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Mistreatment of my child

Posted By casinghb56

"Mistreatment of my child"

About: Karratha Health Campus Royal Perth Hospital

(as a parent/guardian),

Our son passed away almost a year ago at Royal Perth hospital. We would like to put forward the attached summary of events, statements and questions for consideration in determining the cause of our son’s death. He was an apprentice electrician. He was an active, healthy young man, in his mid-twenties, well-loved and supported by family and friends with no underlying illness, medical condition or addiction. Our son presented at the Karratha Health Campus Emergency Department with severe abdominal and back pain with reduced ability to pass urine. He, his family and friends were advised by medical staff throughout the duration of his stay at KHC that he had kidney stones and or gravel and that this had to pass. Our son was kept at Karratha Health Campus for six nights and transferred by Royal Flying Doctors to Royal Perth Hospital, I believe throughout this time he was in intense pain. On arriving at RPH it was determined that he had Mild Acute Kidney failure from unknown causes. He passed away a few days following a dose of Heparin from a catastrophic brain bleed.

We are distraught with the sudden and unexpected loss of our boy, which is compounded by several concerns around the treatment he received at these hospitals as outlined in our summary. Little to no advice, options or explanations were given to us, both during his stay in hospital and after his passing. We believe that there was inadequate care and attention given, and discrimination. In my opinion, our son was treated like a young person chasing drugs rather than a patient seeking diagnosis for an organic, real and ultimately fatal disease, all of which contributed to his rapid deterioration and death within 13 days of being admitted to hospital.

We are desperately seeking answers to our questions and have respectfully requested a response from the hospitals, and to this date still nothing from both RPH and Karratha Medical Campus.

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Responses

Response from Yvonne Bagwell, Regional Director of Nursing & Midwifery, WA Country Health Service - Pilbara 3 years ago
Yvonne Bagwell
Regional Director of Nursing & Midwifery,
WA Country Health Service - Pilbara

Submitted on 14/07/2020 at 2:50 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 2:52 PM

Dear casinghb56

Please accept my deepest sympathies to you and your family on the passing of your son. The loss of a child under any circumstance is unendurable and I can only imagine what you and your family have been going through over the past year. Please know that we appreciate you reaching out to us and will endeavour to do all that is possible to provide you with the answers you need.

Following the passing of your son last year, you contacted us at Karratha Health Campus (KHC) and requested a meeting to discuss concerns raised during your son’s admission at KHC. You had provided us your concerns prior to the meeting, and we took these in to account while conducting a thorough review of his clinical care with specialist advice from Dr Jenny Vance. This also helped us to give you answers when we met you and your partner; a meeting attended by the District Director of Nursing & Midwifery, the Regional Clinical Practice Improvement Coordinator and Dr Vance. After the meeting, I believe the team provided you with some information on how to access your son’s medical records and were happy to support you in going through the records with the help of a clinical staff member.

I am so very sorry if we have left questions unanswered and would really like the opportunity to talk with you. If you are happy to, I would appreciate it if you could make contact with me. My name is Yvonne Bagwell and I am the A/Regional Director for the WA Country Health Service in the Pilbara. My phone number is 9174 1651 or, alternatively, please feel free to email me at: Yvonne.Bagwell@health.wa.gov.au

We would like to support you in whatever way possible and hope to hear from you at a time that is convenient for you.

Kind regards

Yvonne Bagwell

A/Regional Director

WA Country Health Service Pilbara

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Response from Lesley Bennett, Chief Executive, East Metropolitan Health Service 3 years ago
Lesley Bennett
Chief Executive,
East Metropolitan Health Service

Submitted on 14/07/2020 at 2:52 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 2:53 PM

picture of Lesley Bennett

Dear casinghb56,

I am deeply saddened to hear of your experience with Royal Perth Hospital during what must be a heartbreaking time for you all. Please accept my sincere condolences on the loss of your beloved son. It is troubling that you still have concerns about the care provided to your son and I regret if our actions have contributed to the family’s distress in any way. This is not the standard of support our staff strive to provide for families, particularly in such stressful circumstances.

I would like to invite you to speak with one of our senior clinicians to ensure you have a single point of contact to provide you with advice, options and explanations in relation to your son’s care. You are welcome to contact the Medical Co-Director, Prof Christopher Etherton-Beer by calling the executive office on 9224 2053.

I wish the family well at this sad time.

Kind regards

Dr Lesley Bennett

Executive Director

Royal Perth Bentley Group

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Update posted by casinghb56 (a parent/guardian)

There is a response addressed to each service below:

Dear Miss Bagwell,

Thank you for your communication and follow up phone call with regards our request for answers posed in the timeline submitted to senior staff within WA Country Health Service, and your offer of assistance.

We respectfully request answers in writing within the timeline document we provided to you, on each questions and statement we have posed. We are unable to meet in person as our experience in meeting at Karratha Health Campus in the past was most traumatic. We found the justifications and medical jargon in the face of our loss distressing, confusing and lacking care and empathy. My spouse and I could not face another such session.

I have re-attached the timeline and ask that WA Country Health Service please take the time to answer our questions so that we can start to make some sense of our loss.

We are coming up for a 1 year anniversary of our son's passing and are most disheartened with the health system, that despite corresponding with your senior members of staff and leaders it is only when this goes onto a public website that we get a response, but sadly still no answers. One would hope that the system of healthcare afforded in our country with the public purse string, has not lost the care and empathy for us as human beings, and that each and every life lost is treated with respect and dignity.

I trust you would treat this with a sense of urgency and look forward to your confirmation that some action has been taken.

Dear Ms Bennett,

Thank you for your communication and apologies. We note your request for us to follow up with Professor Etherton-Beer, however would point out that we have submitted to you a timeline of events with questions that require answering.

Would you please, as a senior leader at Royal Perth address this on our behalf and authorise Professor Etherton-Beer to get this work underway. We respectfully request answers in writing within the timeline document we provided to you, on each questions and statement we have posed.

No doubt a call to Professor Etherton-Beer would result in a request for a face to face meeting in my opinion, please note that we are not able to do this, our experience with a member of your staff at a meeting at Karratha Health Campus was most traumatic, we found the justifications and medical jargon in the face of our loss distressing, confusing and lacking care and empathy.

My spouse and I could not face another such session.

I have re-attached the timeline and ask that you please take the time to put the process in place to answer our questions, so that we can start to make some sense of our loss. We are coming up for a 1 year anniversary of our son's passing and are most disheartened with the health system, that despite corresponding with your senior members of staff and leaders it is only when this goes onto a public website that we get a response, but sadly still no answers.

One would hope that the system of healthcare afforded in our country with the public purse string, has not lost the care and empathy for us as human beings, and that each and every life lost is treated with respect and dignity.

I trust you would treat this with a sense of urgency and look forward to your confirmation that some action has been taken.

Response from Margi Faulkner, Regional Director, WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Pilbara 3 years ago
Margi Faulkner
Regional Director,
WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Pilbara

Director of WACHS Pilbara and the lead of the Pilbara Executive Team.

Submitted on 13/08/2020 at 7:14 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 17/08/2020 at 12:12 PM

picture of Margi Faulkner

Dear casinghb56,

Thank you for reaching out to us again on Care Opinion.

I am so sorry that you are feeling disheartened with the health system and would like to assure you that we want to do whatever we can to address the concerns and questions you have in relation to your son’s care.

I hope that recent conversations with Yvonne Bagwell have been in some way helpful for you. We have since reviewed and collated responses to the questions you had raised with the Coroner. The responses to these questions were recently forwarded to you via email, followed by a phone call from Ms Bagwell to acknowledge this, along with an offer of further assistance you required. We hoped the letter of response sent to you addressed the questions that you have. I will now re-send the responses via email in the format that you have requested.

As you near the anniversary of your son’s passing, I sincerely hope that the love and support of your family and friends provides you with some comfort at this difficult time.

Kind regards,

Margi Faulkner

Regional Director

WACHS Pilbara

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Response from Lesley Bennett, Chief Executive, East Metropolitan Health Service 3 years ago
Lesley Bennett
Chief Executive,
East Metropolitan Health Service

Submitted on 20/08/2020 at 8:44 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 10:44 AM

picture of Lesley Bennett

Dear casinghb56,

I sincerely regret you were not happy with the previous response. I would like to extend my sincere apologies for the loss of your son, particularly that it has been a year since your life changed so tragically. Your concerns are very important to us and we understand and respect your wishes to not meet with the hospital team directly. The teams are compiling a response that will be sent to your private email this week.

Please contact the Medical Co-Director, Professor Christopher Etherton-Beer by calling the executive office on 9224 2053 as previously advised if there is anything further that we can assist with or if you reconsider the request to meet digitally or in person.

Kind regards,

Dr Lesley Bennett

Executive Director

Royal Perth Bentley Group

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