Morris inquiry needed euthanasing, corrective surgery or a clean bill of health, dropped a few clues to his views during three days of legal argument in Brisbane. If Toni Morris were dumped, Moynihan mused, the victims of Battelle and a sick system might have to go through another painful legal process.
- [25:21]
Martin Moynihan
The fact is, what happened was devastating for them, and to have to repeat it would be even more devastating, he said.
- [25:29]
Hedley Thomas
Senior lawyers told me that Martin Moynihan would not be influenced by the public and political support for Toni Morris. The experienced judge looked forward to retirement and had nothing to gain or lose from whatever he pronounced. His judgment on Morris would be his most momentous. His bushy eyebrows arched as he read portions of transcript from the inquiry. Pressing the advantage for Peter Leck and Darren Keating were two of the more experienced Brisbane lawyers that money could buy, David Jackson QC and Robert Mulholland qc. They characterised Morris as a sarcastic and unfair bully who had two categories of witnesses, heroes and villains, white hats and black hats. Moynihan was taken to two passages from the record of the questioning by Morris. The interrogation was likened to a laceration in Leck's case and an ambush in Keating's. Tony Morris had said Dr. Miack was
- [26:35]
Tony Morris
a doctor who actually deals with patients, not a bureaucrat. Would it be a good start to have hospitals run by doctors who are real doctors?
- [26:44]
Martin Moynihan
Moynihan commented, well, they're not questions really, are they? They're assertions which the witness has little room to manoeuvre in terms of accepting or rejecting. I mean, in the circumstances in which he's found himself.
- [26:58]
Hedley Thomas
Robert Mulholland said, yes, it's really abuse, we'd say, at the very least, you,
- [27:04]
Martin Moynihan
Honour, it's grossly discourteous.
- [27:07]
Hedley Thomas
Thanks to the decision of Morris to permit cameras into the inquiry, Peter Leck and Darren Keating had the benefit of DVDs obtained under subpoena from the TV stations. The footage provided glimpses of the hostility Morris at times showed. It featured him shaking Hoffman's hand, a moment described by David Jackson as almost surreal. The pictures, painted a thousand words, hundreds of black and white pages of transcript, were not as powerful as one or two DVDs. For Leck and Keating to succeed in their bid to kill the inquiry, their lawyers needed to persuade the judge that a hypothetical observer sitting in the inquiry room would have reasonably concluded that Toni Morris had already formed prejudicial views. There had to be an apprehension of bias fighting for Morris. The Solicitor General, Walter Sofronoff qc, stressed that the proceedings were by their very nature inquisitorial and Morris could ask tough questions as he saw fit. Royal Commission style inquiries bear little resemblance to the usual judicial process. Inquiry commissioners are not bound by usual rules. Their witnesses may not refuse to give evidence.
- [28:32]
Walter Sofronoff
It is one of the weapons in the arsenal of a truth finder to be at liberty to call somebody on short notice or no notice, and certainly in circumstances where that person is not expected to be called in order to establish facts before false propositions can be
- [28:52]
Hedley Thomas
cobbled together, Sofronoff said. Accordingly, Walter Sofronoff argued, a commissioner like Tony Morris was at perfect liberty to call somebody without notice, however upsetting it might have been to the witnesses. If he could have had a bet on the result, the Courier Mail's longtime court reporter, inveterate punter Mark Oberhardt, would have put money on disqualification. Others were not so sure.
- [29:20]
Peter Beattie
We didn't start this course of action to have it aborted halfway through. This inquiry will finish its work, peter Beattie said.
- [29:33]
Hedley Thomas
Tony Morris remained the preferred commissioner, but Beattie vowed a new inquiry would pick up where Morris had left off if he were ousted. The pressure on all the parties was relentless. As the Supreme Court challenge droned on, Toni Morris conducted hearings in earshot of the din of money being won and lost in the poker machines and on the card tables at the Townsville Breakwater Casino. He had brought the inquiry to North Queensland for three days of hearings at the breaks. When he chainsmoked Queen quickly and deeply, he was anxious for news. He was gambling on a major legal triumph.
- [30:15]
Tony Morris
What's the gossip?
- [30:16]
Hedley Thomas
Tony repeatedly asked. He was keen for any indication of how things were panning out in Brisbane. At one stage he quipped that Walter Sofronoff had told him, don't be making
- [30:28]
Walter Sofronoff
plans to give up your day job just yet.
- [30:32]
Hedley Thomas
Morris seemed emboldened, and the sensational evidence in Townsville was set to breathe new life into an inquiry that looked like it might totter.
- [30:52]
Podcast Host (Hedley Thomas)
This podcast is made possible by subscribers to the Australian and our principal sponsor, Harvey Norman. Since late 2017, when I started pursuing Chris Dawson for the 1982 murder of his wife, Lynn, Harvey Norman has been a loyal backer. It began with the Teacher's Pet, and Harvey Norman and its CEO Katie Page's support has continued for over eight years. I'm proud to have had their backing on all of mine and the Australians investigative podcasts the Night Driver, Shandy's Story, Shandy's Legacy, the Teacher's Trial, the Teacher's Accuser, Bronwyn and most recently, the Sick to Death podcast. For more information on this podcast, go to theaustralian.com.
- [31:50]
Hedley Thomas
Chapter 66 secrets and lies august 2005. In the wards and the staff room at Townsville Hospital, Dr. Vincent Berg had sometimes spoken of his colourful past in the former USSR and his lofty status as a bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church. The man formerly known as Viktor Vladimirovich Chekhovin had appeared concerned, almost paranoid, about the tentacles of the Russian KGB and its covert successors. They had dogged him he explained with relentless surveillance and interrogation operations. But for about 250 patients with psychiatric issues, Berg, the hospital's eccentric psychiatric registrar, was the person to whom they turned for help. And he had held a lawful authority to prescribe powerful mood altering medication. He had assessed the mental condition of the patients. After listening to their fears and frustrations, he had told them how they should and could be feeling. He had dealt on a daily basis with fragile people whose anxieties could cause them to self mutilate with knives or attempt suicide by walking in front of speeding cars. Berg had his own unusual ideas and practices. When he visited patients at their homes, he appeared more interested in the children, particularly young boys. Medication had calmed the violent tendencies of one of the patients who had committed murder. Berg took him off the pills. Berg told other patients who were clearly mentally ill that they were perfectly fine. He overruled senior psychiatrists by significantly changing their treatment plans. As far as the patients knew, however, Berg was a Queensland Health employee registered by the Medical Board to deal with a range of serious psychiatric illnesses. Psychiatric patients who complain that their psychiatrist is weird are not, as a rule, taken very seriously. When Jared Cowley Grimmond, one of the lawyers seconded to the Morris inquiry to run behind the scenes investigations and interviews, first went to Townsville to follow several leads, he was told about the Berg file. It had been concealed by Queensland Health and the Medical board since early 2003. As the comprehensive file showed, Berg was not even qualified to replace bandages. He had crudely forged paperwork to purport that he had done extensive training at Voronezh University in the former ussr. He was a total fake. In all probability, his mental problems were more serious than those of many of his patients. His true form of vocation as a schoolteacher in the USSR had ended years earlier. Despite having no experience or training in medicine or psychiatry, he had been given a green light by the Medical Board and a job with Queensland Health to treat the community's most vulnerable people. The evidence in Townsville was devastating. It showed that the Board had been warned by the Australian Medical Council and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists that Berg's documents were crude forgeries, end quote. The Board did next to nothing after receiving these written warnings. It did not advise Townsville Hospital, nor did it start a prosecution. Instead, the Board's deputy, Michael Demiguero, issued a Qualified Certificate of good standing to Berg, who used it to seek jobs elsewhere. He pitched his bogus CV to a hospital in India. He almost landed a job in the Northern Territory and New Zealand on the information available to Queensland Health and the board. Berg had committed a string of criminal offences, from fraud to assault, yet he was permitted to slip quietly away. Morris had a question for Townsville Hospital's medical services director, Dr. Andrew Johnson.
- [36:22]
Tony Morris
He was a plausible rogue.
- [36:25]
Andrew Johnson
And Johnson replied, yes, you know, basically a con man.
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Hedley Thomas
When Johnson first discovered by accident the embarrassing truth about Berg, the Russian refugee had already left the hospital due to his lamentable lack of knowledge about psychiatry. But he had lasted a year there. Johnson crafted a comprehensive strategy to alert Berg's patients and come clean with the public. He proposed an audit of the patients and hotlines for anyone seeking urgent counselling. Media advisors in Townsville drafted media releases. Draft parliamentary speeches were also written for the then Health Minister, Wendy Edmond, who was sent a briefing paper.
- [37:12]
Wendy Edmond
Many clinical staff maintain that there exists an ethical obligation on Queensland Health to inform patients that they have been receiving care from a person whose qualifications to provide that care have been found to be invalid. There are a number of patients and their families in the audit who have quite sensitive psychiatric, medical and social situations. Although informing them of these issues may make them more anxious, there are many such patients who would feel that not informing them was a breach of their rights and our responsibilities.
- [37:45]
Hedley Thomas
On 24 January 2003, shortly before the plan was to have been achieved, Steve Buckland sent a strictly confidential email to Terry Meehan, the senior manager in Townsville for Queensland Health.
- [38:00]
Steve Buckland
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.
- [38:13]
Hedley Thomas
Johnson believed that if he spoke up again, his job might be at risk. As Johnson subsequently told Toni Morris, certainly
- [38:22]
Andrew Johnson
at that time, bringing bad news was never a good thing. I felt that there was a push to ensure that Queensland Health was kept off the front page.
- [38:31]
Hedley Thomas
The conduct of the board and Queensland Health was, I believed, unforgivable. They had concealed the berg matter in 2003 and they had concealed it from the inquiry in 2005. And it would have remained a secret if not for the efforts of Jarrod, Cowley Grimmond.
- [38:53]
Tony Morris
Over three months of evidence. Now we see again and again cases of Queensland Health getting reports about problems here and problems there. And I just wonder if you can see any logical justification for the culture that seems to be pervasive, at least to Charlotte Street. If it's bad news, you hide it away in the basement and never tell anyone about it.
- [39:15]
Andrew Johnson
Commissioner, I think there's a very simple answer and that's the fact that politics has really taken over the delivery of healthcare to an unreasonable extent. You know, the reason that we're being prevented from saying things is essentially, I would suggest, for political purposes. No politician likes to have bad news on their watch. The only reason that I can think of for suppressing information is, is for short term political advantage.
- [39:42]
Hedley Thomas
Steve Buckland and his health minister Wendy Edmond later relied on an opinion taken at the time from a senior Queensland Health psychiatrist who advised that it could have been harmful to the patients to learn the truth about Berg. It was an apparently compelling defence. But my experiences with Buckland and Edmund influenced my view that their overriding concern was less altruistic. Put simply, it would have been harmful to Edmund and the Beatty government for the public to learn the terrible truth about Berg. It angered me that in early 2003, several months before the arrival of Jayant Patel, the Medical board and Queensland Health were aware that they had been duped. Yet they failed to improve the abysmal systems to screen applicants from overseas when they were seeking jobs as medical practitioners in Australia. The editorial in the Courier Mail newspaper summed it up.
- [40:44]
Narrator/Commentator
Just as it seems Queenslanders may be inured to yet more tales of COVID up and obfuscation emanating from the upper echelons of the health bureaucracy. Along comes a fresh scandal involving people suffering at the hands of a bogus doctor. For many, following the course of the commission of inquiry in it would be tempting. Indeed, it is preferable for some in the Beatty government to focus on the wrongdoing of these rogue practitioners and not bother too much with questions about the system that set them loose on the hospital floor. But this would save from proper scrutiny the culture of arrogance and secrecy that continues to thrive within the senior ranks of the health bureaucracy and which has done so much to damage the public reputation of the state's health system. Queensland hospital workers, the doctors, nurses and clinicians who deal with the public every day, are by and large performing well under extremely trying circumstances. Their actions did not produce the likes of Jayant Patel or Victor Berg. Rather, these outrages were the fault of the senior health bureaucracy and successive health ministries, both of which have for some years valued political machinations and economic wrongheadedness over patient care.
- [42:02]
Hedley Thomas
I asked Philippa Harris, who is the coordinator of the Townsville based North Queensland Mental Illness Fellowship, her opinion. She said Queensland Health, which partly funded her organisation, had been absolutely neglectful and irresponsible.
- [42:19]
Narrator/Commentator
We are gobsmacked by what has come out and distressed that Queensland Health chose not to act in the public Interest, particularly when the local managers wanted it out in the open.
- [42:29]
Hedley Thomas
There was something else about it that bore striking similarities to the Patel case. Berg's personnel file was adorned with glowing references. Dr. Brian Boucher, a mental health director for Queensland Health, wrote this of Berg.
- [42:46]
Martin Moynihan
He clearly has considerable experience in psychiatry. I believe he has much to teach us about psychiatry as performed in Europe and it would be a considerable loss if people such as him are not recognised as specialist psychiatrists in Australia with his very considerable experience.
- [43:06]
Hedley Thomas
Another senior psychiatrist from the organisation, Dr. Leon Petkovski, it should be said that
- [43:15]
Martin Moynihan
he is a man of the highest possible standards of integrity, tried in the fires of life. He is an experienced and trusted colleague and I have no hesitation in recommending him for any consultant level posting he might apply for.
- [43:33]
Hedley Thomas
Russell Grenning was incredulous when we spoke during the Townsville hearings. A former top political and media advisor, he followed the fortunes of governments with keen interest. His sage advice had helped Jobe occupied citizen's corrupt government remain in power in Queensland until it was thrown out in the wake of the Fitzgerald inquiry. Groening was now safely ensconced at the Law Society of Queensland where he rubbed shoulders with judges and lawyers. And he could see the Beatty government going the same way as the Bjelke Petersen government. Honestly, there are some stories so bizarre, so incredible that you couldn't make them up. But every day they're coming out of the inquiry and we're hearing them and seeing them on the 6pm news. It is politically devastating. Chapter 67 the Long Wait August 2005 Starting with the Victor Berg scandal, August saw a flood of damning revelations which caused massive political damage and led to pleas from medical staff and the public for a complete overhaul of the health system. Having cracked the psychiatrist cover up, the health enquiry's lawyer cum investigator, Jared Cowley Grimmond, began to unravel Queensland's public hospital waiting lists. Premier Peter Beattie had for years pointed to these lists as proof that Queenslanders enjoyed one of the world's finest health systems. People spent less time on these lists awaiting surgery in Queensland, he boasted, than in any other state. But for years doctors had been telling me and other journalists the reverse. They insisted that the political boasts were untruthful. Before patients who needed surgery, such as a cataract operation or a hip replacement, could make it onto the official published waiting list, they had to graduate from another waiting list. This was an undisclosed list. As Dr. David Malloy, the head of the Australian Medical association in Queensland, had told Toni Morris in The second week of the inquiry, patients could remain on the concealed lists for as long as eight years. But the public only ever saw or heard about the much shorter waiting lists of those people who were booked in for surgery. Having finally seen a specialist, Premier Beattie, his former health minister Wendy Edmond and her successor Gordon Nuttall had always been aware of the other lists. But they ensured that members of the public were given figures only from the shorter lists. And Beattie confidently asserted, a few weeks after David Malloy's evidence, not only are
- [46:41]
Peter Beattie
our waiting times the shortest, but we are admitting more patients into our hospitals for treatment than anyone else.
- [46:49]
Hedley Thomas
The campaign of deceit was undone when the secret lists were unearthed by Jared Cowley Grimmond Confidential. Queensland Health documents showed that more than 108,000 people across 29 regions statewide were waiting for an appointment to see a specialist at a public hospital. They were on the concealed lists that the Beatty government had not previously acknowledged in public disposal displays of breast beating. Queensland had a public health system unable to meet demand and stretched well beyond its capacity. Yet for years, the politicians had hidden the evidence. Morris drew an analogy between Queensland Health's waiting lists and fashion swimwear.
- [47:37]
Tony Morris
There's no interest in speed or comfort or protection or safety. It is simply a of matter of revealing as much as possible that people want to see and covering up anything that's going to cause public disquiet.
- [47:51]
Hedley Thomas
Shortly before my deadline for the completion of a lengthy Saturday article on the disclosure of the lists, I spoke to Beryl Crosby. She had just returned from a Bundaberg meeting with fellow members of the Patient Support Group. Despite the best efforts of various ministers and their advisors to win Beryl Crosby over, she had refused to yield.
- [48:15]
Beryl Crosby
Crosby told me it's a disgusting covered up mess. From the time the GA and Patel issue broke and everything we'd heard and learnt since we thought nothing more could shock us. But now these waiting lists have come out. If they had been open and transparent in the beginning, the public would have seen the problems and understood them better. It is depressing, but this inquiry has also been a worthwhile exercise because the system would have only got worse. It was 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?
- [48:47]
Hedley Thomas
The doctors offered a variety of answers. Fundamentally, they wanted the administration and political leaders to stop treating hospitals like units of commerce. They pleaded for the system to be properly funded, to give patients good outcomes and slow the flow of doctors and specialists to the private sector. When Dr. Jason Jenkins, a vascular surgeon at Royal Brisbane Hospital, gave evidence, he despaired at the lack of top level initiative and leadership. He pointed to an expensive abundance of increasingly powerful bureaucrats with little insight into health care, but finally tuned antennae for the political and executive line on damage control.
- [49:34]
Alan McSporran
Jenkins said it becomes an intolerable place to work when you're being told to stop admitting because there are no beds. The patients are piling up behind us and we can't keep up with it. They're losing legs, they're losing their lives, rupturing aneurysms because they haven't been seen in outpatients. And that's a factor of funding. Every day we get a message on our pages. Discharge patients, bed's critical, no admissions without approval. That's what you get every day at the Royal Brisbane Hospital on my pager. It's become an intolerable place to work because you can't actually work. You're told to stop spending money because there's no money. Stop putting in the best graft for the patient because we've used up our prosthetics budget. Put in a business case if you want to get something else done. We were told the other day that all the business cases just get thrown in a box at Charlotte street because there's no money to actually deal with them. We want to work, but we're not allowed to work a lot of the time because there's not the money to actually fund the system. And at the moment, the general consensus in the public hospital system is our leader doesn't go into battle for us. When we ask for help, we get none. The only help we get is when there is a crisis because we don't want to end up on the front page of the Courier Mail. And I mean, we're playing politics with health. Health is people. And the problem at the moment is where 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. You know, I sometimes think we're playing for a different team. We're playing for the health team and they are playing for the budget team. So I guess we're being made toothless tigers in a system which is being run by administrators. I mean, one of the problems is they don't come to us to ask us how to fix the problems. Half the time they tell us how to fix the problems. A lot of the time that involves actually more administration and less patient care.
- [51:47]
Hedley Thomas
Earlier, Toni Morris had asked the Chief Health Officer, Dr. Jerry Fitzgerald, is there
- [51:53]
Tony Morris
some difficulty with the proposition that the taxpayers who pay for the health system in this state and the members of the public who utilise public hospitals are actually entitled to know that there is a problem in the hospitals rather than having it gather dust in a filing cabinet in in Charlotte Street? When do we stop this system of shooting the messenger and hiding the evidence rather than putting it out in public so that things can be done about these problems?
- [52:22]
Hedley Thomas
On 20 August, angry voters punished Beattie. His two labor candidates were crushed by huge margins in by elections. The health crisis had become a major political crisis. Malcolm Cole, the Kooriamau State political correspondent,
- [52:40]
Malcolm Cole
reported 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. The leaders of all three major political parties said the massive swings against labor in its formerly safe seats of Chatsworth and Redcliffe proved the next election was an open contest.
- [53:03]
Hedley Thomas
Lawyer and political commentator Stephen Coates described the future for Beattie as potentially terminal because, as Stephen said, unless he can slay dragons and put on a sparkling electoral performance, he faces a fall from power in disgrace. Sick to Death is written and presented by ME, Headley Thomas, the Australian's National Chief Correspondent. Claire Harvey is the Australian's Editorial Director. Audio, editing, production and music have been done by Jasper Leake with assistance from Leah Samaglu and Neil Sutherland. Our producer is Kristen Amias. Production management by Stephanie Coombs. Artwork by by Sean Callanan. Thanks to Ryan Osland, Matthew Condon, Corinna Berger, Ellie Dudley, David Murray, Dominique McDermott, Zach Skulander and all our family, friends and colleagues who helped in this series and contributed voice, acting and special thanks to Tony Hoffman and Rob messenger, subscribers to the Australian. Here new episodes of Sick to death first@sicktodeathpodcast.com and on Apple Podcasts. You can get exclusive access to photographs, videos, timelines and more at the website.
- [54:45]
Narrator/Commentator
Foreign.
- [54:57]
Podcast Host (Hedley Thomas)
This podcast is made possible by subscribers to the Australian and our principal sponsor, Harvey Norman. Harvey Norman has provided unwavering support for my investigative podcast since 2018. For more information on this podcast and on our entire investigative catalog, go to theaustralian.com au.