Scan delay agonising
told them the strikes were affecting access to scans, so they booked an MRI through the private system as a back-up.
The earliest they could get was October 17. In the meantime, they waited.
Becky ended up in ED another handful of times in the week that followed. The Roses kept asking for the MRI ordered earlier in the month, but it wasn’t done.
Then, on October 16, Tali said: ‘‘everything in her body broke down’’.
Becky had been vomiting for hours when, almost unconscious, she was wheeled to the resuscitation room in Starship ED. Doctors worked for an hour to stabilise her, including emptying her stomach, Rose said.
During the ordeal an ultrasound showed fluid in her pelvis and finally a CT scan was ordered. This scan showed Becky’s bowel was perforated.
A perforation (a hole in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract) can cause bowel contents to spill into the abdomen, leading to infection and potentially sepsis.
As well as the perforation, her bowel was blocked, sending its contents back up into her stomach.
The family went on to describe how doctors also found a ‘‘collection’’ of fluid in her pelvis, which could have been caused by the perforation or inflammation from the Crohn’s.
Doctors told her parents that
Becky’s immune system went into overdrive trying to contain the fluid, contracting the muscles around it to keep it in place – causing the pain.
Now the fluid is being treated with antibiotics, Becky’s condition is improving. The pain which drove them to ED most nights has disappeared, her mum says.
She remains in hospital, and on Friday had her first solid food in weeks. Her condition also delayed her Crohn’s treatment, which finally resumed on Friday morning.
Ben Rose, a senior executive at Stuff, and Tali maintain this could have all been avoided if a scan was carried out sooner.
They say they are not critical of the care their daughter received, but say the limited access to treatment due to strike action put her in a ‘‘life-threatening situation’’.
Staff had gone ‘‘above and beyond’’ in their care of Becky, which the Roses say they were ‘‘very grateful’’ for, but believe things did not need to get to this point. ‘‘Had a scan been done earlier things would have been different,’’ her mum said.
The Roses want Auckland DHB to take responsibility for not scanning sooner, and apologise to Becky.
They also wanted the DHB to improve its processes around assessing the seriousness of a patient’s condition during strike action.
In a statement, Starship’s director of child health Mike Shepherd said he could not comment on the details of Becky’s care or condition for ‘‘ethical and privacy reasons’’. But the impression her family received from medics, which alleged strike action affected the timing of Becky’s scans, was
‘‘not accurate’’.
Becky received MRI and CT scans within the ‘‘appropriate clinical timeframe’’, he said. Perforations and bowel obstructions were known complications of Crohn’s disease and could occur at any time. They were difficult to predict, difficult to prevent, and did not always show on scans.
Diagnosis was complex, and scans were only part of the process. If doctors suspected a patient had a perforation they consulted surgical colleagues and arranged further tests, including scans as appropriate.
Shepherd said it was not unusual for clinicians to be treating children in severe pain caused by conditions such as Crohn’s.
‘‘It is a very complex disease which can cause severe pain and it is of course never easy to see a loved one in pain.’’
‘‘We have great sympathy for Becky and her family,’’ he said in the statement.