Healthscope: Push to support bereaved parents after hospital deaths

Grieving parents of children who die in hospital must have access to greater support, say doctors whose peak body insists issues remain in both the private and public systems.

The families of a teen and a toddler who died at Healthscope private hospitals have hit out, saying they have been left with questions about their deaths.

James Tsindos, 17, suffered an anaphylactic reaction and was taken by ambulance to Healthscope’s Holmesglen Private Hospital in Melbourne on May 27, 2021.

He was admitted to triage under category 3 and an inquest is examining whether his medical care was appropriate.

The probe heard evidence he became “wheezy” before suffering a cardiac arrest, later dying after being transferred to another hospital.

“I’m burying my son, and I don’t really know what happened,” his father Harry told Nine’s 60 Minutes.

“I’ve got a kid that walks into an ambulance, says to me, ‘Dad, I’m fine’, and I’m burying him, and I don’t know why.”

In September 2024, 22-month-old Joe Massa collapsed and died after he and his parents waited three hours in the emergency department at Northern Beaches Hospital in Sydney.

“We aren’t an isolated case through the care of Healthscope in emergency departments. It makes my blood boil,” Joe’s father Danny told the broadcaster.

They are among high-profile deaths at Healthscope’s 38 hospitals, but Australian Medical Association Victoria president Jill Tomlinson said tragic incidents occur across the entire public and private health system.

“While the events that have been recorded in private emergency departments are tragic and unacceptable it is not a problem that is solely within the private health sector,” Dr Tomlinson told AAP.

She called for better supports for parents struggling to navigate the aftermath of their child’s death.

“We see time and time again, parents explaining that they have had to search for answers and that they have not felt there has been open disclosure about what has occurred,” Dr Tomlinson said.

“We think there should be wraparound services provided to parents with pathfinders and open disclosure.”

In a statement, Healthscope said the vast majority of its 150,000 emergency department patients receive timely and compassionate care.

“Regrettably, we acknowledge that there can be times, though they are rare, when our patient care and outcomes do not meet the standards we set for ourselves or the standard expected by the public,” a Healthscope spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said there were “unacceptable failings” in the treatment of Joe Massa and that they are fully cooperating in the inquest into Mr Tsindos’s death.

Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said significant reforms were implemented in 2024 to strengthen regulation of the state’s private hospitals, following a comprehensive review, and further reform is coming.