Adjudication No. 1428 (adjudicated June 2009) [2009] APC 15

Adjudication No. 1428 (adjudicated June 2009)

The Press Council has upheld a complaint brought by Dr Pat McIntosh against AAP regarding an internet article dated January 17, 2009.

The complainant said that the article was 'poorly researched' and that it amounted to 'either grossly incompetent or mischievous reporting'.

The article reported comments made by the husband of a Sydney woman who had miscarried her baby in Maitland Hospital. Adverse comments against the hospital concerned included a claim of a 30-minute wait before being briefly seen by a junior doctor, who asked the wife if she was pregnant; and that the doctor after telling the wife to come back the next day and see the early pregnancy clinic said that 'that's all they could do'. It also reported that the patient's husband had said that the doctor tapped the wife on the shoulder and told her that 'Life's a bitch'.

The complainant said that a wait of 30 minutes 'is a normal and accepted reasonable waiting time for her degree of medical priority'; that being asked to return the next day to the early pregnancy clinic 'is commonly reckoned to be best practice for a threatened miscarriage in the first 3 months of pregnancy'; and that comments made by the doctor should be construed as demonstrating appropriate sympathy and concern. The complainant also highlighted other aspects of the article to indicate the report was not based on a knowledge of current hospital practice.

AAP said that it did not offer an opinion nor attempt to provide an analysis of the events and that it was simply reporting 'one person's accounts of events and another's reaction'. The agency also made the argument that it would be unreasonable to expect a general news reporter to be completely familiar with hospital procedures or protocols. AAP said its scrutiny of the standard of care at Maitland Hospital was justified as other similar incidents had been reported.

In the article, there were reported comments by a health service CEO and by the opposition health spokeswoman. It was also reported that the Health Minister could not be reached for comment.

Nonetheless, the article was unfair to the hospital and misleading and, for those reasons, the complaint is upheld.