Mothers rage at hospital errors
Two mothers are outraged by the quality of care they received at Kenepuru Community Hospital.
The hospital was reluctant to discuss either case, despite having received permission from one mother concerned to do so, and said it had no concerns about the performance of its medical staff.
Cannons Creek mother Jen Brown said she was furious with one doctor after a recent misdiagnosis of her 20- month- old baby.
Her son, Ngaziah, developed a rash after an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease at his playcentre.
Miss Brown said she took him to Kenepuru Hospital and explained the outbreak to the doctor.
‘‘[The doctor] pulled the blanket up, looked at his leg that had the rash on it and then she just looked at me and said, ‘I have no doubt this is an allergic reaction to something’.’’
Miss Brown said she asked the doctor to examine Ngaziah properly at least four times, but was sent home with a prescription for antihistamine and Pamol.
She returned to Kenepuru two days later, saw a different doctor and Ngaziah was diagnosed as having hand, foot and mouth disease.
He was rushed to Wellington Hospital, where he spent three days in isolation before recovering.
‘‘It’s gut-wrenching and really frustrating for us to have to go through all that,’’ Miss Brown said.
She has complained officially to the hospital and Capital and Coast District Health Board.
‘‘They are playing God with people’s lives and that’s just not right, and no excuse is really good enough.’’
She said she hoped her complaint would make Kenepuru Hospital review its procedures so further incidents could be prevented.
Plimmerton mother-of-one Jessica said she had a traumatic experience at Kenepuru Hospital after she miscarried last November.
She said her eyes were rolling back and she was losing blood.
‘‘ I was terrified because I thought I was dying. I couldn’t keep awake and couldn’t keep my eyes open. I just kept thinking, ‘Please listen to me’.’’
Jessica said the nurse told her she was just traumatised and needed to go home.
She eventually saw a doctor and was rushed to Wellington Hospital because she was losing so much blood.
Jessica said she almost needed a blood transfusion.
She said she did not make a formal complaint because she was grieving and it was not her pri- mary concern at the time.
She would return to Kenepuru Hospital only if something happened to her son and they could not make it to Wellington in time.
‘‘I definitely wouldn’t go there for the same thing again, and I wouldn’t go there if I was really scared, because I just don’t think they take you seriously,’’ she said.
Dr Jean Kelly, the clinical leader at Kenepuru’s Accident and Medical Centre, said in a statement provided to Kapi- Mana News the hospital was always happy to discuss concerns patients or family members had with the care they received.
‘‘The Accident and Medical Centre in Kenepuru Hospital is staffed by highly skilled and dedicated clinicians, who take patient care very seriously, and we have no concerns about their performance,’’ Dr Kelly said.
Kapi- Mana News wanted to inquire about Kenepuru Hospital’s complaints processes, about what systems had been put in place to prevent such scenarios happening again, about nurses’ roles at the hospital and whether there were any concerns about the performances of doctors and nurses.
Kenepuru Hospital spokeswoman Kim Whitaker said she would not answer further questions, despite Miss Brown having given permission for the hospital to discuss her son’s case.
‘‘I won’t be answering any more than what I have given you . . . I don’t have to answer those questions, to be honest, and some of them I don’t think are appropriate to be answered.’’
Kapi-Mana News reported in 2010 and 2011 two incidents in which misdiagnoses at Kenepuru Hospital resulted in one death and one near-death.