Spam Journalism #55

Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article.

Today, the Tabloid on Sunday delivers a double dose of spam (actually there is way more where these came from, but these are all I can be bothered to blog about):

Superbug fears under microscope

“MercyAscot has appointed an independent microbiologist to investigate patients’ claims they were infected by a superbug during routine surgeries.

“Auckland Mayor John Banks and Commonwealth Games medallist weightlifter John Bolton say they were infected during rotator cuff shoulder operations at the company’s private Ascot Hospital at Greenlane.

“They contracted an infection six months apart and both ended up having clean-up operations at public hospitals. They also had to take 24-hour doses of intravenous antibiotics for six weeks.

“But Dr Richard Fisher, chairman of MercyAscot, said there had been no confirmed reports of superbug outbreaks at the hospital, and he did not expect the review to reveal any problems.”

Where to start on this appalling piece of spam journalism?

Firstly, there is clearly no “superbug” problem at all here. The strains of resistant staphylococcus, commonly colourfully called the “superbug”, have not been isolated  at the Ascot hospital, nor from the wounds of the people who allegedly claim to have had the “superbug”. What these unfortunate people have had is a routine post-op infection – unfortunately for the gentleman with the shoulder problem routine infection and bone surgery do not go well together. Bone infection with any bug requires lengthy antibiotics and, often, removal of the hardware inserted by the surgeon.

But wait, there’s more. Instead of getting a decent microbiologist to comment (a comment which would have gone something like “what are you talking about? What superbug?”), the article cites the opinion of a 23-year-old business student who clearly has less idea about infection control than I do about particle physics:

““I think it would be good if they were open about it,” she said. “It’s not fair that people think the public system is crap … when in fact the private hospitals are having the same issues.””

Amazing. What insight. What a pity that no one seems to have bothered to find out the rate of infection at other hospitals. Then they would know that the infection rate at Ascot (0.5%) is the same as at any other hospital in the first world – including all the New Zealand public ones. Had the idiot journalist (yes, Rebecca, that’s you) in question bothered to inquire, she would have found out that the consent form clearly states that there is a small risk of infection in any operation.

The story so far: No superbug found, no increased infection rate. exciting, isn’t it?

But we are not done yet. This piece of drivel is actually part of a series – I was ill last weekend and missed this piece of nonsense. Just as well really, I would probably have started vomiting again. From the orginal article I note:

• The “superbug” was not isolated from Mr Bolton. Presumably Vancomycin was used because Bolton had serious septicaemia from his bone infection.
• Mr Bolton also did not read his consent form. Why people think that private hospitals should have a lower infection rate than public hospitals is beyond me. Do they think the public hospitals don’t do everything in their power to prevent infections? Or do they think that bugs should be automatically repelled by all the money they spent on private surgery?
• John Banks seems to think that private hospitals would not do everything in their power to prevent infections. He is clearly a moron and therefore eminently suitable to be mayor of the Auckland supercity. If there is one place that private hospitals never scrimp on, it is infection control. Can you imagine the cost of closing an entire private hospital and scrubbing it down? Not to mention the bad publicity that people like Rebecca Milne would gladly give?
• No-one seems to have picked up that documented routine swabbing of surfaces and wound infections is part of every private hospitals accreditation.  Without accreditation, they cannot practice.

But for true nonsense you can’t beat that Doyenne of Medical Knowledge, Ruth Dyson:

““I certainly think that in the instances you raise that it’s not fair for the taxpayer to be funding the private hospitals but then having to pick up the can for anything that goes wrong.”

Taxpayers do not “fund” private hospitals. They purchase operations. And if the management of routine complications of operations were included in the price, the price would be substantially higher. Ruth also appears not to understand that private hospitals have no ICU and therefore cannot manage these complications. She also appears not to understand the fundamentals of the medical insurance industry nor does she appear to appreciate the fact that each operation done in private is one less for the public health system to cope with. If the price of that is having to cope with the occasional unfortunate complication, then so be it.

In fact, the list of things she does not understand about medicine would appear to be endless.

In that, she has much in common with Rebecca Milne.

Related posts: