Doctors lose woman's heart

Whitney Robie

An investigation has begun into how Auckland doctors lost the heart of a 23-year-old American backpacker who died suddenly in Queenstown last month.

Whitney Robie died when she was watching television in Deco backpackers, Queenstown on May 15.

Ms Robie's travel companion, Andrea Hadfield, said her friend suddenly clutched her throat and was unable to be revived by a doctor shortly afterwards.

The cause of her death was undetermined by Invercargill pathologist Dr Ahmed Shogun, and her heart was couriered to Auckland pathology laboratory, LabPlus, for further tests, but then went missing.

The Auckland District Health Board has launched an investigation and said in a statement:

"A thorough and repeated search has been conducted which is now complete. Unfortunately we were unable to locate the specimen."

The health board said changes have been made to ensure the botch-up doesn't happen again.

Ms Robie's parents in the US are believed to be angry and disappointed with a lack of communication from the health board and LabPlus.

- NZPA