‘Too young to die’
Family plead for answers after mum and 3-day-old baby die in bed
Three months after a West Auckland woman died in bed suddenly with her 3-day-old baby – leaving six other children without a mother – her bereft family are still in the dark about what caused the tragedy.
Most of the family never even got to meet the new baby, seeing him only in the casket he shared with his mother or in photos taken at the funeral home.
Multiple investigations are under way into the deaths – and the care Emerald Tai, 27, received before she was found dead on March 16 alongside her baby boy Tanatui Samuels.
The newborn and mum were found unresponsive in bed by her partner, also named Tanatui Samuels.
Police said in March that there were no suspicious circumstances around the death.
Tai’s mother Susan Fa’amoe spoke to the Herald about her loss.
“She was too young to die . . . life is very hard without her,” she said. “Emerald was a wonderful person, she had a good life and she really did have a lot to live for — she had a long life ahead of her,” Fa’amoe said.
“She was such a joyful person and it was a blessing to have her in our lives.”
Fa’amoe found out her daughter had given birth to baby number seven when she finished work late on Friday, March 13. She had another shift the following day so promised to visit as soon as she could when Tai got home.
Tai went home the next day but did not tell her mother.
“I went to work on Monday and my sister came to see me there at 11am and told me my daughter had died,” Fa’amoe said.
The last time she saw her daughter alive was the weekend before the tragedy.
Tai’s then-youngest son turned 1 and they had a small family party. “Then I had to go and identify my daughter [in the morgue],” said Fa’amoe. “I was only allowed to identify Emerald because I had never seen my grandson . . . I didn’t ever get to see him alive, I only got to see him at the funeral parlour, I never knew until then what he looked like.
“Tana had to identify baby ... I never met him.”
Fa’amoe doesn’t even have a photograph of her grandson alive, just one of him in a white casket with his mother. Both Tai and her baby’s deaths are before the coroner and an investigation into how and why they died is ongoing.
Auckland District Health Board director of women’s health Dr Rob Sherwin confirmed a second and separate investigation was under way.
“We were very saddened to learn of the deaths earlier this year and have great sympathy for their wha¯nau,” he said.
“We understand how very distressing it can be when there is a tragic outcome for loved ones.
“The cases are currently with the coroner so we are unable to provide further comment at this time except to confirm that as with any unexpected event for a mother and baby, we are taking this extremely seriously and are fully investigating the care that was given.
“The review process aims to place the patient and wha¯nau members at the
centre to help them and
us understand what happened, and to ensure that as an organisation we have the correct systems and processes in place to support our highly skilled staff to do their best work for our patients and families.”
Sherwin said ADHB representatives had spoken with Tai’s family.
“We will be meeting with them to discuss the findings of the review once it is complete and to answer their questions which we have incorporated into the review,” he said.
Fa’amoe had not spoken to Samuels at length about what happened between leaving the hospital and the deaths.
But he told her that Tai was not feeling well after she left hospital.
“That plays on my mind so much, I keep thinking about what went wrong, I feel so guilty because I wasn’t there to help her and I didn’t know what was going on,” said Fa’amoe.
“If I had just gone around there, I could have protected her . . .”
Tai and Samuels had been together for 16 years after meeting at Avondale College.
He posted online about his loss on Sunday.
“Our love to you is painful ’cos your presence is not around anymore and nothing will ever be the same because I have lost the most beautiful woman in the world,” he wrote. “I’m trying my hardest to look after the babies . . . I miss you my love.” Tai and her son were
cremated together and their ashes sit on a table in Fa’amoe’s dining room. “It’s been a big loss for me . . . I always think about her all the time,” Fa’amoe said.
“I always kiss her photo, I talk to her . . . No mother should ever have
to bury their children before themselves, it should have been me lying there, not my daughter.
“Emerald was such a wonderful person, she was always happy, she was always bubbly, she would do anything for people.”