Woman dies after surgery delayed
The family of a young woman who died days after urgent surgery had been postponed wants an explanation from the local health board.
Wairoa woman Arohaina ‘‘Aroz’’ Gilbert died after being rushed to Wairoa Hospital by ambulance on the morning of May 14, five days after she was supposed to have undergone urgent thyroid surgery.
Gilbert had been a fit and healthy 25-year-old who had spent the past three years working on fishing boats.
She became unwell early this year. Initially she was diagnosed by a GP as having an ear infection, but after a nurse noticed her neck was swollen she was diagnosed with goiter, or swollen thyroid glands, which was making breathing difficult for her.
Speaking in their Wairoa home this week, Arohaina’s family, who did not wish to be named, said her doctor became increasingly concerned about her condition and last month told her she needed urgent surgery. It was booked at Hawke’s Bay Hospital for May 9.
‘‘We knew it had to be serious to have surgery booked so soon. She knew that too,’’ her brother said.
About a week before the surgery was to take place she was told it was postponed until May 17.
‘‘She had been really looking forward to getting the surgery done, so she was pretty upset about that.
‘‘The illness was making it really difficult for her to breathe and she hardly slept,’’ he said.
On Friday, May 11, Gilbert went for a check-up. She wasn’t well, and her autopsy would later confirm she had a chest infection aggravating the swelling on her neck which ultimately blocked her airway and caused her death. But that was not picked up that Friday, the brother said.
She died three days later. Her funeral was on May 18, the day after her rescheduled surgery was to have taken place.
Last week the family received a letter from the DHB’s service director Claire Caddie, who said the board was ‘‘very sorry for any distress that this tragic event has caused you’’, and that a review was under way.
Gilbert’s brother has told the DHB he wants to meet them in person and wants an explanation as to why his sister’s surgery had been postponed and how the seriousness of her illness had been missed.
‘‘She had never needed the health system. This was the only time she needed it and they didn’t help her. ‘‘It failed her,’’ he said.
‘‘It was a waste of life that had so much to give ... They can do their reviews but we think we’re owed an explanation now,’’ he said.
Gilbert was had four siblings and was the only girl in the family. Her father said she had a lot to live for. ‘‘She and a friend were planning to go to Europe later this year. She just wanted to fix her health up first.’’