Security guard Nigel McFall speaks out about the ordeal that’s stuck with him since 2013
The security guard who dumped a dying man at a bus stop says he believed it was the best way to get him more help.
Nigel McFall was working in security for Christchurch Public Hospital in 2013 when he was asked to remove an alcoholic from the hospital because a doctor believed he was "faking" symptoms.
A coroner's report released yesterday criticised the actions of the Canterbury District Health Board for discharging Neil David Jones from hospital despite concerns being raised by nurses and McFall about the state of his health.
McFall, who no longer works for the same security company, said it was obvious to him and his team that Jones was too sick to leave hospital but their protests fell on deaf ears and they were forced to remove the 47-year-old from hospital - despite the fact he had recently become homeless.
"The bus shelter for us was a way to get him out to the public," he told NZ Herald Focus.
"We were hoping the public pressure would have assisted him getting the help that he needed. We were hoping that public pressure coming in from the street or someone phoning the ambulance would have been the next step."
McFall said Jones was almost fluoro yellow, was muttering to himself and was unsteady on his feet when they had to remove him from the building.
Neil Jones died after he was kicked out of hospital. Photo / Supplied
Numerous members of the public voiced concern about leaving Jones lying beside the bus shelter but each was told he had been medically cleared and was fine, the coroner found.
Security staff relayed all the information they got to the nurses' station but "they just weren't interested in assisting this man", he said.
Hours later an orderly finally brought Jones back to the emergency department but staff still refused to reassess him.
Eventually the police were called to trespass him and take him to the Christchurch City Mission.
The Mission reluctantly took him in but soon after decided he needed to go back to hospital. They called the police to take him back but were forced to call an ambulance more than an hour later because he had started vomiting blood and police had not returned.
Two days later he was dead.
Canterbury District Health Board chief executive David Meates admitted the system failed Jones and said changes had been made to make sure it never happened again.
But McFall said he did not think it was the system that failed Jones.
"I think people failed him," he said.
He agreed with Jones' mother Joan Jones who said even dogs were treated better than her son was.
"This just replays in my head just about all the time. You do think about what you could've done better. I think we did more than anyone would have expected us to," he said of his security team who checked on Jones throughout the day. "I remember it like it was yesterday. It's not something you forget. For me, I'm wired to protect and when you do everything you can to get help for somebody you know is dying and nobody will do anything," he told Newstalk ZB.
