{"id":220378,"date":"2026-01-06T22:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/220378\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T22:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:53:09","slug":"tonsil-surgery-death-health-nz-completes-review-into-care-faults-support-to-boys-grieving-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/220378\/","title":{"rendered":"Tonsil surgery death: Health NZ completes review into care, faults support to boy\u2019s grieving family"},"content":{"rendered":"

The boy collapsed and began vomiting blood at his West Auckland home on April 3 before he was rushed back to hospital in critical condition, where he later died<\/a>, sparking a joint review.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Health NZ and Southern Cross Healthcare said the review was completed late last year. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe can confirm the review found appropriate surgical care and management of the initial event, the deterioration at home and second admission to Starship children\u2019s hospital.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, it found Health New Zealand \u201ccould and should do more to support families with a bereavement\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe acknowledge this and are making improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Health NZ and Southern Cross Healthcare are refusing to release the review to the Herald, saying the grieving family had asked for the findings to remain confidential. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to respect their wishes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Herald argued there was clear public interest in the review being released for the sake of transparency and to help understand the circumstances surrounding the tragic death. <\/p>\n

The Herald has also requested details of what shortcomings were identified in supporting the family and what changes have been introduced following the incident. <\/p>\n

Health NZ refused to answer further questions, but said, \u201cWe have extended our deepest condolences to the family over their loss\u201d.<\/p>\n

Desperate bid to save dying child<\/p>\n

Paramedics and emergency workers made a desperate bid to rush the stricken boy to hospital after he collapsed at home. <\/p>\n

The Herald has confirmed an ambulance en route to hospital with the critically injured child pulled over near a field where it was met by the Auckland Rescue Helicopter. <\/p>\n

A Hato Hato St John spokesperson said staff were notified of a medical event at a Massey address at 8.13am on April 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo ambulances, one rapid response unit, one operations manager, and one helicopter responded. One patient, in a critical condition, was transported to Auckland City Hospital by ambulance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe helicopter was dispatched to deliver blood products and an emergency doctor to assist our response while en route to Auckland City Hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Auckland Rescue Helicopter spokesperson said the chopper was dispatched at 8.34am to assist a boy suffering a medical complaint. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood a pre-hospital emergency doctor landed in a field near the ambulance and helped treat the boy as he was rushed to Starship by road. <\/p>\n

St John would not comment further now the incident was under investigation by the coroner. <\/p>\n

\u2018It just doesn\u2019t make any sense\u2019<\/p>\n

The little boy died with his parents by his side.<\/p>\n

A source earlier told the Herald the operation was supposed to have been a routine day procedure, but the boy had been kept in hospital for a couple of days due to \u201ccomplications\u201d before being discharged home.<\/p>\n

After returning home, \u201che started saying he had some pain in his throat but then suddenly he started throwing up blood, collapsed and went unconscious\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood that the boy stopped breathing.<\/p>\n

The source said there were many unanswered questions about the boy\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very standard operation. It just doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several high-level investigations were launched following the incident. Police visited the hospital after the boy died. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe boy was rushed to Starship children’s hospital by ambulance after collapsing at his West Auckland home. Photo \/ Natalie Slade<\/p>\n

In a statement on Tuesday, police said they had now completed investigations and sent the matter to the Coroner\u2019s office. <\/p>\n

Southern Cross Healthcare chief medical officer Dr Erica Whineray Kelly said last year safety was its highest priority. The organisation was \u201cdevastated\u201d a patient had died following surgery at one of its hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts are with the child\u2019s family and wh\u0101nau during this incredibly sad and difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lane Nichols is Deputy Head of News and a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years\u2019 experience in the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The boy collapsed and began vomiting blood at his West Auckland home on April 3 before he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74,1848,14441,536,2511,25598,42503,111654,11687,634,2109,132620,62821,42,134,100809,1345,296,3523,43,69,28243,10711,91131,762,2838,1177,14649,1886,6290,61,132619,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-220378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-after","tag-boys","tag-breathing","tag-care","tag-child","tag-cleared","tag-collapsed","tag-completes","tag-criticised","tag-death","tag-family","tag-faults","tag-grieving","tag-headlines","tag-health","tag-highlevel","tag-home","tag-into","tag-medical","tag-news","tag-nz","tag-offered","tag-officials","tag-provided","tag-review","tag-routine","tag-standard","tag-stopped","tag-support","tag-surgery","tag-to","tag-tonsil","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}