Personal Explanation

HOSPITALS

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (17:22): I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

Leave granted.

Dr McFETRIDGE: I am glad that the Minister for Health is in the house. During question time today I asked the Minister for Health about a patient who had suffered an acute myocardial infarction and who was to be admitted to the Lyell McEwin Hospital. That hospital was full and so the patient in the ambulance was diverted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The minister came back and read from his iPhone about another patient, and I say 'another patient': a 77-year old man with an aortic aneurysm—whether that had ruptured or he had some other incident, I do not know. However, I was referring to a patient who had been diagnosed with a heart attack at Gawler. He was transferred by ambulance to the Lyell McEwin with the intent of being admitted and treated at the Lyell McEwin. The Coronary Care Unit at the Lyell McEwin was full. There were coronary care patients in the Emergency Department, and the Emergency Department was also full. The patient I am talking about is a separate patient from the one that the minister was referring to—

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Point of order.

Dr McFETRIDGE: —and so I was correct—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, member for Morphett!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The member is not making a personal explanation: he is in fact trying to ask another question, which is appropriate to question time.

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Health is a quiet talker. I cannot hear him.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I would invite the member, if he has any, to provide further information, because he provided none in the question. I am happy to look into it. I tried to provide the house with information, and I said at the time that I believed it to be this person. I did not say that the member was wrong; I did not make any disparaging comments—

Mr PISONI: Point of order!

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! You cannot interrupt someone while they are making a point of order, member for Unley.

Mr PISONI: Point of order!

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Unley, take your seat, please. Thank you. The Minister for Health was making a point of order.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I just made the point that he is not making a personal explanation: he is debating a point. That is the point I make.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Let me think about that. I shall consult. Member for Morphett, it would appear that you were entering into debate, and the purpose of the personal explanation is to address something very specific, or indeed something specific about where you feel you have been misrepresented. Do you feel you have been misrepresented?

Dr McFETRIDGE: I do, ma'am.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Tell us why.

Dr McFETRIDGE: I was asking about a patient who had had an acute myocardial infarction; it was not a patient who had a condition associated with some thoracic incident, an aortic aneurysm. It was a completely different patient, and I need to make sure that it is on the record that I was correct.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You were correct, yes.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Point of order.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Have you finished, member for Morphett?

Dr McFETRIDGE: Yes.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: A point of order, Attorney. Let's hear it anyway.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: My point of order is—and I think maybe the member for Morphett can help me—that he used some very scientific terms, and I wonder if he could explain their meaning in terms that I can understand. I do not understand the difference between one complex Latin thing and another.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I did hear the member for Morphett say something about a cardigan; is that correct?

Dr McFETRIDGE: A cardiac incident, ma'am.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am sorry, but you do speak quite quickly.

Dr McFETRIDGE: I am sure Hansard has managed to interpret it, and I invite the Deputy Premier to read it in Hansard.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Just for my own clarification, do me a favour, member for Morphett, and say it slowly. I heard 'cardigan'.

Dr McFETRIDGE: A myocardial infarction, not to be confused with—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I should point out, Attorney, that is not a cardigan from Myer. It may be a cardigan from David Jones; who can say?

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I think I was puzzled—

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I cannot hear the continuing point of order from the Attorney.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: —by the spelling of the last of those words and that confused me. I was writing them down, but I did not get them. Is it something to do with the heart?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, absolutely.

Dr McFETRIDGE: Infarct, you spell it!

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I see. That is quite funny because I thought the humour lay in the cardigan, but it does not; it lies in the other thing.