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On Wednesday evening “Beth’s Story” was commended by the Medical Journalists Association (MJA) in the investigative reporting / broadcast category of the MJA Winter Awards. The film made by Murray Anderson-Wallace and Roland Denning, was one of three finalists and was up against stiff competition from Fergus Walsh (BBC News Health Correspondent) and Matthew Hill (BBC Points West Health Correspondent), who was the eventual winner.
The category was judged by Branwen Jeffreys (BBC News), Nick Timmins (Financial Times and former MJA Health Journalist of the Year) and Andy Coghlan (New Scientist).
On commending the film the judges said “This is a harrowing 15 minute face to camera account of a relatively routine operation that went terribly wrong – narrated by Bethany’s mother Clare Bowen – and of how appallingly the NHS and the coroner’s system dealt with the consequences. Give that there is only one voice and no balancing one from the hospital or medics involved you could question whether this is a piece of campaigning rather than of pure journalism. But either way it is a remarkable film and we’d urge you to see it. It is immensely powerful and lives on in the memory long after viewing”
Murray Anderson-Wallace (Exec Producer, PATIENTSTORIES) said of the commendation “We are delighted that “Beth’s Story” has been commended by the MJA. This film is first and foremost, a testament to the courage and determination of the Bowen family and in particular to Clare Bowen, Beth’s mum who continues to use her families tragic experience to create constructive cultural change – she is an inspiration. I am also indebted to my colleague Roland Denning with whom I made this film. The quality of his film-making – a hallmark of all our work together -was commented on by the judges and deserves due credit”
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1 Comment
Congratulations to Producer of Beth’s Story! Lessons must be learned from such stories and there are plenty of them. I ran a cancer support group for 12 years – so much so wrong, but stories were buried with the patient. My book became an MJA prize winner in 2009 and one of the doctors mentioned in it has just been taken to task by the Health Service Ombudsman for: ‘diagnosing fibromyalgia without examining her (patient); not attempting exclude other possible diagnoses through investigations; failing to inform patient of her blood test results and failing to follow a pathology laboratory’s advice to carry out further tests’ (Gazette & Herald 25 January). Despite repeated visits to the surgery over several months with obvious symptoms (one, then a second lump plus increasing pain) the patient received only minimal pain relief medication and eventually was admitted to hospital as an emergency with a collapsed spine, found to be suffering from myeloma (a cancer) and was in intensive care for 3 weeks with a tube in her trachea. As if that were not enough, the health trust did nothing to support her complaint during two years. Both trust and GP have been ordered to offer an apology and compensation and prepare plans to show lessons have been learned and this will not happen in future.