Shane Warne died from a heart attack. Photo / File
Australian radio host Ben Fordham has unleashed on television health expert Dr Norman Swan after he falsely linked the deaths of cricket great Shane Warne and an Australian senator to Covid-19.
It comes after news.com.au revealed that Dr Swan had been forced into a grovelling apology after making the false claims on ABC.
The 2GB host took aim at the former physician and broadcaster in a fiery spray this morning, claiming Dr Swan was “no better than the anti-vaxxers who claim that every famous person who’s died in the last two years and died of the jab”.
“He should be ashamed of himself,” Fordham added.
Senator Kimberley Kitching died on March 10 from a suspected heart attack at the age of 52. She was being treated for a thyroid condition that was contributing to heart problems and never had Covid.
Warne’s death from a heart attack – also at the age of 52 – has not officially been linked to Covid either.
“We called him out for that making the point that he’s not your patient, and if he was your patient you wouldn’t be talking about him,” Fordham continued.
“There’s an unwritten rule for medicos who work in the medical space: Don’t go speculating on cases you know nothing about and that’s exactly what he did yesterday on Shane Warne.”
Fordham accused Dr Swan of “speculating like a gossip columnist” and questioned why the ABC was still giving him a platform.
“He hasn’t practiced medicine since the 1980s for starters - that’s how long it’s been since he’s been in the doctor’s room treating a patient,” he claimed.
“Because of coronavirus he was in the right place at the right time and he became a bit of a superstar at the ABC.
“We’ve been calling out his doomsday scenarios, trying to scare the life out of people when it comes to coronavirus, always giving the worst case scenario... (but) he has overstepped the mark in a major way.”
Swan forced to issue apology
Dr Swan was forced to issue an apology after making the statements about the death of Warne and Senator Kitching on ABC News on Tuesday morning.
“It’s too much of a coincidence that Shane Warne and the Labor Senator in Victoria died not long after a Covid infection, and people are reporting sudden death after Covid infection. It’s not benign,” he said
However, Senator Kitching did not contract Covid before her death and had not tested positive previously.
“I’ve personally apologised to Andrew her husband,” Dr Swan told news.com.au.
“I’ve clearly made an error which I deeply regret. I do recall such reports and have checked with others who did too but that doesn’t excuse my having upset the family.”
News.com.au is not aware of any previous reports that Senator Kitching had Covid and nor is her family.
Earlier, Dr Swan told Daily Mail Australia that cricket legend Warne had “lots of risk factors for heart disease, but if he was going to get a bit of extra inflammation from Covid, that could have tipped him over the edge”
“These are two high-profile people,” Dr Swan added. “One of whose death was a complete surprise, and they both had Covid in the background.”
Dr Swan pointed to a study by the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Swansea – that the pandemic may have led to an additional 10,500 cases of heart attacks, strokes and other blood clot complications such as deep vein thrombosis in England and Wales alone.
In the first week after a Covid diagnosis, people were 21 times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke, conditions which are mainly caused by blood clots blocking arteries. This dropped to 3.9 times more likely after 4 weeks, the study of 48 million unvaccinated patients found.
Warne was briefly put on a ventilator during his Covid battle.
But he said it was a trial treatment rather than requiring a ventilator to breathe.
“It wasn’t because I could not breathe, or anything like that, it was basically a special ventilator that I was trialling to make sure there were no longer-lasting effects that Covid would have on me,” he said.
“I have been fine, I have been able to run, I have been able to do everything. I have been absolutely fine.
“It was a bit like a hangover, I had a pounding headache. The first couple of days, when I tested positive, I just had a thumping headache and I had one day where I had the shivers, but (was) sweating, like when you have the flu,” Warne told The Herald Sun.
“I lost a bit of sense of taste for a few days, but after three or four days I was fine. I have apparently got the holy grail. I have been double vaccinated and I have had Covid, so I am meant to be absolutely fine now.”