McInroe, a former anaesthetic technician, was at her shop Everlasting and Co when she saw CPR being performed on a man nearby.
When she got to the scene, she was told an ambulance had been called and a young couple had been refused help from the medical centre metres away, McInroe said.
“A young woman said … [she’d] asked and they said, ‘No, it’s not our patient, we can’t help’.
“I know for a fact that one, they’re under oath, [and] two, if you know it’s a medical emergency – unless someone in that practice is … keeping someone alive in there – you just say ‘sorry, I just need a minute’.
“[But] nobody attended, not one person.”
The couple who found the man later told McInroe he initially had a faint pulse and unusual breathing.
She was also told the medical centre refused a request for a defibrillator but one was provided by Anytime Fitness gym, McInroe said.
“I knew that he was deceased when I arrived. There was no pulse. But obviously you continue until someone appropriate calls that.”
As she and another bystander performed CPR, McInroe asked someone to get a pillow from the medical centre, as the man’s head was “bashing on the concrete”, but the person told her the medical centre had said no.
The person took one anyway, McInroe said.
A request for a blanket was also refused by the medical centre, she said.
“It felt like 15 to 20 minutes I was there before the paramedics arrived, it could’ve been slightly less … and I was just concerned about his dignity. His chest was exposed, it was cold … he deserved a blanket.”
Just before emergency services arrived, a woman describing herself as a doctor took over CPR. McInroe later confronted the woman to ask why she hadn’t come out of the medical centre earlier.
“She said, ‘What are you talking about? I haven’t come from that practice, I was driving by’.”
Mt Albert Medical Centre on New North Rd, Auckland, near where a man died after collapsing on the footpath yesterday. Photo / Google Street View
Later, as McInroe was leaving, she spotted police in a nearby carpark.
“I want to make a complaint about that medical centre for not assisting in any way at all … they took a statement and they said the coroner will need this.”
Yesterday’s alleged incident has sparked condemnation on social media.
More than 80 comments have been made on a post to the Mt Albert Community Facebook page.
“The fact a doctor didn’t check on the man in need of medical help is unbelievable (or did they?),” wrote one.
“Shame on the staff at that practice… so disgraceful if that’s the case.”
Doctors have an “ethical obligation … to respond promptly” if needed for a medical emergency, according to the Medical Council of New Zealand.
“If you choose not to attend a medical emergency, you must be able to justify your decision.”
It couldn’t comment on whether any notifications or complaints had been received about an individual doctor, or on individual cases, because of privacy, the medical council’s chairman Dr Ken Clark said.
“Anyone who has concerns about a doctor can make a notification to council using the online form on our website.”
A Health & Disability Commissioner spokesperson said it couldn’t comment on individual complaints without a privacy waiver from all involved.
“However, a brief search of our database couldn’t find a complaint that matched that description.”
Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.