Miscarriage furore has Australia PM on defensive
By Rob Taylor
CANBERRA, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Public anger over two women who had miscarriages in toilets after long waits in a Sydney hospital emergency room forced Australia's prime minister on Thursday into a pre-election defence of the country's health system.
Two women this week criticised nursing staff at one of Sydney's largest hospitals and attracted widespread public sympathy after separately telling of miscarriages after waiting hours for help at the major Royal North Shore Hospital.
"It's Third World Care," said the headline in one of the country's major newspapers after 32-year-old Jana Horska told of squatting on the floor in agony in full view of a triage nurse before collapsing in a pool of blood in a hospital toilet.
Their cases have embarrassed the government, which is only weeks from calling a national election in which both Prime Minister John Howard and his Labor opponent, Kevin Rudd, have promised to seize control of hospitals, usually state concerns.
Howard, lagging badly in opinion polls, rejected accusations that Australia's public hospital system was under strain, but backed an inquiry into the two incidents.
"This would appear to be a very serious mistake but I think we should be careful to understand that, compared with the health systems of other countries, our system is good," he told reporters. As well as Horska, another woman, Jenny Langmaid said she lost a baby at the same hospital when 14 weeks pregnant and accused triage nurses of showing no empathy.
The New South Wales state government apologised for the incidents and ordered an investigation as national Health Minister Tony Abbott described Horska's case as a tragedy.
Royal North Shore Hospital trauma doctor Tony Joseph said the cases highlighted problems of overcrowding and strain across Australia's public hospital system. "This could happen in any emergency department in this city, in this state and in this country," he told local radio.
