The son of an elderly woman who died shortly after contracting campylobactor during the Havelock North gastro crisis says she had a "good innings" despite her death.
Jean Sparksman, 89, was one of three elderly people whose deaths were linked to the outbreak and had been living in the Mary Doyle retirement village at the time of the crisis.
Speaking from the Whangaparaoa Peninsula in Auckland yesterday, Ms Sparksman's son, Keith, said her death shouldn't have happened the way it did.
"She contracted this bug but there were no steps taken to help. That's probably why she died in the first place."
Ms Sparksman had only recently sold her home in Hastings and moved to the retirement village when the gastro crisis struck.