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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-05-31 Daily Xml
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Women's and Children's Hospital

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:04): My question is to the Minister for Health. Has the minister now ascertained why eight infant deaths at the Women's and Children's Hospital were not reported to the Coroner and, if so, why did that not occur and what action has he taken?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (15:04): It's all on the public record, but I am happy to inform the house in any case. What happened was that there was an infant death. Let's be quite clear: clinicians make decisions about whether a death needs to be reported to the Coroner or not. There was an understanding among the clinicians about what constituted 'a procedure' under the act.

Under the Coroners Act, if there is a death within, I think off the top of my head, 24 hours following a procedure, then the clinician needs to notify that death to the Coroner. The clinician's understanding of what constituted a procedure was erroneous, and that came to light because of a death that wasn't reported. It was clarified with the Coroner that the procedure—a relatively minor sort of procedure, which would have had no connection with the death of a child in any case—nonetheless should have been reported. There was a case of a death where that didn't happen.

Ms Chapman: Eight.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: No, there was one death—let me get to that—there was one death. When it became clear that that death should have been reported, the Women's and Children's local health network then had a look back and discovered that there were, in fact, a further seven deaths that should have been reported but were not.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: The families have been informed, where it has been possible to locate those families. There are some families we have not been able to inform because we have not been able to locate them. But it's quite extraordinary—all this information is in the Coroner's report that I have provided.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: It is there—

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader for the third time has been told that she is on two warnings.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: It is there in black and white—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: It was tabled—

Ms Chapman: There is nothing in the report.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: Nothing in the Coroner's report? Well—

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader will be removed for the next hour under the sessional order for repeatedly defying the Speaker's ruling and the standing orders.

The honourable member for Bragg having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: This was all spelt out at length by the Coroner in the Coroner's report, and he also expressed his satisfaction with the way that the Women's and Children's local health network had handled this matter.

Of course I regret that deaths that should have been reported weren't. I also reinforce the fact that the Coroner did ask a senior doctor to go over those deaths to make sure that there was nothing in them that had to be examined and was reassured that that was not the case in any of those deaths. There were no other circumstances which would have warranted, at the time, a coronial investigation. As I say, this is all dealt with at length in the Coroner's report to the parliament. The deputy leader need only read it.

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