Health Minister says Hinds, Duke responsible for Miller

Minister of Health Dr Fuad Khan said Friday Opposition Senator Fitzgerald Hinds and Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke have interfered with the treatment of a patient who is ill.

Khan was reacting to a court decision to release Cheryl Miller from the St Ann's Psychiatric Hospital. Hinds and Duke intervened in the matter.

The minister told the Express newspaper, "Anyone who goes and removes an ill patient in such a manner and uses a habeas corpus to remove someone against medical advice and against the advice of the specialist in the fields will have to be held responsible for that patient," he said.

Khan, speaking as a medical practitioner, said he could not reveal Miller's diagnosis but confirmed her doctors indicated the "seriousness of the situation".

He said, "The doctors would have explained the situation to both Hinds and Duke, and I will overturn any stone if something happens to that woman and hold both Hinds and Duke responsible.

"If someone goes against a medical doctor's advice, the court or whoever, someone has to receive the patient." Khan said the hospital no longer has any responsibility for Miller.

"This is going to have serious repercussions for this patient. We as doctors know what's going to happen...As doctors, we know that something is wrong," he said.

He accused both Duke and Miller of using the case to score "cheap political points by jeopardising the patient's care...They are doing that without understanding the medical facts."

Khan explained to the paper that "almost all mental patients" can look and act normal until a negative reaction is triggered.

"People with personality disorders can be fully functional until that one straw that breaks the camel's back. A person may then commit suicide or hurt other people around them," he said.

The paper reported that one psychiatrist has suggested Miller may be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Classic features of this ailment include having delusions and hearing things that are not real. However Khan did not wish to go into details of the woman's medical condition. 

Miller had an outburst in her office at the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development just over two weeks ago and was promptly sent to the psychiatric.