Bacchus Marsh doctor escapes ban over baby deaths because of staff shortages

Considered a 'linchpin' in the hospital's current maternity unit, she is one of the few doctors still working there a decade after the hospital hit the headlines
Geir O'Rourke

A doctor accused of misconduct in the aftermath of the Bacchus Marsh baby death scandal a decade ago has avoided suspension because removing her would now have a “catastrophic impact on its understaffed, seriously stretched” maternity unit.

A high-profile Victorian Government investigation originally found that the deaths of at least seven babies at the unit between 2008 and 2015 were preventable. 

Blame was directed at nurses and doctors but it was also acknowledged that the unit was seriously under-resourced and its management failing.

The latest doctor to be sanctioned by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal is now a full-time senior resident at the hospital.