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Sun-Herald (Sydney), 1 February 1998, p. 21
Public servants
fight for sanity:
The teacher who lost her home after being labelled
'demented'
By Sue Williams
A primary schoolteacher who was forced to medically retire after being examined by psychologists retained by her employers has been battling for seven months to prove there is nothing wrong with her.
Laurel O'Brien [O'Brien is not her real name. She has been advised that giving her name to the press would harm her case for reinstatement], who was forced to sell her house and most of her possessions when she suddenly found herself on supporting parents' benefit, is considering suing for compensation.
She insisted on being referred to an independent psychiatrist, who she said did not find it necessary to examine her before finding she was not ill.
"Now I know how Russian dissidents felt when they were certified sane and released from institutions," she said.
"You start thinking 'Am I really insane? Perhaps I am demented'. It's very hard to dismiss it completely.
"But I've lost everything because of this. I've been forced to sell my house, last weekend I gave away all my furniture because 1 couldn't afford to store it, my kids have really suffered because we've been made nearly destitute and my reputation has been ruined."
Ms O'Brien, 44, is one of dozens of public sector workers who have been sent to HealthQuest - a unit of the Central Sydney Area Health Service which is part of the Department of Health and assessed as not fit to continue work.
Among those certified as having psychiatric problems are staff who have previously criticised health and safety procedures at work, lodged complaints about management or co-workers, or blown the whistle on their departments.
Many consulted their own doctors and independent psychologists.
The Ombudsman is now making inquiries into complaints, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights - which was instrumental in exposing the Chelmsford cover-up - is looking into the situation, and the ICAC is also examining evidence supplied by some of the public servants stood down.
Ms O'Brien, a single mother of two children aged 9 and 10, has now applied to the Education Department for reinstatement after launching a State-wide campaign with everyone else affected, supported by Whistleblowers Australia, to have the relationship between the public sector employers and HealthQuest examined.
She said she thought the department had tried to replace highly qualified teachers, with cheap teachers right out of university.
No one from HealthQuest was prepared to comment on the cases. A spokesperson from the NSW Department of Health said there were procedures for appeal through the Medical Appeals Panel. Each case was treated on its merits.
But Ms O'Brien has given heart to all the others - including teachers, a college storeman, a fire tighter, a police officer and a variety of other public servants - battling to have their psychological verdicts overturned.
Sun-Herald (Sydney), 1 February 1998, p.50.
Letters to the
editor ...
There has been much ado about workers taking the occasional
"sickie" and doctors co-operating in this. But what about the far
more serious practice of employers sending perfectly well workers
who have annoyed the boss in some way to psychiatrists who issue
a "certificate of insanity" so workers may be sacked by "medical
retirement?
Since the unfair dismissal laws were passed, this has happened to hundreds of workers. This process has been used against workers who are whistleblowers, in particular. Once they are diagnosed by a government medical officer, no-one will ever employ them again. Some of the people I have contacted have been wrongly diagnosed with schizophrenia and paranoia.
The names of 15 such psychiatrists have been given to the Medical Board. So when is there going to be an investigation?
This behaviour by employers makes the occasional "sickie" look very insignificant.
Mrs Laura McNamara WOONONA
From The Whistle March 1998 page 3
HealthQuest is an organisation that likes to operate in obscurity.
HealthQuest came to the notice of "Whistleblowers" as members trickled in over a period of time and quite a number of them had something in common, namely that they had been sent to HealthQuest by their employer for assessment. As a result of these so called assessments these people had been dismissed. HealthQuest was getting away with this as these people were being picked off in isolation. 'Whistleblowers' brought these people together and the need for action was expressed. …"