I think MacDoctor may be able to comment a little more, but North Shore Hospital is now being trailed in the media without the right of reply.
Doctors are quite limited in what they can say publically. They have a duty to keep the confidences of their patients, including beyond death. Families do not have that limitation.
The coroner is investigating the death of Brendon Parrish, who had surgery to remove his ruptured appendix at the hospital in Takapuna last month.
The Coroner is required by law to investigate all sudden and unexpected deaths, all deaths following surgery, and all deaths of people under the mental health act. Mr Parrish had just had surgery. His death must be reported to the coroner. There must be an inquiry.
The Parrish family are considering laying a complaint against North Shore Hospital for what grieving brother Darryl Parrish yesterday described as “slack” and “shoddy” care.
The Parrish family have that right. One has to sympathize with their distress and grief. I think all families in these circumstances would consider laying a compliant. I don’t know if they have done so.
“It was supposed to be a simple, straightforward appendix surgery. He had a ruptured appendix. It’s not something you expect to lose a loved one over,” said Mr Parrish, 36.
He questioned whether his brother was monitored properly after surgery and whether his life could have been saved.
The sad truth is that fit people die following simple, uncomplicated appendectomies. This was not uncomplicated, it was a ruptured appendix. These have a higher mortality rate. I’m sure that the local audit committee will also be looking at this.
He said Brendon had been a non-smoker who had a healthy lifestyle and had worked as a technician.
“We don’t know if anyone is to blame for Brendon’s death, but the matter needs to be thoroughly investigated, especially with all the horror stories coming out of North Shore Hospital,” Mr Parrish sai
via ‘Shoddy’ hospital accused over death – National – NZ Herald News.
He was probably septic. He was under severe metabolic distress We don’t have any information from the autopsy. We do not know what happened.
This is a very sad story, But this is an event that does and will happen even in the best run hospitals. Our sympathy to the family, and negative points (again) for the NZ Herald. They have again encouraged a climate of fear: where doctors will make decisions to avoid having their life raked over in the press.
Thanks for the link, Chris
The media just love bad news stories about hospitals, doctors and nurses. It is practically impossible to reply via the media without breaking patient privacy and the issues involved are invariably complex, making them very hard to compress into 10 second sound bites and one sentence quotes. Besides, the media are not terribly interested in what really happened, only in the sensational value and in their current hobby horse – which happens to be North Shore. I doubt very much that North Shore’s statistics are any worse than any other hospital, but that won’t stop the story of the “shoddy” hospital.
Fit, young people still die in hospital. This is a sad truth that is not likely to change. I feel desperately sorry for the Parrishes, but their complaint will do little to fix any of the real issues. It will just lead to a blame-fest in which some junior doctor or nurse will be hung out to dry. Such is the reality of our current blame obsessed culture.
Agree… and they spin the standard approach to all this into some form of conspiracy.