Kylie's Stay Strikes Sour Note

Family members of patients at an Australian hospital can't get Kylie Minogue's allegedly preferential treatment out of their heads.

According to a report in Australia's Herald Sun, Minogue and her family and security detail were given eight rooms in the cardiac ward at Melbourne's Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini Hospital last month when the pop princess checked in to undergo surgery for breast cancer.

To accommodate the ailing celeb, an undisclosed number of elderly cardiac patients were reportedly moved from their rooms. Family members complained that they were denied access to their loved ones by Minogue's security detail and that areas of the hospital were sealed off by black plastic.

A woman calling herself Mandy told an Australian radio station that she had encountered a number of obstacles while trying to visit her ailing mother.

"Firstly, I had to get around a whole heap of black plastic that was floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall," she said. "One of the security chaps that had a British accent said to me, 'you can't go there.'

"I said, 'Yes I can, I've visited my mother here for a week, I'm certainly going to see her tonight.' These guys escorted me back like a criminal--back to ICU."

An elderly woman who was awaiting heart surgery at the hospital said she was bewildered when she was moved from her room.

"We thought it seemed a little bit over the top," the woman told the Herald Sun.

"When you entered the hospital you had to identify yourself and say who you were going to see. [My husband] had to keep saying who he was.

An unnamed doctor called the situation "distressing and very inappropriate."

"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 doctor said.

Minogue, 37, was reportedly assigned to the unit because it was the most secluded and offered the most privacy. A rep for the singer told Sky News that Minogue had not requested special treatment.

On Friday, the hospital's chief executive, Roger Greenman, fired back, denying that any patients had been moved on Minogue's behalf.

"The only patients who were moved at this time were either booked to be discharged or transferred to another ward in the normal manner because of their improving condition," Greenman told the Herald Sun.

Greenman called the reports a "disappointing attack on the integrity of our hospital and staff" and claimed that Minogue's stay had not affected the hospital's care of other patients.

He did admit that security had been tightened during Minogue's stay, but claimed the measures were necessary to protect the singer "from the intrusive attention of international media representatives, many of whom used underhand tactics to attempt to get access to the hospital during Ms. Minogue's stay."

Though Greenman did not specify the particular tactics supposedly attempted by the media, at least one reporter allegedly called the hospital posing as a diagnostic expert seeking a routine transfer of Minogue's files, while other reporters allegedly offered staff members money for photos of Minogue's room.

"We are happy that out staff and patients were fully protected at all times, and we do not believe that they were hindered of inconvenienced by the extra security," Greenman said.

Greenman also denied media reports that Minogue's room had been painted pink, supposedly in order to speed her recovery, and that staff members who came in contact with the pop star had been asked to sign confidentiality agreements.

According to Minogue's doctor, the singer's surgery was a success and Minogue is expected to make a full recovery.