Inside a death at Middlemore Hospital's emergency department
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- Tony Knott died in a toilet at the hospital's emergency department waiting room after multiple delays to care.
Video | Cameron Pitney
Editor | Ben Dickens, Cameron Pitney
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I feel very sad for the gentleman & his family. I am a very fit 73, a retired nurse & in the past year have supported friends through serious illness in 2 Auckland hospitals. My brother & a best friend died, I believe now that if you’re perceived to be ‘old’ you are prioritised differently to the rest of the population. I would like to see an advocate for the elderly available in all major hospitals to monitor the diagnosis & care of elderly patients. Eg, elderly man taken by car or ambulance over a 5 month period resulting in hospital stays, various tests carried out each time. Last occasion again various tests & scans, told he had stage 4 cancer & died a week later. Not good enough. Ever heard the saying “Dead Doctors Don’t Lie”.
I absolutely agree as a retired nurse... I suspect his age was against him..... the elderly as I was taught have extensive medical issues as a group and so the elderly should have more of a professional eye on them immediately they arrive ..eg ..a set of recordings done at the very least and followed up as required.. his meds on daily and for what purpose easily found out on taking recordings.
There is no way that an emergency dept can know any real issues unseen in the elderly or older...BY just what they present with. A gash to a leg in the young is not the same.. it's more straight forward... no underlying heart circulation issues etc life threatening issues..
I agree there needs to be extra staff volunteers even observing and monitoring...just in the waiting areas...ESPECIALLY with babies the very young and elderly...
ITS NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BLAME HEAVY WORKLOADS .. REGULAR ONE TO ONE QUICK OBSERVATIONS WERE ONCE PRIMARY NURSING CARE FRONTLINE LIFESAVERS REPEATED AS A CRUCIAL NEVER EVER TO BE PUT OFF AS CONDITIONS CAN CHANGE IN A HEARTBEAT.
@@annegribben444
Ditto.
We need to spend a load more on our medical system.. not less
National says no. Landlords and Seymore's race-hating thing is too important. They need that money damnit, or they might not be able to play as much as they want!
I'm so sorry your family had to experience this. You are absolutely right that it used to be a safe place, but it is no longer. With overcrowding and the sole focus on pushing drugs, the system is broken and corrupt. It's sad but true.
Sad condolences..health system is buggered..over worked underpaid and no funding😢
Rung a ambo 1.30am still hadn't arrived 8am😢
Sorry for your loss, but totally agree, the whole system is broken,we went thru the same thing at middlemore hospital, and lost my son, I've looked and is using the natural plants etc,
So sorry for your loss. With the ambulance strikes and ridiculous wait times, something needs to be done asap. This is so not ok.
Triaging (gathering medical information, monitoring, determining their need) patients in emergency departments is supposed to be done as part of the patient registration process when they arrive. How rich of Middlemore Hospital to tell The Herald that it's standard practice to triage patients, rather than first come, first served, when no-one bothered to take his vitals _to_ triage. That was the problem: _he wasn't triaged._
'no one bothered to take his vitals' bit more complicated than that, you work in ED, the system is broken, blame govt, overworked staff, not enough nurses and doctors, hundreds of bleeding dying patients stop blaming healthworkers
So sorry for this family's loss. I hope their complaint will be heard by those who can make a difference. We are another family who has experienced the public health system as "collapsed" and we know others too.
Go right ahead and lay your complaint, your right in saying that that does helpful work, but as the system lies at moment,lack of nurses doctors and specialist staff, there's going to be more incidents like this happening, so I honestly think you need to take your case to the top, this can't happen in our hospitals, where we're all meant to feel safe and it's going to be alright, not a place you go to die because there's a lack of ambulances and hospital staff, this is ridiculous, sue the government...
There's little point in laying a complain to a government who throws it in the bin and just replies with the line "Well labour..."
This has been happening for at least forty decades...I know from personal experience with one of my family members. Nothing has changed, and probably won't change. Sad
Holy crap 400 years!? Things are worse than I thought.
Lots more ppl will die because of our broken health system, its not acceptable, we should have the right to sue these failing hospitals, the health and diability. Commision is so over whelmed it takes years to get anything done im over 1 yr waiting after my local hospital overdosed me on fentanyl twice
They already are dying. At least 3 that got news coverage alone this week. I've got an ex whose mum died from not getting oxygen a month or so ago. And a parent who walked out of chch central while having a heart attack because he had been there 8 hours and said "If I'm gonna die, I'll do it comfortable on my chair" about 4 months back. We only see the smallest percent of people really dying when their family gets the spot on the news.
So very sorry to hear of your loss. Thank you for sharing this story with us. My heart goes out to you all
This is wat happens when healthcares is under staffed with critical patients so sad n im very sorry for yr whanau 😢
This is what happens when we are left with the scraps
It’s gonna get worse because hospital staff are being made to be causal staff. My grandmother was made to wait in the ambulance for over two hours with a life threatening condition
So sad for this poor family. I used to work at Middlemore. Govt and Board need to be forced to have more ambulances and more staff.
My sister was sent home from Middlemore with a raging infection (she was vulnerable as she had a serious illness). My dad had surgery on his hand without adequate anesthesia and was too afraid to speak up.
1) Educate yourself about your patient rights at the health and disability commissioner website. INSIST ON YOUR RIGHTS in medical settings! 2) Don’t be afraid to be ASSERTIVE AND DEMANDING. The squeaky wheel really does get the grease. 3) Keep a list of medications and dosages, medical conditions and past hospital treatment or procedures to take with you if you ever need to go to hospital. 4) The elderly are especially at risk if euthanasia laws are expanded by the government. This family’s awful experience highlights how elderly people are already seen as less important. I’m very sorry that they had such a traumatic experience at the hands of the medical system. 😢 I hope the family has filed a complaint with the HDC.
It's nice to have those rights, but it doesn't matter when there's 4 nurses on for 50+ people and Shane Reti isn't allowing them to hire any more for National's landlord cuts
@@tanepukenga1421 there needs to be persistent, repeated protests over the lack of nursing staff. I was in ACH earlier this year and it was horrible! Nursing students often saved the day when I needed the toilet! It’s very serious as far as staffing and care goes.
They bypassed him cause he was 80+
no they bypassed him because he seemed like he wasnt dying just seriously hurt.
Im 25 and last time I went to the hospital, for being sprayed in the eyes with pesticide and blinded, I waited 4hrs with no water to rinse my eyes.
I told my manager (who was there because it was a work injury) to take me up to the desk and told them I was discharging myself to go stand under the shower at home to rinse my eyes.
Which were progressively burning more and more.
Only on threat of leaving without being seen did they bump me up the list.
Its not a age thing theyre just that overworked that you only get seen if you're DYING or in the process of becoming DISABLED.
I only got seen at all because my eyes were in the process of being burned with acid with NO RELIEF.
If Id been there with a leg injury I doubt Id have been seen at all.
Him even being seen to be judged to need transferral between hospitals is already a miracle under our current system.
Yes I agree. The elderly are treated dreadfully in New Zealand. I live in New Zealand and know exactly what it is like
We have experienced similar stressful waiting for medical attention at Hutt Hospital ED a couple of years ago when my wife was very ill and i took her there at night. She was eventually admitted after several hours and the following morning around 7 or 8 am she suffered a seizure with only me in the room with her. God knows what would have happened to her had i not been there. Consequently she was admitted to ICU where, as i understand it, she had two more seizures. We are older people, and this occurred in late 2021 after the Covid vaccinations. Currently, my wife has ongoing medical problems, she did not have before. The Health system in New Zealand is failing us, the people. I have no confidence in it. Veteran Soldier. 84yo.
CODE RED. DOORS SHOULD HAVE BEEN SHUT....He should have gone on to another hospital.
We have a complaint with the Health & Disability Commission that is now over 3 years old, with them doing NOTHING but provide updates saying they're looking for someone to look into our complaint.
HDC is not for the benefit of the patients, their purpose is to waste your time and energy in the hopes that you'll give up trying to complain about anything. I've been down that route multiple times, like when Middlemore kicked me out of the maternity ward for being male while allowing certain other males and any female at all to remain overnight to support their partner and child.
Literally nothing ever happened despite it being 9 years ago that I lodged a complaint, and despite trying multiple times over the years to find out the outcome.
Utterly disgusting treatment 4 1/2hrs third world treatment
Had a neighbour who was in pain ambulance requested at 9 pm Saturday
Sunday morning at approx 6 am the ambulance arrived
Sadly this person got to hospital waited 2 hrs before a doctor come to treat them
Turned out to be stage 4 cancer utterly disgusting
So sorry for the loss. Nz healthcare definitely need a change. So they says they will prioritize according to the clinical risk and acquity, not on the order of clinical presentation, how will they know the acuity, except for the chest pain,.some people are not good at explaining symptoms i think at least a set of vital signs need to be taken when the pt arrives and then they can be prioritized accordingly. Hope there would be a change in future.
A shocking testament to the free market policy that has driven the erosion of healthcare in NZ & the sad loss inflicted on this family who fell through the widening gap of inequality. Not a crack but a massive crevasse that is impossible to see, until it happens to you. Corporate welfare instead of social welfare, thanks to all politicians, past and present since the 1980s
Current government thinks that we just haven't neo-liberalled hard enough and that privatizing even more is the answer, it's just more Rogernomics and Ruthenasia all over again.
Things in New Zealand are never going to improve if we keep voting in National and Labour. They're like the man who only has a hammer, and sees every problem as a nail.
Very sad 😢
Nothing has changed. In fact, it's so much worse. 200 people in Middlemore emergency depth on Saturday.
Heartbreaking, 😢. Strength & love to Tony Knott's Family.
We heard an old neighbour calling for help when we went to his home he was flat on his face on floor walking stick nearby and said he'd fallen awhile ago and noone heard him until we went outside to get into car in our driveway we rang for ambulance as to turn him onto his back was a nono as he was hurting badly and being old himself as well as ourselves with no medical history except we knew don't move him the ambulance said half an hr or more to get to us we live in a town with a new ambulance station just been built we said he's been lying on his stomach face can't move in pain for over 1hr now as he told us about what time he'd fallen they came in about 5to 10 mins later and took over two men very efficient but I don't understand why time was an issue their e en when they came almost immediately after we had stated he was injured over 1hr ago ab anyone can say anything to get them there and it should be first in first served why would people need to lie exaggerate an incident to get immediate help and if Tony had been tendered too in same kind d of order maybe he would still be with his family alive and well instead of shoved down the list it's a broken system as lack of experience knowledge language barriers computer information and experience getting medical facts about patients condition in first place even contacting patients medical Dr as many now see locums once or twice or don't have a regular dr gp at all it's whoever is on duty when you have gp appointment and none unless you are financially well off and pay privately for same gp always you tend to fall through the cracks starting way back before you ever get to hospital and children always go first which is understandable but do elderly get a fair go or are they last on the list as TONY may have been AND acc get ops before others too 😮😢
What a wonderful family 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
He was loved
Shocking but true. Levi must Respond and take responsibility
2024 and the Health System is in even more of a crisis than it was back in 2021, and no sign of any improvement in the immediate future. Our Family GP system is so close to total collapse, which will impact the A & E even further
This is utterly heartbraking. The same problem seems to be worsening to the point where the lack of care is resulting in preventable deaths. I don't understand how cost cutting and hiring pauses prevent this problem. You cannot put a price on the health of our people. I hope the family receives the justice and peace they deserve and I extend my heartfelt condolences to them.
Thats so shocking, best wishes for the familys. You will see him again ! Not like in America you could of sued the hospital !
This is happening in Australia
I have seen and experienced the emergency department in Melbourne.
Its a war zone of not enough time ,space, staff,resources,
The staff are working under pressure consistently.
The infrastructure of Emergency Services needs more to ensure the growing community and migrant populations
Are accommodated without this chaotic mess 😳
🎉 yes time is precious 💖 💕
Why they chose to move him to the most understaffed underfunded hospital in Auckland is beyond me,my heartfelt sympathies to his family 😔
Similar here in the US. People are using the emergency department as their primary care. I broke my hip three years ago. I sat in the emergency room for hours as people with colds, Covid, and just general complaints were seen. Since I wasn’t bleeding out or writhing in pain, I was not seen for a long time. I arrived at the ER at 4:30 pm. It wasn’t until 02:30 that was I placed in a room to wait for surgery.
Unfortunately things are getting worser we are currently focusing on getting people back in the office. The big ques at ED, well......
So sorry for your loss. In any NZ hospital, big or small, ambulance patients should be high priority. Any patient who is medically complex/fragile should also be high priority. And any patient sent from another medical facility, including GP, with a referral for admission should bypass ED altogether, and be sent straight to the appropriate ward, for immediate admission.
Money needs to go to healthcare/hospitals not politicians pockets
Or their landlord mates, but lets not forget, it was idiotic kiwi's who voted this government in when they did this last time
So sad. The reality is. We have an aging population. A chronic health staffing shortage. Failing health infrastructure. Everyone fails in this scenario. Look after yourself and your loved ones as best you can. Your dignity gets left at the door when you enter our hospitals.
Extremely concerning. Health care should be a priority for all regardless of Age. Why would North Shore not treat the patient in the interim, take necessary bp, x-ray, ECG and forward notes to Middlemore. Seems like they dropped the ball.
So so sad at what happened to Tony all around.
Amo are not supported by the Government and that's a big letdown in its self.
Not enough has been done in this country to support all our med staff in all areas, both on arrival and during while in care within the words.
I can rember a time when I went to the Waikato just after duck, it was now pre dawn when I was looked at and I was taken by an Ambo that was not from our area that still had a problem as I'm no small chap and the elderly lone Tamaranui woman driver had a fit trying to half carry me onto and into that wagon to begin with.
Sadly, all our Govt agencies need a good shake up and something needs to be done the quicker the better, unfortunely it's in National ball court now, repairing the sh?? Labour and others left behind.
sad to hear our thoughts and prayers to family 🙏
More prof that the ambulance service can no longer be run as a charity. Just not enough money to do the job or pay the staff enough to stay on the job in NZ. Most go to Australia.
As for hospitals they have been underfunded for years. Running at full capacity before covid.
Since then just increasing demand and a rising lack of ability to meet the demand for a suitable level of care for most people. Just look at the number of people left overnight in hallways for lack of beds ???
All healthcare in NZ needs more funds due to the under funding of governments over the last few decades
Sry for ur lost 😢
They need to bring back the enrolled nurses to be used in the waiting rooms to monitor vital signs so they can easily identify patients that needs to seen straight away. Otherwise l just don’t see any end to this because hospitals in reality are understaffed and with government continuing to cut funds and offering voluntary redundancy to healthcare workers 💁🏾♀️this kind of cases will continue to be a thing in our hospitals.
NZ health system is big time broken.
May God help us, we not get sick
Why dosen't someone do something about it. Fight for your loved ones, speak up.
One nice old lady I knew was meant to have someone help her shower she never got any help fell over banged her head died they found her three hours later these people are sick at one point I caught a reporter outside the hospital he wasn't allowed in to see the disgusting conditions why wouldn't journalist allowed in buzzare stuff still had no response from any one
unfortunately the world population of humans have a use by date
Depop agenda 2050
😢
Our prime minister, what do we have a health system. 🌎🥝❤️
So sad. Time for a discussion on how many people lost their jobs in the Health sector because they didn't want the injections. How many people are suffering after receiving their injections? Huge increase in people showing up with chest paints at ERs.
Welcome to the broken system big show where the pharmaceutical companies and hosptals and doctors go bust
Our poor Ambo Services this is what happens bc they are Underfunded and Staffed💯
Middle more is the worst hospital there is👎🏼👎🏼there waiting times are really horrible😡😤
Sorry for your loss. I remember from 1990s that this useless hospital hasnt teally changed. Back than if it wasnt packed you still waited. 17 hour wait for my partner with a bone coming thru his nose. The jospital mever checked him but ran when i started screaming that blood was squirting grom his head. ED is not a safe place.
Classic Swiss cheese
Wellness and welfare of people isn't the goal of modern governments
They fund their personal agenda or favours for their corporate elites.
Otherwise we would see a lot more effort put into healthcare sector
He was gonna die soon anyways honestly so?
what do you expect if you provide a second race based health system funded from an already woefully underfunded health budget. They should have sent Tony down to the covid kaitiaki....at least he would have got a free kai parcel, supermarket voucher, meat pack, cuppa tea and something to eat.
Its not like there are many doctors and nurses already specialized into ER care being released for work at a monthly rate...worst more..
Are they even looking at doctors to structure th 'health system' there inclusive of funding rights..i mean, they wld know evrything about that hospital that wld need fixing how to fix it and whats the nack up plan..thats what wrong with this health system
.you got non-medical brains behind the medical systems. The doctors and nurses are being oppressed and forced to work th mill like slaves bc th guys at the top jst play doctors + nurses with their phones and tyes.
Bullshit
🤣truth hurts @@suzannebrown4753
@@suzannebrown4753 you wish
🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🙏💙
The public health system wasn't meant to be an alternative to primary health care,that is the problem.People aren't seeing their G.P for what ever reason.People are living unhealthy lifestyles and are unwilling to change.People are using the E.D in appropriately. People also are unwilling to part pay for the hospital visit.We remember the outroar against the Bolger government in its partial pay for care.
Some of the same people whom complain were to stingy to pay something like$50 per hospitalization to fund the system( especially you fellow middle to upper middle class pakeha).
Look at yourselves before blaming the system
How do you know middle class pakeha refused to pay you don't have access to that info stop making stupid racist judgement. Look in the mirror
@@kimkay2196 because of the response to the proposal back in about 1990 ish,that's why!!!!
So many dying there I was there and was mistreated the entire time I was in a wheelchair and was assaulted multiple times was given no food for a whole week I lost over half my bodyweight my whole system shut down I nearly died cc wouldn't eat for a month on a drip could even move never under any circumstances go to hospital in NZ your life is at risk the whole time I actually escaped in my wheelchair to try to not die but was taken back later as I couldn't eat throwing up constantly even water I'm lucky to be here still I now live in my car since being beaten and made permanent paralyzed
Whangarei Hospital is the WORST hospital in the country. Vicious nurse. Refusing to provide antibiotics for an 85 year old Maori woman with an active life saying that she had had a good life. Having to argue with this creature was horrendous and when you advocate for the patient YOU are threatened with security. She did not believe a word our taonga or we spoke to her. The staff in ED at Whangarei Hospital need to be held accountable for their disgraceful professional behaviour. This tragic outcome for a Middlemore patient is repeated daily for so many whanau. If you are over 60 in NZ, you are no longer a priority in the health system. I am a nurse.