Australia: Cockroaches During Surgery!

Doctor killed cockroaches during surgery

November 12, 2007 - 8:54AM

A former senior doctor at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital says complaints that he had to kill cockroaches on operating theatre tables during surgery were ignored by management.

It has also been confirmed that an anaesthetist at the hospital was forced to catch an unconscious patient after an operating table broke in half.

The revelations are contained in a submission by Dr Jeffery Sleye Hughes, who worked at the hospital between 1981-86 and 1995-2007, to a parliamentary inquiry into the running of RNSH.

The inquiry heard the growing list of complaints about the hospital have been having an effect on staff, with reports of nurses being spat on and abused in the street.

Dr Sleye Hughes said he was forced to resign because of an "endless procession of events" that highlighted the "bureaucratic negligence" and "medical indifference" at the hospital.

His submission contains reports on nine incidents, which include instances of patients being lied to about the delay in their surgery and inadequate surgical instruments being used to undertake day-to-day surgery.

He said he had forwarded the complaints to administration, only to have them "ignored or shelved".

"(The incidents included) killing live cockroaches on operating theatre tables during operations and no response when I forwarded a written complaint and response requested," his submission said.

"High-pressure hoses exploding in theatre during use and injuring staff.

"Operating tables breaking in two due to age/fatigue failure off (sic) whilst the patient was anaesthetised. A spinal injury only being avoided due to the anaesthetist's catching the upper portion of the bed before the patient came to harm."

Health Minister Reba Meagher, who was among the first witnesses called for the inquiry's public hearings, said the cockroach incident was "unacceptable".

It is believed to have occurred between 1998 and 2002.

"That is why the new management has responded to concerns of staff at the hospital and ordered a complete clean of the hospital," Ms Meagher told the inquiry.

Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service chief executive Matthew Daly confirmed the incident with the operating table had taken place, but said maintenance had now resolved the issue.

"I was also aware there was no injury to the patient due to the good work of theatre staff," he told the committee.

The incidents join a list of concerns raised about the hospital in the seven weeks since Jana Horska miscarried in the emergency department toilet of the hospital.

Acting director of nursing at RNSH, Linda Davidson, said staff were receiving a lot of positive feedback from patients about the treatment they are getting.

She told the inquiry these stories were not getting out into the community.

"I have had it reported to me that some nursing staff in the community are actually undergoing similar situations that their colleagues at Camden and Campbelltown experienced, which was abuse in the streets and actual spitting episodes," Ms Davidson told the inquiry.

"So when that comes back within that environment the morale does tend to wane accordingly."

Nurses at Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals said they were verbally and physically abused in the streets when the two hospitals were at the centre of maltreatment allegations in 2004.

The inquiry's public hearings continue on Friday, with all public submissions due in by close of business on Monday.

theage.com.au