Bob Edlin: A disheartening experience......

....dying man’s helpers found medical centre’s defibrillator is available only for its patients

PoO noted with interest a Newsroom article on Labour Party efforts to pick up the campaign pace as the election nears.

It was headed

Raw Politics: Labour grabs the defibrillator, Greens think outside the (red) square

Grabbing the defibrillator most certainly would be necessary in the Mt Albert electorate, if it was needed in an emergency to help someone outside the local medical centre.

That centre will make the life-saving equipment available only to help patients listed on its books.

A Stuff report at the weekend grimly said:

Medical centre refused to hand over defibrillator as man died outside, witnesses say

Summary

• A man died on a Mount Albert footpath on Thursday afternoon despite extended CPR efforts by passing members of the public.
• Good Samaritans say staff inside Mt Albert Medical repeatedly refused requests to provide a life-saving defibrillator and basic assistance as the man was dying.
• CPR was carried out for around 10 minutes before a nearby gym member ran over with Anytime Fitness’s defibrillator, which was applied twice without response.
• Police confirmed the sudden death is not suspicious and has been referred to the Coroner.

The report says:

Two women who performed chest compressions on a man outside an Auckland doctor’s surgery say staff refused access to a life-saving defibrillator as he died just metres away.

The incident took place on New North Rd in Mount Albert, directly outside Mt Albert Medical, after 4pm on Thursday.

One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was driving home from work just before 4.20pm when she saw a man and woman attempting to help an older man lying on the footpath directly outside doctor’s surgery.

She said the couple had placed the man in the recovery position but didn’t appear to know what to do, so she immediately began performing chest compressions.

The man was gasping when she started, she said, but he eventually went silent.

A man was on the phone to ambulance services, who complied with the instruction to go inside the medical centre for a defibrillator.

He returned to say they wouldn’t give it to them.

A male cyclist arrived shortly afterwards and tried to get the defibrillator but was also refused.

Leoni McInroe, a retired anaesthetic technician who has CPR training, came across from her shop to take over chest compressions while the first Good Samaritan went inside the medical centre herself to ask for the defibrillator.

She, too, was refused.

McInroe said she repeatedly sent the young couple back in to the doctor’s surgery to get something to put under the man’s head.

“His head was smashing on the concrete,” McInroe explained.

“She went back in and she asked for a pillow, she asked for something for under his head, and they refused… and she saw a pillow and she just took it.”

Eventually, someone arrived from the nearby Anytime Fitness with the gym’s defibrillator.

It was applied without success.

Hmm. What’s the medical centre side of this story?

When Stuff called Mt Albert Medical on Friday a staff member acknowledged she had been there during the incident and said the practice had been busy at the time but said she could not comment and referred our questions to the practice manager.

After repeated calls and emails, the practice manager told Stuff, “We are deeply saddened by this tragedy and are co-operating fully with authorities,” but directed questions to the practice’s management team.

The need to cooperate with authorities – it might be noted – is a consequence of a failure to cooperate with the people helping a man who had collapsed right outside.

The OneNews report quoted McInroe as saying:

“I asked if an ambulance was called and a lady told me yes, and I asked if anyone had been into the medical centre to ask for help and a young couple told me they had and the receptionist told them he wasn’t their patient so they couldn’t help.”

What?

Does this mean we must be careful to ensure we do any collapsing outside medical centres where we are listed as patients?

Wow. The next step will be a demand to see proof of a patient’s ability to pay, even in emergencies, which is the American way of providing medical care.

McInroe said:

“I didn’t fully understand the resistance that was coming from the medical centre because I kept saying, where are they? Why haven’t they come down?

“You’d expect better from a medical centre, wouldn’t you? Oh, it’s just mind-blowing.”

McInroe said she told police about the refusal from the medical centre who told her to lay a complaint with the Medical Council.

She said he had done this, but the Medical Council said it could not confirm this due to “privacy reasons”.

PoO consulted Google for advice on what to do if you need a defibrillator in a hurry in Mt Albert.

Google listed two public locations – the Mount Albert War Memorial Park / Recreation Centre and Mount Albert Methodist Church

A nearby defibrillator (Google said) is available at White Cross – St Lukes.

No appointment is necessary for urgent medical and accident services, allowing you to simply walk in for prompt assistance with minor injuries or sudden illnesses.

In an emergency, the absolute fastest way to find an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) anywhere in New Zealand is to call 111. The emergency operator has real-time access to the national database and can instantly direct you to the nearest active, accessible unit. [1]

For planning or non-emergency lookups, you can verify exact live locations using the AED Locations Website or by downloading the AED Locations App on Google Play / Apple App Store. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE.