3 year old died during ‘fumbling and panicked’ emergency response to asthma attack

The name of the girl, the doctor, staff and location of the incident were not released in the decision of the Health & Disability Commissioner released today.

The girl died at the rural medical centre in 2019 after she stopped breathing during an asthma attack. The HDC report described how she was not given oxygen due to an equipment fault and was adminstered six times the recommended dose of adrenalin during the frantic efforts to keep her alive. Attempts were made to revive her with CPR but did not prove successful.

The girl’s mother praised the efforts of staff who performed CPR, but said the ‘fumbling and panicked reaction and organisation of the start and sometimes during this procedure, was definitely not up to what I feel is of New Zealand hospital standard.’

Image credit: Luci

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