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Video / Maori TV / NZHerald
An investigation is under way after a concerned mum and top doctor claims her sick 16-year-old son was left alone on the side of the road unconscious in the sweltering heat at the Soundsplash music festival.
The Auckland mum, who wishes to remain anonymous, is demanding organisers reevaluate how they look after their young attendees after she found her son on the “verge of a serious medical event”.
She is calling for a better “duty of care” and for adults in charge to consult with parents of minors who are in distress after claiming she was not able to speak to an adult while her son lay unconscious.
Soundsplash organisers are now reviewing every security, safety and medical interaction with the boy to work out what happened, with a report to be sent to his mother when it is completed.
The mum says she was on the way to pick up her son in Raglan when she received a panicked call from his girlfriend.
“[She said] that my son was lying in their tent after complaining he felt very hot and that he was now twitching and shaking and not responsive,” she said.
She continued to receive frantic calls from her son’s girlfriend. The teen girl was “extremely upset” she said, and she urged her to find an adult to help.
When she arrived at the festival, she found her son lying under a hedge near the campsite entrance.
He had “experienced muscle cramps and twitching as well as confusion than a brief loss of consciousness from a faint”.
“They told me the first aid staff had left the venue some 20 minutes ago, stating they had to leave without waiting for me to arrive and apart from staff cleaning up the venue, the place was deserted,” she said.
Summer crowds enjoying a previous Soundsplash music festival in Raglan.
“As a senior doctor with 25 years experience working in emergency medicine it is clear to me that my son was suffering from a heat-related illness that was bordering on becoming a serious medical event.”
Although she is grateful her son received basic first aid, she is upset her son was left under the hedge with no information about his condition.
“My son was then left with no adult supervision after a collapse in boiling hot conditions until I was able to get there,” she said.
“This was not a safe sensible thing to do.
“As a registered medical practitioner if I attend a medical emergency I have to ensure that care is properly handed over to an appropriate person and I would not have left two teenagers to fend for themselves in these circumstances.”
A spokesperson for the festival said an investigation into the incident is under way.
“The investigation covers all recorded security, safety and medical interactions with the subject over the course of the festival and the parent of the person in question will also be furnished with a report outlining the team’s findings,” the spokesperson said.
