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Category: Indigenous Music / Music Industry / Health Administration / Health / Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) / States and Territories / Liver and Kidneys / Human Interest

Minister rules out probe into Gurrumul's hospital treatment

Tuesday, 5 Apr 2016 11:01:44

Gurrumul Yunupingu's management says he nearly bled to death in hospital. (Supplied: Mark Grose)

A formal investigation into the alleged mistreatment of Indigenous singer Gurrumul Yunupingu at a Darwin hospital has "absolutely" been ruled out, the NT Health Minister says.

On Monday afternoon Yunupingu's management told 105.7 ABC Darwin he nearly bled to death in Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) after languishing with internal bleeding for eight hours.

"We've already had a preliminary investigation overnight on the back of these allegations and they are insupportable," Minister John Elferink said on Tuesday morning.

Mark Grose, managing director of Skinny Fish Music, and Yunupingu's private nurse, Michelle Dowden, admitted the singer to emergency on March 27 with complications related to an ongoing liver condition.

The pair then left Yunupingu in hospital with the expectation he would urgently undergo a "simple surgery" to rectify internal bleeding, Mr Grose said.

"We went home confident in the knowledge that everything was under control and we would go back and see him the next day," he said.

Mr Grose has since made a formal complaint to the chief executive of the NT Department of Health alleging Yunupingu was then, for some unknown reason, left in the Rapid Assessment Unit for eight hours without any attempt to stop the bleeding.

Mr Grose further alleged Yunupingu was written off as "a drinker", when the singer's condition is actually the result of having had hepatitis B as a child.

"I hate to say it but my two conclusions are incompetence [or] he was racially profiled," Mr Grose said.

Questions about drinking 'standard process'

Behind the scenes with Gurrumul Photo: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (centre) is a multi-award winning Indigenous artist. (702 ABC Sydney: John Donegan)

On Monday afternoon the Top End Health Service, which oversees service delivery at the hospital, said in a statement it had reviewed Yunupingu's case and was satisfied his care was timely and appropriate.

Mr Elferink told 105.7 ABC Darwin he had "looked at the records" and also came to this conclusion.

"Many patients are asked as part of a standard process whether or not they have been drinking as part of the diagnostic approach," Mr Elferink said.

"To extrapolate from that that he's been racially profiled is nothing short of ridiculous."

A formal investigation had therefore been "absolutely" ruled out, the Minister said.

'Medical issues are complex'

Dr Robert Parker, the head of the Territory's Australian Medical Association (AMA), said it was "very difficult" to argue on the case of profiling and that RDH had a long record of working closely with Indigenous Australians.

"Medical issues are complex," Dr Parker told 105.7 ABC Darwin,

"I'm not going to support the incompetence issue. Sometimes we have issues that are difficult to diagnose."

The idea is not that individual people are racist but that the whole system is designed with certain assumptions that lead to people not receiving appropriate treatment for their conditions because of issues related to race.

Yunupingu's doctor and kidney specialist Dr Paul Lawton

But Yunupingu's doctor and kidney specialist, Dr Paul Lawton, said the singer's experience was endemic of a broader problem across Australian health care and referenced federal reports released last year.

"Aboriginal people admitted to hospital are much less likely to get a procedure for that condition than non-Aboriginal people in Australia," Dr Lawton said.

"That holds true in the Northern Territory.

"The idea is not that individual people are racist but that the whole system is designed with certain assumptions that lead to people not receiving appropriate treatment for their conditions because of issues related to race."

Dr Lawton added that, in his professional opinion, Yunupingu was lucky to be alive and could have died as a result of the treatment he did not receive.

AustraliaPlus


 

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