KYLIE TAKES THE WARD

The good news that Kylie's recovering has been slightly tainted by the reports coming from the Cabrini Hospital which suggests other patients were forced to vacate an entire ward to make way for the Minogue. The Herald Sun says:

The pop princess was allocated eight of the hospital's 18 cardio rooms in a move that angered Cabrini doctors and patients and has been questioned by medical authorities.

Those visiting heart patients on the same floor as Minogue were forced to walk through intensive care and put through rigorous security screening before they could see their sick loved ones.

Some visitors were stopped from seeing patients altogether by security guards who, when asked, said they were not employed by the hospital.

Kylie's people insist she didn't dictate where she was put in the hospital, and that she had only the one "directly hired" security guard. ("Directly hired" as opposed to what?)

Apparently, Kylie was put into cardiology rather than oncology wards because the cardio ward was more secure. Medical staff were distinctly unimpressed, says the newspaper:

"It's wholly unusual that a patient with non-cardio problems that doesn't require monitoring is placed in those beds," said a doctor at Cabrini, who asked that he not be named.

"It's a precedent you won't want to see repeated. I must admit several people were severely inconvenienced. I was very surprised that eight beds were given to one patient with a non-cardiac condition.

"The intensive care unit was treated as a thoroughfare. It was very distressing and very inappropriate."

Funnily enough, the patients being moved weren't told why they were put into different beds.

The Australian Medical Association has also raised a curious eyebrow at the apparent goings-on:

"We can understand if (doctors) are concerned at a fairly large proportion of beds being used for one individual -- that's something for management to justify," AMA president Dr Mukesh Haikerwal said. "In general terms, beds should be used as effectively as they can because both the public and private sectors have a very tight dollar. Someone might need a specific level of care or security, but basically beds should be used on a needs basis."

Management hadn't responded to the story by the time the Herald-Sun went to press.

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