Tuesday 15 November 2022 11:29 PM Dr Nic Coatsworth's fiery takedown of ABC Covid expert Norman Swan trends now
A top Australian doctor has blasted ABC pundit Norman Swan for suggesting the deaths of cricket legend and Senator Kimberly Kitching could be Covid-related.
Warne died aged just 52 of a sudden heart attack on March 4 while on holiday in Thailand a few weeks after a mild case of Covid.
Senator Kitching succumbed to a suspected heart attack six days later, at the same age, but had not contracted Covid before her death or tested positive previously.
Despite both having other medical risk factors, Swan told Daily Mail Australia it was 'too much of a coincidence' that they 'died not long after a Covid infection'.
Dr Swan has since apologised for his statements on ABC News on Tuesday morning after being criticised for 'speculating' about the two high-profile deaths.
Meanwhile, former deputy chief medical officer Dr Nic Coatsworth says it was a dark moment for the ABC's Covid expert.
'I think Norman would be the first to agree that it wasn't his best moment in the pandemic,' he told 2GB's Ben Fordham.
Dr Norman Swan (pictured) has been forced to issue an apology after suggesting the deaths of cricket legend Shane Warne and Senator Kimberly Kitching could be Covid-related
Former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth (pictured) publicly criticised Dr Swan saying: 'You can't go wrong if you just avoid making assumptions and speculating about causes of death, particularly when they were both so tragic'
'You can't go wrong if you just avoid making assumptions and speculating about causes of death, particularly when they were both so tragic.
'The lessons we should draw is that every senator should aspire to be like Kimberly Kitching, every young boy or girl who picks up a cricket ball should be like Shane Warne.
'That's all we should take out of that, the positive of their lives and that sort of speculation [from Norman Swan] should have no place in the Covid discourse.'
Dr Coatsworth explained that while the study Swan was referring to had been published recently, the data was from 2020 and conducted in a different era of the pandemic when the virus was more severe.
'Why would Dr Swan at this point in the pandemic be bringing up a study that talks about increased clots in the arteries that could potentially be linked to a heart attack that was conducted in 2020.
Shane Warne (left) died aged just 52 of a sudden heart attack on March 4 with Senator Kimberley Kitching (right) dying of a suspected heart attack just six days later
'This was pre vaccine, pre the omicron wave and pre the amount of hybrid immunity that we've got in the community.
'It's creating this concern with a study that was conducted in a different era of the pandemic.
2GB radio host Ben Fordham launched a fiery attack on the former physician and broadcaster on Wednesday, claiming Dr Swan should be 'ashamed of himself'.
He said the medico 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'.
Dr Swan has since apologised for his statements on ABC News on Tuesday morning after being criticised for 'speculating' about the two high-profile deaths.
'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.'
The backflip comes after the medico said he wouldn't have aired his theories on the deaths on live TV if he had thought it would have hurt the families involved.
'I think it helps to have an explanation and this might be one, and it's a message to other people that you have to be careful and not blasé about catching this,' he said.
Fordham on Wednesday accused Dr Swan of 'speculating like a gossip columnist' and called on the ABC to de-platform the health expert.
'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.
Dr Swan is not the first medical expert to draw a link between Covid and Warne's death, based on other studies finding increased risks. Pictured is the cricketer with his children
Dr Swan told Daily Mail Australia that Warne had several risk factors for heart disease and that a 'bit of extra inflammation from Covid could have tipped him over the edge'
'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.'
Fordham said the way Dr Swan had
