After the scandals: Health's director fired
Health Minister sack Else Smith after numerous scandals
By Peter Korsgaard
Health Minister Nick Haekkerup (S) has sacked Health's Director Else Smith. It confirms press officer in the Ministry Thomas Bille Winkel to Ekstra Bladet.
It is the last time many scandals concerning the Agency's limping supervision of the country's doctors, which has led to the sacking, writes the Health Ministry in a statement.
"We need to get cleaned up and modernized Health. We have spent years - changing directors and ministers - seen a number of cases that have created uncertainty regarding the supervision of the Danish health. Cases that have made people uncertain about the supervision of our health care system works well enough", says Health Minister Nick Haekkerup message:
"Since I became Minister of Health, I have always said very clearly that I will do whatever it takes, to get cleaned up in these things and to restore confidence in the Board of Health".
And there have been a number of cases, which overall makes me think the time has come to more fundamentally address this, so we get a properly cleaned up and modernized Health service.
It is only a few months ago that Vagn Nielsen and supervision chief Anne Mette Dons got sacked, but now the time has come for Else Smith.
The most recent case concerning the supervision deals with a brain injury psychiatrist. Dr revealed that the psychiatrist worked despite the fact that the Agency for several years had been warned about the psychiatrist's work. The brain-damage psychiatrist came to be involved in both deaths and several cases of severe mistreatment.
Read the Drs statement here:
The case is far from unique. Ekstra Bladet has previously revealed how Slagelse doctor Carsten Bøttcher prescribed massive amounts of addictive drugs to patients, despite the fact that the Board of Health on several occasions had been warned against his careless with prescription pad.
Pellet Amok: prescribed for several years of consumption.
The previous year a Dr could tell how the North Jutland psychiatrist Arne Mejlhede, for years prescribed insane amounts of drugs and error-treated patients.
Also in this case, the Board of Health had repeatedly been warned without that you had done something.
The many revelations of the lame supervision has among others contributed to the then Minister of Health Astrid Krag (S) called for an independent review of Health. It came last summer and contained 57 specific recommendations. It was especially internal communication, as it limped serious.
OVERVIEW: Health Protection Agency's controversial cases
According to Health Minister Nick Haekkerup (S) is a large number of problematic cases in the National Board of Health, which has led to Thursday's firing of the Agency's Executive Director Else Smith.
Here an overview of some of the cases Else Smith's time as director since August 2010:
* February 2015: It appears that a brain-damage psychiatrist for years have been allowed to work, even if the Board of Health was repeatedly warned about the psychiatrist's condition. The psychiatrist's work leads to deaths and serious medication errors in children.
* June 2014: The European Regulators Association (Epso) points out that the Board of Health's supervision, among other things doctors can do better, and that cooperation between the Agency's medical officers and the central monitoring unit is not functioning optimally.
* April 2013: A nordjysk psychiatrist prescribed for years large quantities of medicine and error-treated patients. Also in this case, the Board of Health had repeatedly been warned, without doing anything.
* May 2013: A sick donor is allowed to donate sperm to a sperm bank and donate a total of semen to 64 pregnancies. A hole legislation that was first amended in 2012, was to blame for that man donating semen. Board of Health recognizes that the law has been too lax.
* March 2013: It appears that a number of mothers received the drug misoprostol, although it may lead the fetus to die or suffer brain damage. Health has not responded quickly enough to warnings from professionals about side effects.
* November 2012: A doctor from Slagelse prescribed for a period of large amounts of addictive drugs to patients, although the Board of Health repeatedly warned against the situation.
* March 2012: National Board of Health criticized because it was not on, but doctors in Danish Orthopaedic Society, who were the first to respond to the use of so-called metal-on-metal hip prostheses for fear of serious side effects.