November 22, 2007
TWO nurses from Royal North Shore Hospital who asked to be subpoenaed to appear at a NSW parliamentary inquiry will appear voluntarily but their evidence will be given in-camera.
The nurses made the request to the committee hearing the inquiry, led by the Reverend Fred Nile, saying they were scared to give evidence voluntarily because of bullying at the hospital and wanted to be subpoenaed so they would be legally compelled to appear.
Mr Nile yesterday confirmed the nurses would give evidence today and the committee would then decide whether to make the transcript public. Mr Nile was reluctant to subpoena them and had urged them to appear voluntarily.
A former senior orthopedic specialist at the hospital, Jeffery Sleye Hughes, who complained that cockroaches were found in one of the hospital's operating theatres, will also given evidence today as well as the relatives of former patients and other medical staff.
The inquiry was set up after Jana Horska, 32, miscarried in the toilets of the hospital's emergency department after waiting almost two hours to be seen by a doctor.
Ms Horska and her husband, Mark Dreyer, made an emotional appearance at the inquiry on Friday.
Other patients and relatives also recounted their horror stories of treatment at the hospital, including one woman with a burst appendix who waited more than eight hours for surgery and a quadriplegic who chewed through tubes so he could yell "help me" to his wife.
The inquiry is due to finish today and report to Parliament on December 14.
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/21/1195321867013.html