Who Watches The Doctors?

"A woman goes into her local hospital for routine minor surgery to remove a tiny lesion on her labia. But just before the anaesthetic is administered, her doctor leans over her - out of earshot of the operating theatre staff.

"I'm going to take your clitoris too," he whispers.

When she wakes…

Pain... agonising pain. To her horror, all her external genitalia - labia and clitoris - have been cut out of her body.

For two years Bega Valley woman Carolyn was too traumatised to complain or do anything about the doctor who mutilated her - Graeme Reeves. What she did not know was that she was not the only victim.

Then in 2004, she was shocked to read in her local paper that the once respected specialist, practising as a gynaecologist and obstetrician, had been struck off by the NSW Medical Board for gross misconduct.

Somehow he had been able to lie his way into the job in Bega, failing to reveal strict conditions under which his right to practice was limited. No one in authority had checked.

Carolyn began investigating Reeves, only to find a cluster of other local women who have also suffered at his hands.

One woman lost a kidney after he botched her surgery. Others have suffered humiliating and embarrassing physical and mental injuries, destroying their sex lives and leaving them permanently scarred.

Yet as SUNDAY reveals this week, because Reeves was deregistered in 2004, neither the NSW Medical Board nor the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission are investigating these new allegations brought to light by Carolyn's investigations.

No health watchdog it seems either can, or will, probe into what happened when Dr Reeves came to Bega from the big city - where he was already under a cloud.

As Carolyn dug deeper, she discovered Reeves' incompetence had killed at least one patient 12 years ago in a Sydney hospital.

He had refused to give antibiotics to a mother suffering a post-natal infection, despite the pleas of nursing staff.

But for a few dollars worth of antibiotics, a mother of three had died - a completely avoidable death.

It became obvious that concerns had been raised about Reeves' erratic and dysfunctional behaviour with staff and patients for years...."



Eeek!

I didn't watch it & I'm certainly not gonna .....

... & I'm steering absolutely clear of hospitals & "operations" unless absolutely necessary!

But this has been my attitude for ages - stories like this one just reinforce my resolve.

<Shudder>

What I don't understand is how it's possible for such "doctors" to lie their way into such jobs. And get away with it for so long.

To get a teaching job in my state (Victoria) you have to jump through all sorts of hoops ... proof of qualifications, experience, police check (regularly updated), regular monitoring ...

What sort of monitoring exists for the medical profession?

Doctors prepared to work in rural areas are in super short supply. I imagine the hospital was so desperate the did not question his qualifications. does not excuse them though.

A rural doctor in the Golbourn Valley has been stood down until a coronors report on a patient is released.

I thought the medical board were the real screwups, the regional services still have to check with them. And they aren't pursuing any action against this psychopath because they've deregistered him. And once he's deregistered he is no longer their problem because he isn't a practicing physician. Catch 22.

I used to know an IT support guy who would push computers of desks onto the floor and say 'Now it's a hardware problem.' The board have the same scam going.

The insurance company is just as evil. They won't pay the victim because, even though he was covered for malpractice at the time of the crime, he was deregistered by the time the victim initiated her claim, which meant he was no longer covered.

I can't believe there isn't more uproar - it's as though I'm missing something. I can't believe the police aren't involved. I'm at a loss as to the lack of outcry. Maybe the victim needs a red hat?

What were the support staff in the operating room doing?

The anethsetist and or nurse(s). They should take a share of the blame as should the Hospital and its board members.

Call the lawyers...

Ah, anaesthaetists and nurses don't diagnose patients and would not have known that the procedure was not necessary - such is the privileged position of the surgeon.

For the record the board had banned him from 'gynaecological' surgery but he had lied to the regional health unit were not told that, although they did ask the doctor, who lied.

Oh, it just took a while - my A2K rant inspires action again!

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