The failure to address how healthcare professionals are mistreated by the regulatory system, and the consequential mental health impact of such, shall inevitably be deleterious to the healthcare provided to patients. Fortunately, our efforts have been raising public awareness about some of these injustices in Australian healthcare, and we thank leading medical publishers for highlighting the plight of our healthcare industry, and why it is so important that our Commonwealth and state governments address this endemic problem as a matter of urgency.
One important topic raised concerns ‘sham peer review’, which remains a major weapon used by unscrupulous parties to discredit their victims. Damaging reputations leads to the destruction of careers, livelihoods, and families, and this, in turn, drives victims to depression and suicide.
Dr Lawrence Huntoon, the Editor-in-Chief of the highly respected Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, recently addressed the UNESCO’s 13th World Conference on Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Health Law on the subject of Sham Peer Review: a Worldwide Phenomenon (Click this link to view his video address). In his address, he eloquently talked about the events how doctors who advocated for their patients’ rights were being bullied for various reasons like retaliation for speaking up, anti-competitive motives, professional jealousy, political power struggles, and so on.
Sham peer review is a bullying tactic where a group of doctors, usually of influential status, abuse the peer-review process to attack their target doctor by fabricating and endorsing false allegations to make them look legitimate in the eyes of the hospital review committee, the medical regulator and the court. The victim is then made to accept guilt and face the punitive actions driven by the perpetrators and as per politically prevailing winds. This is not an infrequent story in the Australian medical system, and this has accordingly led to comparisons being made with movies involving cartels and mobs.
Indeed, it is now becoming apparent that this kind of professional mistreatment is more endemic than meets the eye, in our healthcare industry – under the emotive misappropriation of ‘in the interest of public health and safety’. Countless numbers of doctors, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals are being subdued and silenced by the Australian medical regulators through a variety of ways, including flawed ‘undertakings’ to humiliate, the suspensions of registrations, published ‘allegations’ to demonstrate who wields the stick, and more.
It is this kind of systematic authoritarian abuse of caring professionals that elicits feelings of helplessness and that drives such high-standing people to sheer mental despair. The impact of this kind of punishment with propagating sequelae includes financial and professional damage beyond loss of employment: increased indemnity premiums; professional isolation and stigmatization; and impaired credentialing rights at health facilities.
Dr Niroshan Sivathasan, Deputy President of AHReform, has experienced this kind of sham peer review but was able to successfully defend his case in the Tribunal against New South Wales’ Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) in July 2018. Dr Sivathasan got 23 experts from 9 countries to tear apart HCCC’s approach, forcing HCCC to retract and say that it would not challenge Dr Sivathasan. In fact, HCCC even had to pay a six-figure sum of money to cover costs.
Dr Sivathasan said, “I was most alarmed about the lies that HCCC’s assigned legal officer had said in order to try to discredit me, but I stood firm, and HCCC had to not only backtrack but to also apologize for its attitude. It is also important to note that HCCC uses taxpayers’ money to fund its random witch hunts, and it does this with impunity; this must change and we, as a society, must be able hold it and its employees accountable with penalties!”
Through the effort of AHReform, we have identified many more cases of sham peer review. Several of these victims were suspended from practice while the instigators and perpetrators have, shockingly, faced no fallout whatsoever.
One psychiatrist was suspended after she blew the whistle on the dangers of careless prescribing of anti-depressants. One highly regarded orthopaedic surgeon was forced to do humiliating undertakings after he refused to retire from his hospital position. A specialist is facing disciplinary action for refusing to carry out the hospital’s order to terminate a pregnancy against the patient’s will. The patient had to resort to a public plea in the media to stop the abuse.
We have all heard about Dr Gary Fettke, an orthopaedic surgeon who was ‘shammed’ by a dietetic association after he rightly advocated healthy diets for his patients. He received disciplinary action by the medical board and after more than four gruesome years of pleading innocent, with support from Australian Senators, he finally received a formal apology from the medical board. Click here to view Dr Fettke’s address: Is AHPRA throwing rocks inside their own glass house?
AHReform knows there are many more victims suffering in silence. We also know that patients will suffer if there are no sincere doctors and healthcare professionals willing to act with passion and independently of corporate medical institutions and hospital politics.
The fallout of healthcare bullying affects all of us, and AHReform would like to hear your case or opinion, whether you are a doctor, a nurse, an allied health professional or a member of the public. Be assured that we are always open to constructive feedback, insight, and suggestions from our members and supporters.
AHReform can be contacted via email: australianhealthreformgroup@gmail.com
Our explicit message to decision-makers at AHPRA: you need to recognise sham peer review to stop perpetuating the disease that is professional bullying. AHPRA must stop wielding a stick, stop ‘kneejerk’ disciplining, and start holding vexatious complainants accountable.
AHReform Deputy President & Secretary