Lawsuit claims hospitals ignored patients, treated mums unfairly. A child died
A class action has been filed against the Queensland government alleging the Health Department withheld adequate medication and was racially discriminatory towards patients, forcing some mothers to seek alternative hospitals, only for their child to die.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients, alleges their concerns were dismissed, and they were delivered substandard care over three decades.
Queensland Health is accused of failing to provide appropriate medical treatment to First Nations people in the health districts of North West Hospital and Health Service and the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service.
Rebecca Jancauskas, the director of firm JGA Saddler which filed the suit, said she had heard heartbreaking stories of First Nations patients being ignored, misdiagnosed or dismissed in ways she said would not happen to other Australians.
'Imagine the anguish of being a parent of a child in significant, ongoing pain, presenting to hospital on multiple occasions, only to have your concerns dismissed without adequate investigation,' she said.
'After repeatedly seeking help, you are forced to advocate for a transfer to another hospital for appropriate care, but by then, it is too late, and your child dies.
'This has sadly been the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have sought medical care from public hospitals and health services in these regions.'
Jancauskas said the government needed to be held accountable for systemic practices that had resulted in some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people receiving a lower standard of care.
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