Christie Whelan’s desperate plea after two hospitals turn away her sick two-year-old son in Victoria

Actress Christie Whelan Browne has claimed Victoria’s health system is “seriously broken” after she was turned away from two hospitals when she tried to seek help for her toddler son.

The Mad As Hell star revealed she had to visit three hospitals to get help for her two-year-old son Duke, who she shares with fellow actor husband Rohan.

“The health system is seriously broken in Victoria,” she wrote on Twitter.

It is unclear what is wrong with her child, but in late December she revealed that he had suffered a stress fracture in his leg.

He spent his first Christmas (2021) with Covid. This year he could not walk. Next year it will definitely run at full speed,” she wrote on Instagram.

Victoria’s health system is cracking under the strain of towering waiting lists for elective surgery, ambulance ramps, staff shortages and patients languishing for hours in emergencies.

Late last year, the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne advised families to seek alternative care following an ‘unprecedented demand’ in the emergency department.

On Dec. 5, the hospital said there were 90 patients in the emergency room and expected some children with less severe conditions could wait more than 12 hours.

It comes less than two weeks after former Neighbors star Craig McLachlan dropped his defamation suit against Ms. Browne, his former co-star on The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

She had accused Mr. McLachlan of indecent assault on the set. He was cleared of all charges by a magistrate in December 2020.

The three-time Logie winner was revealed last month as a contestant on the next season of SAS Australia, where celebrities undergo grueling tests at the hands of ex-special forces.

But Ms Browne, one of four women who accused him of indecent assault, was furious that he was being thrust back into the spotlight.

“How do we feel about someone charged with multiple assault charges being brought back on TV and simply referred to as a ‘controversial figure’?” she wrote on Twitter on Monday.

“I also saw a message that he was the ‘winner’ of that case. But if you bother to read the verdict… the judge who heard the evidence believed it happened.

“I’m so fucking sick of this shit.”

Ms. Brown (pictured, left) is currently starring in the new musical Not Finished With You Yet! next to her husband, Rohan (right)

Craig McLachlan was charged with sexual assault and indecent assault following complaints from female co-stars in a 2014 stage production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show – he was cleared of all charges by a magistrate in December 2020

McLachlan was called a “controversial former actor” in one article, and the process was barely mentioned in the initial report of his SAS casting — and sympathetic even then.

The case was tried under old consent laws because the alleged crimes occurred before they were changed.

Victorian laws were updated in 2015 to make a defendant guilty of sexual or indecent assault if their erroneous belief that they had consent was ‘unreasonable’.

McLachlan, on the other hand, only had to prove that he believed he had permission, regardless of whether his beliefs were unreasonable.

Magistrate Belinda Wallington said in her 105-page verdict that she believed the incidents had occurred but that McLachlan believed he had authorization.

“I cannot rule out the reasonable possibility that in his self-centered state of mind, amid some admiration from parts of the cast and management, coupled with a lack of checks and balances on his lewd behavior, he was unaware of [the complainant’s] lack of permission,” she said.

The musical theater star said Victoria’s health system is “seriously broken.”

On another charge, she said: “I cannot rule out the possibility that a selfish, self-professed sense of humor led the defendant to honestly think that [the complainant] consented to his actions.’

Magistrate Wallington said on several occasions that she found the complainants “credible” and that she “accepted” [their] full proof’.

She also pointed out that her verdict would likely have been different if the case had been tried under post-2015 laws.

Ms. Brown is currently starring in the new musical Not done with you yet! next to her husband, Rohan.