Fantastic to see Alice Jordan-Baird MP address parliament this week on the ongoing situation with Simon Gordon and expressing their support for the commissioning of a Safer Care Inquiry into Epworth Private Hospital.
From Hansard:
Ms JORDAN-BAIRD (Gorton) (13:29):
"I rise to speak about some of the absolutely horrific stories emerging from a Melbourne hospital about Dr Simon Gordon, an OBGYN whose female patients are alleging they were left traumatised and betrayed. Doctors play a valuable role in our lives. They look after our health systems and take care of our health. But it's a lot deeper than that. No matter who you are, when you visit a doctor or a specialist, you are putting your trust in that healthcare professional—trust in their authority, trust in their professional training and expertise, trust that the advice they give you is correct and trust that they have the best intentions to do what is genuinely in the interest of your own health. It's an incredibly vulnerable experience to undergo surgery, trusting that your doctors and your healthcare team are there to give you the greatest possible care. For a medical professional to break that trust is a violation. The allegations against Dr Simon Gordon are a demonstration of a violation of the trust between healthcare professionals and their patients.
Women have alleged they have undergone many highly invasive surgeries they were told were medically necessary, only to find out that they weren't—women who allege that they were told lies about their pathology results, which led to their ovaries being removed unnecessarily, and that the numerous invasive, expensive surgeries left them in far greater pain than before. It is an absolute blight that these allegations are coming from women navigating women's healthcare problems.
Historically, women's health hasn't just been neglected; it has been taboo. I remember, when I was in year 8, one of my best friends had endometriosis and had to undergo surgery. Granted, we were in year 8, and going through that at a young age while you're still growing up is really, really tough. But what sticks out to me now from this memory is just how taboo that was. We weren't supposed to talk about it. We weren't supposed to ask about it. Women's health conditions, like endometriosis, were very stigmatised back then, and no-one really knew what it was. Issues women and girls were having around women's health were shoved under the rug. So it's not altogether surprising that, at a government and policy level, you could almost say the same. The fact of the matter is that, for decades, women's health was neglected, and the bottom line is that, a lot of the time, women aren't listened to. We've been told that the pain's in our heads—that we just need to go on the contraceptive pill and all will be resolved. Because of this, many women have understandably felt mistrust towards our health system. So for allegations to come out about a Melbourne doctor betraying his patients in such a significant way is absolutely despicable.
It takes just one bad actor to further erode women's trust across the healthcare system. That should anger all of us, men and women alike. I'm part of a Labor government that is made up of women across the country, women who understand Australian women's experiences because we live them too and who care deeply about women's issues. I'm signing on to be the co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Endometriosis because these issues matter to me. I'd like to thank the outgoing Labor co-chair, the member for Bendigo, for all her hard work and advocacy in this space over the last few years. I support the minister for health in having written to the Victorian health minister about the stories from Epworth hospital that have come to public attention, and I support the minister for health in asking to consider whether agency Safer Care Victoria, which oversees the operation of private hospitals in that jurisdiction, should conduct an inquiry into the Epworth hospital. I also welcome the Victorian premier's referral of this case to the Victoria Police for potential investigation around any criminal offences that might be involved here.
Most of all, I thank the women involved in these allegations for sharing their stories. It's not easy, and it takes a great deal of courage. The bottom line is that women's health needs to be taken seriously, and that starts with listening to women."