Parents of dead girl accuse hospital of discrimination

Cassandra Teece died within an hour of Nelson Hospital staff telling her parents that she would be fine.

Her parents told Nelson Coroner's Court on Monday that their concerns leading up to their 8-year-old daughter's death in October 2003 were largely ignored by health professionals who they accused of discriminating against their daughter because she had disabilities.

"We were fobbed and fobbed and fobbed and that's why we're here," her father, Murray, said at the inquest, the Nelson Mail reported yesterday. "We were told clearly, 'She's fine.' We were told, 'She's in the best care.' We thought she was in the best care."

Nelson coroner Ian Smith found that Cassandra died of multiple organ failure due to a pseudomonas aeruginosa infection on October 2, 2003, two days after elective hip surgery at Nelson Hospital.

She was admitted to intensive care at 5.45pm on October 2 and died about half an hour later.

Mr Smith is yet to release a full written decision but yesterday did credit Nelson Hospital for the way it dealt with issues arising from Cassandra's death.

Cassandra suffered from several medical problems, including skeletal deformities, developmental problems and a seizure disorder.

At the inquest, Cassandra's mother, Pauline, raised concerns about being told by medical staff that her daughter was going to be fine before she died, and questioned why tests on her daughter's "dark red urine" were not carried out to pick up the infection.

"I'm really concerned she's been discriminated against because of her disability," Mrs Teece said.

But Nelson Marlborough District Health Board chief medical adviser Andre Nel said there had not been any discrimination against Cassandra.

Dr Nel said testing Cassandra's urine would not necessarily have showed that she had an extremely rare pseudomonas infection.

"One does not expect this infection. That was why it was not thought of."

Following Cassandra's death the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board identified areas in the hospital's processes and communications that could be improved, including pre-anaesthetic treatment, shared management of complex cases and issues with nursing professional standards.

An independent expert who reviewed the case, Christchurch orthopaedic surgeon Paul Armour, said Cassandra's death highlighted a number of issues but he believed the health board could not have done anything more for her within its existing framework.

"I think that Mr and Mrs Teece are correct in their assertion that their daughter was not diagnosed correctly, but I do not believe either that the public can expect the medical profession to be correct 100 per cent of the time," Mr Armour said. "In my opinion this child received excellent care."

- NZPA