Baxter may find new home
A push to get a permanent memorial to New Zealand’s conscientious objectors is gathering momentum.
Anglican lay preacher Darryl Ward set out to collect 1000 signatures on an e-petition to get the statue built and by last night was nearly at 700.
His idea follows a series of three guerilla sculptures, presumably of New Zealand’s most-famous conscientious objector, Archibald Baxter, appearing around Wellington on Anzac Day.
‘‘The way Aotearoa New Zealand treated those who refused to fight is a sad blot on our history,’’ Ward said. ‘‘We need to remember the bravery of those who refused to fight, just as we remember the bravery of those who fought.’’
The petition calls on Wellington City Council to build a permanent memorial, along the same lines as the temporary ones erected by Peace Action Wellington.
Ward would next consult with Peace Action Wellington and Baxter’s family on his proposal.
Wellington Sculpture Trust chair Sue Elliott said her group had no sway over whether the sculpture would be made. But her personal opinion of the temporary sculpture she saw, at Frank Kitts Park, was that it looked ‘‘terrific’’.
Council spokesman Clayton Anderson said Ward’s next step should be to talk to a council arts advisor. Botched surgeries at publiclyfunded treatment clinics or hospitals cost the country more than $25 million in the last financial year.
ACC figures, released under the Official Information Act, show 4176 ‘‘treatment injury’’ claims were accepted from the country’s district health boards in the 2014/15 financial year. More than 2000 were declined.
This resulted in $25.4m paid out nationally. A further 3472 claims were paid to non-DHB facilities.
‘‘Treatment injuries’’, formerly known as medical misadventures, refer to any injury that resulted from treatment by a registered health professional, or consequential injury claims resulting from an already-covered injury.
The DHB with the highest percentage of treatment injuries to total surgeries was Wairarapa, which paid out $331,393 over 80 claims. Treatment injuries at Taranaki, Capital & Coast, and South Canterbury district health boards accounted for more than 2 per cent of all surgeries.
Lakes and Counties Manukau district health boards had the lowest ratio of claims to surgery.
Capital & Coast, Canterbury and Counties Manukau all paid out more than $2m in claim costs. Auckland and Waikato district health boards were the only two to crack $3m.
Southern District Health Board chief medical officer Nigel Millar said the most common cause of treatment injury was misdiagnosis, followed by complications from surgery, and adverse effects of medication.
Generally, elderly were more at risk of adverse events, he said, but they didn’t make up a greater ratio of claimants. Children were also likely to react to medication.
ACC had to decide if the injury was a normal part of treatment, or ‘‘when something hasn’t gone according to plan’’.
Incidents were reported to the Ministry of Health in events where there was a further risk to patient safety. Details were then reported back to the treatment provider, in these cases the district health board, where they were expected to respond with the outcome or investigation into the event.
Disciplinary action against a healthcare provider or individual could only be enacted through the health and disability commissioner.
The $25m total claim cost should be viewed against the approximate $15 billion overall health budget, Millar said, but could still use improving. Five-year-old Saoirse Gaffney is a selfproclaimed princess, with a big battle ahead. This month, advanced cancer was found in both her kidneys, as well as more than 20 tumours in her lungs.
She has been told she is unwell, dad David says. ‘‘She has been asking why the doctors are so nervous when they talk about her lumps. She understands when people get sick they can die,’’ he said. ‘‘She is afraid, you can see it in her.’’
Until the diagnoses, Gaffney, his wife, Saoirse and 10-month-old Benjamin were living a normal life in Wellington. They now face months away from home as Saoirse has numerous rounds of chemotherapy in Christchurch.
‘‘It is a massive shock, it is your biggest fear,’’ Gaffney said. ‘‘It is just a normal day and then, in a split second, it changes . . . You think it could be a cyst or an appendix, but when you hear the big C-word, it is frightening.’’
Saoirse’s left kidney is inoperable, so cannot be saved. Her right kidney has smaller tumours growing on it, which treatment may shrink.
After each round of medication, her parents sit with her and ask her to dream up titles for herself. Somedays, she is queen of the fairies, other days she is just a princess.
Doctors have told her father it is likely the tumours have been there since birth, slowly growing undetected for five years. It was a stomach ache that led to the discovery.
‘‘It is day by day. Every child and every cancer is different,’’ Gaffney said.