Blenheim tetraplegic Brian Park, who this year made a heart-wrenching public plea to be allowed to die, has died peacefully at his home in Marlborough.
Mr Park, aged 32, died surrounded by family on Tuesday, six days after he went home from a healthcare facility in Blenheim without a ventilator.
Christchurch's Burwood Hospital spinal unit clinical director, Dr Richard Acland, confirmed Mr Park's very peaceful death after he slipped into a coma on Monday.
Dr Acland said Mr Park was discharged from Burwood Hospital three months ago and until last Wednesday was receiving treatment in Blenheim.
Mr Park had recently renewed his wish to die in spite of a change in his attitude and developing a more positive outlook.
"Brian still couldn't move his arms or legs, which for him was incompatible with life," Dr Acland said.
His improving health meant Mr Park was not totally reliant on a ventilator to keep him breathing and could manage for periods without the machine.
Dr Acland said he and the Burwood team who treated Mr Park for eight months agreed to review his situation after three months away from the hospital.
After recently consulting Mr Park, his family and close friends, it was decided to allow Mr Park to return home without the ventilator.
Dr Acland said Mr Park had a very precious time with his family for six days. Mr Park would not have been uncomfortable and would not have suffered in the final hours.
"It was a simple matter, really.
"At the end it was his request ... that he didn't want to have further treatment and so that was withdrawn," Dr Acland said.
While controversy followed Mr Park's televised public plea in June to be allowed to die, Dr Acland said it had been too early at that time to give him a full prognosis.
Mr Park became a tetraplegic after a truck crash in February that killed a child travelling with him in the cab.
Kara Sinead Ellis, aged 9, died at the crash scene after Mr Park's truck-and-trailer unit crashed over a bank just south of Seddon, 24km southeast of Blenheim, on its way to Christchurch.
He was flown to Wellington Hospital with serious injuries, including his neck being broken in two places, and transferred to Burwood three weeks later.
In a statement prepared by his lawyer in June, Mr Park urged Canterbury Health to terminate his ventilator treatment, saying he knew that would result in his death.
"It is my wish that this step be taken without delay," he said.
If legal action failed, Mr Park said that he would "find another way to do it myself."
- NZPA
Wish to die ends quietly for tetraplegic
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