Stroke victim loses fight to be placed in partner's care

John Pinder's partner Jufan Zhang says she is hopeful she can bring him home 'before he dies'. Photo / Richard Robinson

An elderly stroke victim has lost his battle with Auckland City Hospital to let him go home, and has been transferred to Radius St Joans nursing home in Mt Wellington.

John Pinder, 82, is badly disabled by a stroke and wants to go home but the hospital had obtained a Family Court order to move him into private care.

Doctors did not think that his partner, 54-year-old Jufan Zhang, a permanent resident originally from China, was able to manage his needs.

Ms Zhang yesterday said she was planning to fight the court order and was hoping to bring him home "before he dies".

"John wants to go home and I want him home, does that not matter at all?" she said.

A senior social worker for the Auckland District Health Board had said in a court document that Mr Pinder had significant cognitive impairment, and lacked insight into his plight, which Ms Zhang disputes.

Mr Pinder has had chronic heart failure, high blood pressure, eye disorders, a recent hip fracture and has a pacemaker and some compression fractures, and is confined to a wheelchair.

Yesterday Mr Pinder told the Herald he was being well cared for at the nursing home, but still hoped to "go home soon". Nurse manager Jane Wager felt he was better off at Radius St Joans, where he was getting 24-hour nursing care.

"We are all focused on rehabilitation and getting John feeling better," Ms Wager said.

"We can't let him go home because of the court order, but there's always a chance of that happening in the near future."