I spent many hours sitting alongside my beautiful wife in ward 10 of National Women’s Hospital as her life gradually leaked away from the ravages of cervical cancer. She was under the care of Associate Professor Herbert Green, as were 15 other women in the ward, all coping with cervical cancer.
Green’s method of treating cervical cancer was brought into focus by the Cartwright Inquiry and was found wanting. His theory of non-intervention and other treatments condemned many women, including my wife, to a horrible, painful death.
Green’s treatment was based upon whim and misbelief as he pursued unfounded theories for 20 years. These treatments lacked scientific validity and lacked ethical considerations.
Dr Helen Overton’s book Demonising A Good Doctor, featured in “The unfortunate consequence” (April 22), says the inquiry “profoundly changed the way the health system is managed”.
Yes, it did change the health system. It changed it to such an extent that now, cervical cancer is almost conquered. No more is there a ward full of women waiting to die. No more do we see a senior medical professional sweeping through the ward with a retinue of white-coated juniors in his wake,
