Distress - for a family who never got to say goodbye to a teen who died after complications from surgery in 2015
Distress - for a family who never got to say goodbye to a teen who died after complications from surgery in 2015
28 July 2025
Open Justice reports the whanau was asked if they wanted to donate the 19-year-old's organs - minutes after learning he was brain dead.
They were also soon told they had to organise transporting his body home.
He'd needed multiple hospitalisations and Health and Disability Commissioner Vanessa Caldwell attributed his poor outcome to a delay in air transfer.
Health NZ has apologised for the distress caused, and the air retrieval team has made changes.
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