Second Labor Govt patient information leak, Liberals claim
A second incident where the state government shared private medical information – this time without a Barossa woman’s consent – has emerged, the Liberal Party claims. The announcement following a damning email blunder over the weekend.
South Australia’s Health Minister’s office shared a patient’s private medical information with journalists after she criticised the health system following four repeated surgery cancellations, the SA Liberals claim.
The latest revelation follows extensive reports over a weekend email blunder, which saw the state government share an email presumed to be from an Adelaide man who spent some of his final moments ramped outside the Royal Adelaide Hospital, but it later emerged the email was actually from another patient with the same name.
SA Liberal Leader Ashton Hurn today released new information claiming that in November last year, Health Minister Chris Picton’s office shared confidential details about a 66-year-old blood cancer patient, Monica Wohlstadt, after she spoke publicly about repeated elective surgery cancellations.
Wohlstadt, who appeared alongside Liberal leader Ashton Hurn and health spokesperson Heidi Girolamo today at a press conference in Lyndoch, says she did not consent to the disclosure.
The Liberals said during the press conference that they would not repeat those medical details to protect Wohlstadt’s privacy.
Hurn said specific private medical information should not be shared with reporters without consent.
“South Australians expect their personal health information to be treated with the highest level of care and confidentiality,” Hurn said.
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“After two serious incidents in such a short period of time this demands urgent attention.
“This is a fundamental breach of the trust that exists between patients and the health system.”
The Liberals have called on Picton to step aside pending an independent investigation into the access and sharing of patient information.
A government spokesperson said: “In this instance, the Liberal Party held a media conference and issued a media release with specific claims and journalists asked the government about those claims”.
“The government fact-checked these claims and answered the media’s questions honestly and transparently at a media conference held at the media’s request.
“It was entirely appropriate for the media to ask these questions, and entirely appropriate for the government to answer them.”
Over the weekend, Health Minister Chris Picton apologised “unreservedly” for the leak of an email to the media that the government said was from a late cancer patient whose partner Bronwyn Paterson raised concerns about ramping in an interview with the ABC.
That email was actually from a man with the same name, but was not the husband of Bronwyn Paterson.
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Paterson spoke to the ABC about her husband spending his final hours in 2025 waiting for and then ramped in an ambulance, he later died in hospital.
Picton has apologised “unreservedly” to Paterson.
“There was a very incorrect assumption made that that was from Ms Paterson’s partner, which it clearly wasn’t,” Picton said on ABC Radio Adelaide on Monday morning.
“I take full responsibility for this. This was an error, this shouldn’t have happened, it was a mistake.
“I think this happens under any form of government. If a journalist makes inquiries, we will seek to look into those issues and provide context where we can but none of that is to take away from the fact that I’m absolutely agreeing that this was a mistake and shouldn’t have happened.”
Premier Peter Malinauskas said he would not accept Picton’s resignation even if he offered it, which he has not.
“The minister was not accurate by virtue of the fact that there were two people of the same name … and that’s not good enough,” Malinauskas said.
“He should have double-checked if there were two people of the same name. He didn’t, and he’s been candid about that.”
Girolamo said any disclosure of confidential medical information was unacceptable.
“If we’re elected we will immediately conduct an investigation into whether this behaviour has become common practice for Labor, but in the meantime the Minister has no choice but to step aside,” Girolamo said today.
“South Australians deserve to know whether this is an isolated incident or whether other patients’ confidential information has also been accessed or shared without their consent.
“There must be a full, independent review to restore confidence in the way sensitive health information is handled.”
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