{"id":364459,"date":"2026-04-05T05:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/364459\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T05:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:27:09","slug":"northland-widower-calls-for-mental-health-checks-in-hospital-after-wifes-starvation-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/364459\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland widower calls for mental health checks in hospital after wife\u2019s starvation death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Health NZ Te Whatu Ora said she had received satisfactory care but encouraged Lagerstedt to get in touch with any questions he may have.<\/p>\n

Lagerstedt said he was awaiting a response to questions he sent on March 11.<\/p>\n

He was most concerned his wife was not asked about any mental health issues and that her hyper-anxiety from wartime experiences as a child was not recognised.<\/p>\n

Born in 1939 in what at the time was K\u00f6nigsberg, Germany \u2013 now Kaliningrad in Russia \u2013 Langwald and her family fled the Red Army when she was 5 in a \u201chorrific, horrific experience\u201d<\/a>, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor people like Reinhild, you had the trauma so young<\/a> that you have no experience of life before the trauma … You\u2019ve never, ever felt not anxious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Langwald worked as a teacher and lecturer, travelling extensively and researching countries before visiting them.<\/p>\n

She had no children and did not marry until later in life, moving to New Zealand in 2006.<\/p>\n

To help manage her anxiety, the couple\u2019s time together involved routine and meditation, with Langwald\u2019s love for adventure nourished with cruises and well-researched travel.<\/p>\n

Alternative medicines should be considered<\/p>\n

As Langwald declined in hospital, Lagerstedt wanted to try traditional Chinese or other complementary medicines to calm her<\/a>, but this was not allowed.<\/p>\n

\"ReinhildReinhild Langwald (left) and Mark Lagerstedt married in Kerikeri in 2014.<\/p>\n

Clinicians said she was suffering from dementia, but he did not believe this because of the way she kept referring to her childhood<\/a> wartime incidents.<\/p>\n

Lagerstedt would like to see alternative medicines as an option, if not in mainstream hospitals, then in \u201ccharter hospitals\u201d, which could run the same way charter schools do<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they could do that: one, recognise mental health issues; two, have complementary medicine<\/a>, that would save billions on the health budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

He believed the hospitals contributed to Langwald\u2019s anxiety<\/a> by changing plans, giving the example of her transfer from Auckland City Hospital to Whang\u0101rei Hospital on January 27.<\/p>\n

He was told he could ride with Langwald in the ambulance, helping ease her anxiety, but this was changed at the last minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cReinhild didn\u2019t know what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

It led Lagerstedt to feel as if they had pulled the rug from under his feet.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Lagerstedt says his wife, Reinhild Langwald, had a love of bright colours and adventure.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople with that sort of mental health issue like to be with their wh\u0101nau. They don\u2019t like to be on their own. They\u2019re scared, terrified on their own,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI accept that we all have to die, but I didn\u2019t think it should be such a traumatic death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands of Kiwis suffer childhood trauma, but the effects are not recognised or treated here, with the condition not even named, he said.<\/p>\n

Health NZ satisfied with care<\/p>\n

Andrew Brant, Health NZ\u2019s executive regional director for the northern area, said staff acknowledged Langwald\u2019s death. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts are with her husband, family and friends who lost a loved one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Health NZ reviewed the care provided to Langwald during her stays at Auckland City and Whang\u0101rei Hospitals, and was satisfied she received \u201can appropriate standard of care throughout her admissions\u201d, Brant said.<\/p>\n

Consultation with her family was comprehensive, he said.<\/p>\n

Brant extended support to Lagerstedt and encouraged him to get in touch or to contact the Health and Disability Commissioner for an independent review.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health NZ Te Whatu Ora said she had received satisfactory care but encouraged Lagerstedt to get in touch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74,29385,115,536,9349,45034,634,6179,2082,71,42,134,2241,78,16571,1885,43,1067,113017,3405,182423,40,38,41,39,17454,191623,1842,143302],"class_list":{"0":"post-364459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-believes","10":"tag-calls","11":"tag-care","12":"tag-checks","13":"tag-contributed","14":"tag-death","15":"tag-died","16":"tag-for","17":"tag-from","18":"tag-headlines","19":"tag-health","20":"tag-hospital","21":"tag-in","22":"tag-kerikeri","23":"tag-mental","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-northland","26":"tag-starvation","27":"tag-stress","28":"tag-strokes","29":"tag-top-news","30":"tag-top-stories","31":"tag-topnews","32":"tag-topstories","33":"tag-whose","34":"tag-widower","35":"tag-wife","36":"tag-wifes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364459","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=364459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}