North Shore Hospital. Photo: rafaelbenari/123RF
Te Whatu Ora has apologised to a North Shore woman after she fractured both her legs while under hospital care.
Her daughter, Kotie Matson, claims the incident was not only completely avoidable but also says what she deems is a lack of remorse and communication following the fall, has left her family further disappointed.
Aletta Langeveldt, 71, went to North Shore Hospital with pneumonia but left with two fractured legs after she fell while walking with a physio in her hospital room on 25 August.
Langeveldt had been given morphine one hour before the fall, and she told the physio as a result of this she was drowsy and didn't want to walk.
Despite this, the physio tried to get Langeveldt to walk, Matson said.
Matson said there was even signage on her bed advising that two people must be present to help with walking and a frame must be used.
"Instead, she was told to hold onto the windowsill.
"The moment her legs gave in, she said [she] could hear the cracks, her bones cracking."
As a result of the fall, Langeveldt fractured both her legs and had to undergo surgery for over six hours, Matson said.
In the immediate aftermath, no one contacted her family members or emergency contacts to let them know there had been an accident and she was injured.
Wondering why her mum was not replying to her texts, Matson called the hospital at around 8.30am the following day and discovered what happened.
"It's just unacceptable," Matson said.
Waitematā Te Whatu Ora chief medical officer Laura Chapman said they were determined to learn from the incident and make improvements to prevent it from happening again.
"We deeply regret that Aletta had a fall, resulting in fractures to both legs, whilst in our care.
"We have been in touch with Aletta's family and we appreciate that these injuries have had a profound impact on them all."
Chapman admitted the family should have been contacted earlier after the fall.
"It is clear that we could have done better at communicating earlier with Aletta's family about the fact she had experienced a fall and about her injuries once they were confirmed by X-ray results.
"We are sorry for these shortcomings and have apologised directly to Aletta's family."
Chapman said there is a strong focus on fall prevention, and events like this are rare and fully investigated when they happen.
"There has been an initial clinical review into the circumstances of Aletta's fall and whether changes could be made to reduce the risk of a similar future event.
"A key finding was that the potential for Aletta to have a fall was underestimated as a previous fall was not taken fully into consideration.
"We are sorry the level of risk relating to falls was not revised as it should have been."
Matson said she was unhappy that Te Whatu Ora did not recognise that her mother felt pushed into walking against her will that day.
"Mum said to her, I already had my morphine an hour ago, but [the physio] nagged and nagged.
"She was very, very sick," Matson said.
Langeveldt still cannot walk by herself and has a framing with pins around her leg.
"She still sometimes has a bit of post-traumatic stress from the whole thing."
Te Whatu Ora did not answer questions about whether the employee was a student physio, whether they were permitted to be alone with a patient who struggled with weight bearing/balance, and if further training has been offered to the staff member.
"There's no empathy. I just want them to be accountable," Matson said.
*This story was first published by the NZ Herald.