Expectancy demand a hassle for relatives

New Zealanders needing fast entry into the country to be with dying relatives are being tripped up by demands for proof of life expectancy.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) wants the supporting evidence in applications for an emergency allocation to skip the queue for managed isolation. But in some cases, hospitals won’t provide life expectancy information, arguing that it is too difficult to say.

When Kimberley Dreyer’s father was placed in the high dependency unit in Waikato Hospital on life support late last month, she scrambled to get from Queensland to be with him. Under emergency allocation criteria brought in the following week, she could apply to skip the 10-week queue for managed isolation spaces and begin the process within seven days.

The application proved more difficult than she expected, when MBIE requested a letter from a medical practitioner stipulating his life expectancy.

‘‘I explained that I’d spoken to the hospital ... to ask what my father’s life expectancy was ... and they’d told me they wouldn’t be able to provide that,’’ Dreyer said.

‘‘The doctors that I spoke to and some of the directors at the hospital were quite astounded by the fact MIQ were asking.’’

She said doctors told her that all they could provide was evidence that he was on life support, in a critical condition.

Dreyer began searching for cancelled managed isolation bookings herself, and just one day later, her father died.

Palliative specialist and clinical advisor for Hospice New Zealand, Rod McLeod, said he hoped the ministry wasn’t being provided with specific details on life expectancy, because they’re ‘‘nearly always wrong’’.

‘‘I think it’s at best a guess. The science around life expectancy is not very accurate,’’ he said.

‘‘Particularly at this time of year, people often want to hold on for special events or special friends or relatives.’’

While the ministry won’t stipulate exactly what it means by life expectancy, McLeod said that at best, medical practitioners might be able to estimate whether someone had either days, weeks, or months.

MBIE admitted that some applications for fast entry were taking more than the target three business days to process, and could be held up further if people didn’t provide supporting details like the life expectancy of their dying relatives.

It said it was conscious that people with terminal illnesses, like cancer, could have a significant range in their prognosis, from weeks to months or years.