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Hospital fails woman with hernia
Last updated 15:19 20/05/2013

Staff at Tauranga Hospital missed a diagnosis of hernia and bowel obstruction in a 78-year-old woman for three days, the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) said.

The woman was referred to the hospital by her GP who queried the presence of a hernia, and after the patient went into hypoxic cardiac arrest, an operation confirmed a diagnosis of incarcerated femoral hernia.

She died from severe hypoxic brain injury suffered during her cardiac arrest.

The consultant and the registrar who examined the woman, and the Bay of Plenty District Health Board, all breached Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights, the commissioner said.

The woman was referred to the hospital on a Thursday in mid-2010 with vomiting and dehydration, an irregular pulse, and a groin lump, said the HDC report released today.

She was reviewed by a junior medical registrar and a consultant, provisionally diagnosed with an abdominal malignancy, and a treatment plan was initiated.

The registrar did not mention the possibility of a hernia and the consultant did not read the referral. No differential diagnosis was documented, HDC said.

The day after the patient was admitted, the consultant was rostered in another town, so the woman was reviewed by the registrar alone.

He spoke with the woman's GP, who again queried a diagnosis of hernia and expressed concern that the cause of the vomiting had not been found. The registrar did not inform the consultant of the GP's concerns.

Over the weekend the woman had no medical review for 27 hours, and her condition deteriorated. After a rapid deterioration in clinical signs on the Saturday evening, she vomited, aspirated, and went into hypoxic cardiac arrest. She was resuscitated.

Health and Disability Commissioner Anthony Hill found the consultant breached the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights because the consultant did not take reasonable steps to ensure he was adequately informed about the woman's history, and failed to consider a hernia as a differential diagnosis.

The registrar breached the code because he failed to gather the necessary information and adequately inform the consultant, did not seek assistance when the woman's condition did not improve, and his documentation did not meet professional standards.

The Bay of Plenty District Health Board breached the code because it failed in its duty to provide an appropriate standard of care to the woman, and because poor documentation and handover by staff resulted in a failure to ensure the woman received quality and continuity of services.

- © Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co....man-with-hernia

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WINZ: privacy breach 'major stuff up'
By Michael Morrah

http://www.3news.co....71/Default.aspx


So how did this mistake happen? A Ministry of Social Development employee added the Gmail address of a client to a private group email intended for his colleagues. The document, then forwarded to 3 News, detailed the names, phone numbers and nationalities of 34 beneficiaries who were about to be kicked off the benefit.

The reasons for having payments suspended include clients earning too much, leaving the country, getting a job and, in one case, a claimant ended up in prison.

"Last year the Privacy Commissioner called it 'the year of the data breach'," says privacy lawyer Kathryn Dalziel. "We are seeing this year to be no exception. All government agencies and private sector agencies need to start taking privacy and data protection seriously."


Ms Dalzeil says the Government should look closely at last year's ACC privacy debacle.

"Government departments need to develop their privacy culture," she says. "ACC had a big review where that was recommended. All government agencies should take that onboard."

This isn't the first security lapse for WINZ. Last year the agency's public computers were shut down after it was discovered clients' private information could be downloaded.

"As soon as we had the kiosk breach of last year, the minister should have done a full review of Work and Income's processes and practices," says Labour MSD spokesperson Jacinda Ardern. "She didn't do that and we're seeing mistakes as a consequence."

The Government says it is taking action. New email software will be installed next month.

"It would be on external emails," says Ms Bennett. "It's a software that they can put over it, which actually slows the process down. You have to click a button that you are sure you're sending it to the right place."

The man who sent 3 News the documents says he did so as he didn't want the issue to be swept under the carpet.

WINZ staff send around 50,000 emails every day, and the minister is calling this incident "human error". Opponents say when you're dealing with personal, private information, that's simply not good enough.

3 News

http://www.3news.co....71/Default.aspx

http://www.3news.co....56/Default.aspx

Heart surgery explores a new dimension


AMANDA VOISARD/Washington Post
COUNTING THE BEAT: Laura Olivieri, a paediatric cardiologist, displays a heart model created by a 3D printer.

http://www.stuff.co....a-new-dimension