Country dialysis patient faces choice of moving to Adelaide or stopping treatment
These are the options Chris Thomas, a 68-year-old Crystal Brooke resident in the mid-north of South Australia, faces.
The retired farmer has been receiving treatment in the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Adelaide since May after he had two major cardiac arrests while undergoing rehabilitation following the amputation of a leg.
This is in addition to him needing regular dialysis, treatment he had been receiving in Port Pirie for the past four years.
Given his complex medical conditions, Mr Thomas was told he was not medically fit to be discharged from hospital or for transfer to Port Pirie.
So now he and his family are facing the tough choice: move to Adelaide or effectively give up medical support.
His daughter Alex Thomas was disappointed more effort hadn't been made to find alternative options for her father given he had lived in the country his whole life and didn't want to move to the city.
"And that when you're vulnerable and when you reach your 11th hour of life that you're going to be able to stay within your home no matter what your postcode is."
Ms Thomas has made an impassioned plea to SA Health to investigate options that would allow her father to return home and keep receiving treatment.
"I want them to honour his desire to go home," she said.
"I want them to cease discriminating against him because he lives in a regional area."
SA Health Minister Chris Picton said his office had reached out to Mr Thomas's family, and there would be a senior medical review of his case to "see what options could be available".
"We provide dialysis services right across the state, but there are obviously some levels of medical conditions that people have where they do need to be in a tertiary hospital setting," Mr Picton said.
"Ultimately, in a state like South Australia, we can't provide the quaternary level of hospital care and the sub-speciality level of hospital care in each locality of everywhere across regional South Australia.
Satellite dialysis units and home dialysis services are available across a number of the state's metropolitan and regional health services, but are designed to care for less complex and lower-risk patients.
In a statement, SA Health extended its "sincerest sympathies to Mr Thomas and his family, who are navigating an incredibly difficult time".
"Due to Mr Thomas's ongoing, high-risk medical issues, he is not medically fit for discharge from Lyell McEwin Hospital, or for transfer to Port Pirie," the statement said.
"The health and wellbeing of our patients is always our priority.
Ms Thomas however said that it was important to her dad, who had worked as a farmer and pastoralist as well as at Roxby Downs, that he spend the rest of his days living and receiving treatment in the bush.
"It's his choice, no-one is more acutely aware of his mortality than he is," Ms Thomas said.
"If he moves to Adelaide he is going to be grossly isolated from everything he has ever known.
SA Health staff said at no stage had Mr Thomas or his family been advised that he should withdraw from medical care.
The Port Pirie Satellite Dialysis Unit offers expert care in renal dialysis; like other satellite dialysis units, Port Pirie offers care for stable, lower-complexity patients.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
WTF with PTX: Changing the game for T-Cell Lymphoma
What is Relapsed or Refractory T-Cell Lymphoma? Why is it so difficult to treat? What therapies currently exist? And what changes can the healthcare sector make in this area? Tylah Tully is joined in this episode by Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) CEO James McDonnell to answer these questions and more. This video was developed in collaboration with Prescient Therapeutics, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. This video does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions. Originally published as WTF with PTX: Changing the game for T-Cell Lymphoma
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Darling Downs Zoo reopens, as lion-attack victim recovers after losing arm
Darling Downs Zoo south of Toowoomba has reopened two days after a woman lost her arm in a lioness attack. The zoo's full program of visitor activities has resumed this morning, however Workplace Health and Safety Queensland continues to investigate the circumstances around Sunday's incident. The injured woman in her 50s underwent surgery yesterday morning and is recovering in a stable condition in Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital. Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls confirmed she had lost her arm. Darling Downs Zoo operators said yesterday afternoon that the woman was a member of the owner's family and not a staff member. "She is well-versed in safety protocols around potentially dangerous animals," the zoo wrote in an online post. Darling Downs Zoo said the woman did not enter the enclosure. Workplace Health and Safety Queensland said a number of compliance notices had been issued to the zoo. Australian zookeeping standards require spatial buffers between big cats and any keepers that enter their enclosures. Conservation biologist Alex Braczkowski said this gold standard made attacks like Sunday's rare, but it was a reminder of the dangers of working with big cats. "If this had happened in western Uganda or eastern Kenya it's doubtful whether the victim would have been able to survive, just due to the proximity of medical care." Darling Downs Zoo said the lioness involved in the attack would not be put down.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Easy ways to obtain a medical certificate for sick or carer's leave
Winter has well and truly arrived — and so has cold and flu season — meaning some of us may need time off to care for ourselves or a loved one. Workplaces often require evidence for sick or carer's leave, so what are your options for getting that? According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, an employer can ask an employee to provide evidence showing they took leave because they were: Unable to work because of illness or injury, or Needed to provide care or support to an immediate family or household member because of illness, injury or an emergency This can be for as little as one day or part of a day off work, and an employee who does not supply documentation may not be entitled to be paid for their sick or carer's leave. However, Shae McCrystal, professor of Law at the University of Sydney Law School, on the traditional lands of the Gadigal people, says medical evidence is not always required for personal leave, and employees should familiarise themselves with their workplace's enterprise agreements and industrial awards. The Fair Work Ombudsman says: "While there are no strict rules on what type of evidence needs to be given, the evidence has to convince a reasonable person that the employee was genuinely entitled to the sick or carer's leave." Visiting a fully bulk-billing doctor for a free consultation is an efficient and cost-effective way to get a medical certificate. However, recent surveys by ABC News and the Royal Australian College of GPs show fewer than 10 per cent of GPs exclusively bulk-bill patients, with average out-of-pocket costs to see a GP ranging from about $40 to $55. Securing a GP appointment at short notice can also be difficult, especially for Australians living in regional and remote areas. Booking a telehealth appointment can be a convenient way of securing a medical certificate, particularly if you are physically unable to get to a doctor or cannot secure an appointment. These appointments are offered via video or phone, and patients who use a telehealth service are generally directed to a short questionnaire and then assessed by an Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency-approved health practitioner. Costs of telehealth consultations can vary, with some costing less than $20, but according to Queensland Health, a telehealth appointment "should cost the same as an in-person appointment". Pharmacists can also issue absence-from-work certificates for a range of minor ailments within the scope of their practice. The cost of a pharmacy-issued absence-from-work form usually ranges from $20 to $35 for a single-day certificate, and Pharmacy Guild of Australia's Victoria vice-president Anthony Tassone says they can be issued for illnesses such as cold and flu, diarrhoea or migraines and severe headaches, for example. "[Illness where] they're not well enough to work, but it should resolve soon," Mr Tassone says. The Fair Work Ombudsman says statutory declarations are also an acceptable form of evidence for sick or carer's leave. Although there is no cost involved in getting a statutory declaration (stat dec), it has historically involved downloading and printing the form, filling out facts that you declare to be true and accurate, and having the document signed by a witness such as a justice of the peace. However, under legislative changes that came in early 2024, it is now possible to make commonwealth stat decs using your Digital Identity by creating a myGovID and attaching it to your myGov account. Australian National University professor of law and regulation Veronica Taylor says digital and paper stat decs "have exactly the same effect".
