“Blunderburg” revisited

Deadly healthcare.

James Dunbar, Prasuna Reddy, Stephen May. Brisbane: Australian Academic Press, 2011 (194 pp, $34.95). ISBN 9781921513756.

This account of the lead-up to the 2010 trial of Jayant Patel — dubbed “Dr Death” by the media — is excellent, which is not surprising considering Professors Dunbar and Reddy’s background in health services implementation research at Deakin University, Victoria. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the authors’ coverage of the real impact of the Patel case on health regulation in Australia.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is mentioned only to record its establishment in July 2010. Missing is any reference to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act (enacted in Queensland in 2009 and in the other states in 2010), which came into existence before the AHPRA and started to make it extremely difficult for a similar situation to occur today.

The reader is left with the impression that little has changed and similar tragedies could occur today. But while there are no guarantees that a rogue doctor can no longer be appointed, regulation has changed radically since then.

Today, complaints from doctors and the community are not so much about the cursory checking of international medical graduates’ qualifications but about the AHPRA requiring too much information. Patient safety is an explicit principle underpinning the National Health Practitioner Regulation Law, which created the Medical Board of Australia and the AHPRA. The authors fail to mention the new mandatory reporting laws that require health professionals to report those who place the health and safety of patients at risk.

However, the facts about the Patel case provided in this book should be interesting for those new to regulation and clinical governance.