FACING OFF A BUTCHER

Dear All,

A tribute to a brave nurse!! No wonder the San never liked the union snooping around!! But sadly, the manager behaviour here would not be limited to the San these days!!

Jenny Haines

Facing off a Butcher

By Kate Sikora,dtm

March 28, 2008 12:00am

RALLIES are being held around Australia today by women fighting for justice against former doctor Graeme Reeves, dubbed the Butcher of Bega.

Women, including victims, will protest outside Parliament House over the health system's inaction on Reeves, who allegedly mutilated and sexually abused hundreds.

And more nurses who worked with the doctor are breaking their silence.

Robin Moon, a midwife with 30 years' experience, told The Daily Telegraph of the burden she has carried for a decade.

Mrs Moon, 47, of Epping, said she made several complaints to management at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Wahroonga, where Reeves worked between 1989 and 1998, but was told: "Don't take this any further."

"I feel like I have been a voice lost in the wilderness and finally I can now speak," she said yesterday.

"I am appalled. I was told by management my complaints would be taken care of. As far as I know they did nothing."

While assisting Reeves to deliver a baby in October 1996, Mrs Moon said she was horrified when he used forceps on the baby, which was in danger of dying.

She said the boy was born with severe disabilities. Reeves was taken to the Health Care Complaints Commission and later sued over the incident.

"He was screaming at me. He screamed at the husband to stop crying," she said.

"I used to see him walk up to female patients and just grab their breasts without even asking and then make a remark.

"We made several complaints for two years to our managers. I want his victims to know that we were complaining."

Mrs Moon thought she would not be able to return to work as a midwife after being blacklisted as a troublemaker.

She suffered a breakdown and left the system for two years. The mother of three has since returned to midwifery.

"He scarred me, as I feel I can't trust doctors now, or be part of a team. Being a midwife is about teamwork and he was terrible to everyone he worked with," she said.

Women have taken their rage to Facebook, setting up a club site called "Hang the Butcher of Bega".

The site has spread the message about today's rallies, organised by the Joyous Birth Network. It has 86 members.

Reeves was banned from obstetrics - but not gynaecology - in 1997.

The Medical Board deregistered him in 2004 - 15 years after first receiving the complaints against him.