Jul 6, 2026 · 33 min · 13 segments
Luke is on the island, but getting a meeting with those in charge is proving almost impossible. With Ruth, he digs into how the bureaucracy of St Helena works, and why it appears the government is…
Susan ObeyGuestJonathan the Tortoise HandlerGuest
Cathy CranfieldGuestBy this point, Solicitor Ruth had about 145 potential victims on her client list, people who had accused Dr. Sergio, but also some who had issues with other doctors as well.
She was in negotiations with the lawyers the Saint Helena government had instructed at arm's length.
They're really good, experienced lawyers, know what they're doing.
Very sensible and pragmatic.
Together, they needed to agree on a compensation scheme, a protocol to work through all of these cases fairly and quickly.
But an early sticking point was, well, how many clients do you think you might get? Dr.
How could you possibly go and ask each one about what happened, especially when everyone is not necessarily online or easily contactable? The answer? The post.
The problem with this, which is a practical thing, is that there is no postal system on Saint Helena, so people-
People don't have letterboxes.
So if mail arrives on island, it is sent to the main post office in Jamestown.
People then who know r- they are receiving a letter go to the post office, or they go to a satellite post office, which is in a little, various shops around the island.
So Ruth had to pay somebody to hand deliver to 600 individual homes on Saint Helena.
I don't know if you've seen the addresses on Saint Helena, but it's things like Mr. X, Half Tree Hollow, Saint Helena.
That's the address.
And actually, truthfully, there are certain people on the island who, like taxi drivers and stuff, they know where everybody lives.
So you get into a taxi and you say, "I need to go and see X", and they don't ask you what the address is, because they know where they live.
The government was starting to get worried about how expensive all of this could soon be.
What if all 140 or so people's claims were successful, or even more? The government's slim wallet would be responsible not just for the damages, but perhaps also the ongoing cost of carers, specialist equipment they might need, maybe loss of earnings.
They'd have to foot the bill for their legal costs, for flying out medical experts to assess the scale of the victim's needs.
By this point, Solicitor Ruth had about 145 potential victims on her client list, people who had accused Dr. Sergio, but also some who had issues with other doctors as well.
She was in negotiations with the lawyers the Saint Helena government had instructed at arm's length.
They're really good, experienced lawyers, know what they're doing.
Very sensible and pragmatic.
Together, they needed to agree on a compensation scheme, a protocol to work through all of these cases fairly and quickly.
But an early sticking point was, well, how many clients do you think you might get? Dr.
How could you possibly go and ask each one about what happened, especially when everyone is not necessarily online or easily contactable? The answer? The post.
The problem with this, which is a practical thing, is that there is no postal system on Saint Helena, so people-
People don't have letterboxes.
So if mail arrives on island, it is sent to the main post office in Jamestown.
People then who know r- they are receiving a letter go to the post office, or they go to a satellite post office, which is in a little, various shops around the island.
So Ruth had to pay somebody to hand deliver to 600 individual homes on Saint Helena.
I don't know if you've seen the addresses on Saint Helena, but it's things like Mr. X, Half Tree Hollow, Saint Helena.
That's the address.
And actually, truthfully, there are certain people on the island who, like taxi drivers and stuff, they know where everybody lives.
So you get into a taxi and you say, "I need to go and see X", and they don't ask you what the address is, because they know where they live.
The government was starting to get worried about how expensive all of this could soon be.
What if all 140 or so people's claims were successful, or even more? The government's slim wallet would be responsible not just for the damages, but perhaps also the ongoing cost of carers, specialist equipment they might need, maybe loss of earnings.
They'd have to foot the bill for their legal costs, for flying out medical experts to assess the scale of the victim's needs.
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