KEY POINTS:
An Auckland family's nine-year legal battle in Holland over the death of their loved one after a tooth extraction has ended with some success.
Bonnie Salkeld, of Albany, said five Appeal Court judges in the Netherlands had stated that if her son John had been treated properly, he
would have survived.
Mrs Salkeld and John's brother Alan lodged complaints against two dentists of failing to provide proper care, causing death.
Cornelius Pieter van Steenis was found guilty and given a formal warning. The verdict will be published in medical, dental, legal and Government publications. The other dentist was found not guilty.
John Salkeld was working and playing rugby in the Netherlands. He died aged 30 in 1999, 16 days after a lower molar was removed because of an abscess.
"Stormy", as he was known to his rugby mates, went to St Clara Hospital in Rotterdam three days after the extraction as he was still in pain. The abscess was drained and he was given antibiotics, but the infection spread to his chest and organs.
He was seen by nurses and dentists but not a doctor, until his mother arrived and demanded a medical assessment on the fourth day of his stay. He was immediately shifted to another hospital - there was no space at St Clara's intensive care unit - and had several operations.
But the infection had overwhelmed his major organs and he died on December 18.
The case dragged slowly through the public prosecution system and was eventually ruled out of time because five years had passed, despite a ruling there was a case to answer.
Bonnie and Alan Salkeld took the case to the Dutch medical disciplinary court which, in 2006, mildly criticised a nurse but did not fault the two dentists.
Mrs Salkeld said yesterday that the appeal judges had "seen common sense at last. They decided that everything we said in the last nine years was correct. John's temperature was not checked...the antibiotic wasn't the right one, they didn't pay enough attention to any of the symptoms.
"It doesn't bring John back, but the verdict now acknowledges that justice is at last being done. It means we can remember him without worrying about the legal stuff. I still can't understand how it happened."
Mrs Salkeld travelled to the Netherlands six times for the case - including the first trip to John in hospital - and Alan five times.
Mrs Salkeld said it was yet to be decided if they would get any compensation, but if they were, it would be limited to a percentage of funeral costs.
