Two coroner's inquests were held into the death of Zachary Gravatt, who died from meningococcal disease in 2009. Video / Jason Oxenham
A doctor's name will be kept secret after concerns were raised about the care given to a young medical student dying of meningococcal disease.
Zachary Gravatt died on July 8, 2009, hours after heading to his GP with fevers, rigours, headaches and groin pain.
The 22-year-old was admitted to Auckland City Hospital at 1.43pm, and despite quickly deteriorating over the afternoon he was not transferred to the Department of Critical Care Medicine until 6.40pm.
The second inquest, held in October 2018, was ordered by Deputy Solicitor-General Virginia Hardy after an anonymous letter which claimed to be from an Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) staffer alleged a "cover-up".
Zachary Gravatt died on July 8, 2009. Photo / Supplied
In June, the High Court heard a judicial review and the applications of two doctors associated with Gravatt's care who wished to have their identities permanently suppressed.
One of the doctors involved had their name suppressed by High Court Judge Paul Davison.
The other doctor's submission for name suppression was not accepted because they provided appropriate care to Gravatt.
"The fact that [he] was involved in providing appropriate and competent care and treatment of Zachary in July 2009, could not be damaging to his reputation," Davison said.
And, in the judge's view, the passage of time since then would not render any contemporary media reporting of Gravatt's death as unfair or harmful to his reputation.
The entire contents of the anonymous letter which blew the whistle on the "cover-up" has also been suppressed.
During the second inquest, the on-call doctor's evidence was that he was stuck in traffic when attempting to return from a Ponsonby restaurant to hospital to treat Gravatt.
It was a claim a Coroner later said had "no support for the proposition".
When Coroner Morag McDowell released her findings last April, she said the doctor's evidence about being "dead stopped" in traffic was unfounded.
The on-call doctor and a colleague from the hospital were at a Japanese restaurant in Ponsonby when he received the first call about Gravatt's worsening condition.
The inquest heard the call ended at 6.14pm, 61 minutes before Gravatt died.
The Coroner also noted that a nurse had made a flippant comment about the doctor needing to finish dessert, however, "there is no evidence that this was the actual reason for any delay in his return to the hospital".
