{"id":523691,"date":"2026-07-13T11:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/523691\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T11:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:02:11","slug":"st-john-first-responder-stands-by-actions-during-pregnant-woman-maria-nehos-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/523691\/","title":{"rendered":"St John first responder stands by actions during pregnant woman Maria Neho\u2019s collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

The counsel assisting the coroner, Fenella Becroft, said that up until the birth, Neho\u2019s pregnancy<\/a> was \u201con the face of it, an unremarkable pregnancy\u201d, but a history of epilepsy had been noted.<\/p>\n

At 5.07am on the morning of her death, the midwife was called to Neho\u2019s home because labour had progressed and she did not feel able to travel to the birth centre.<\/p>\n

Labour continued and at 6.46am, the midwife deemed Neho fully dilated but with the baby\u2019s face presenting.<\/p>\n

An ambulance was immediately called.<\/p>\n

Becroft explained that soon afterwards, and as Neho was being prepared to move, she experienced what was thought to be a seizure.<\/p>\n

Over the next hour, attempts were made to stabilise Neho, before she was transferred to Waikato Hospital at 8.15am.<\/p>\n

There, Neho\u2019s baby was delivered by emergency caesarean but shortly afterwards, both mother and baby were declared dead.<\/p>\n

She was \u2018overwhelmed with pain\u2019<\/p>\n

Emma Pirecki had been working as an emergency medical technician for St John for four months at the time of Neho\u2019s death, before becoming a paramedic in November 2023. <\/p>\n

She was one of two St John staff who responded in the ambulance that morning. <\/p>\n

On arrival, she said she spoke with the lead midwife and explained what they could and couldn\u2019t provide, and asked her if they needed a critical care paramedic and she said, \u201cno\u201d. <\/p>\n

The midwife wanted them to get Neho out of the house and to hospital \u201cas soon as possible\u201d. <\/p>\n

Heading inside, Pirecki said the room Neho was in was \u201cvery small\u201d, with little room to move. <\/p>\n

Neho looked like she was in \u201c10 out of 10 pain\u201d. <\/p>\n

She initially responded to her questions verbally but was constantly moaning in pain, looked pale and was constantly holding her stomach. <\/p>\n

Neho was crying, not talking, and \u201coverwhelmed with pain\u201d. <\/p>\n

Asked by counsel, Tanzam Hossain, whether it looked like normal labour pain, Pirecki said, \u201cno\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re sort of seeing someone in excruciating pain. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was in constant pain on her side, on her back. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was abnormal. <\/p>\n

\u201cI knew immediately it wasn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n

They knew they had to get Neho out of the house as soon as possible. <\/p>\n

Her colleague went to turn the ambulance around and reversed it closer to the house, and brought back a stair chair to help move her. <\/p>\n

However, as Neho stood up, she collapsed.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe inquest is being held at the Hamilton District Court. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

At that stage, a critical care paramedic was called for, and Neho\u2019s partner came into the room, stating that she was having a seizure and had them previously.<\/p>\n

However, Pirecki didn\u2019t think Neho was having an epileptic seizure, but rather a \u201chypoxic seizure\u201d. <\/p>\n

That was because although she showed some signs of rigidity and slight shaking, she didn\u2019t have a pulse, and to her that meant it was more likely hypoxic, where the brain isn\u2019t getting enough oxygen.<\/p>\n

Pirecki said the seizure lasted about 30 seconds to a minute, and the midwife put her into the recovery position. <\/p>\n

Pirecki\u2019s focus was on maintaining Neho\u2019s airway, adjusting her head and ensuring there were no blockages in her throat, and checking her pulse. <\/p>\n

She said it took her, her colleague, the midwife and Neho\u2019s partner to lift her and put her in the chair and then wheel her outside, negotiating the tight hallway and corners to the nearest door. <\/p>\n

The priority was getting her outside to the ambulance where they could treat her appropriately, and that was a decision she still stood by. <\/p>\n

In an ideal situation, Pirecki said she would have an extra set of hands, no children around, a wider corridor and a bigger room to treat Neho in. <\/p>\n

However, she believed they got Neho outside to the ambulance swiftly enough. <\/p>\n

Becroft said the time from the call for back-up to the monitor being turned on in the ambulance was 16 minutes, and she put to her that perhaps she felt it went quicker than it did. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would be surprised if anyone else felt differently. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was quite a quick extraction,\u201d Pirecki said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Only a pulse on her neck\u2019<\/p>\n

Outside, about 7.15am, Neho went from the seat to the stretcher, and her vitals were assessed again. <\/p>\n

There, Neho had no wrist pulse, but Pirecki found one in her neck. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat means she has probably arrested,\u201d Pirecki said. <\/p>\n

Given there were family members in the vicinity, that wasn\u2019t something she would have said out loud but she would have \u201cdefinitely\u201d told her colleague. <\/p>\n

Pirecki confirmed that the midwife was in charge of the situation until they got Neho to the ambulance. <\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t think there was any confusion about that, and instead \u201cfelt there was quite a flow\u201d. <\/p>\n

In the ambulance, the focus became about performing compressions on Neho because she wasn\u2019t breathing. <\/p>\n

Asked if it mattered whether Neho\u2019s seizure was hypoxic or epileptic, Pirecki said it didn\u2019t because the priority was giving CPR. <\/p>\n

\u201cDid you have that feeling that the situation was too big for you?\u201d Becroft asked her. <\/p>\n

\u201cA cardiac arrest? No,\u201d she replied. <\/p>\n

Asked if she knew at that stage that Neho had suffered a ruptured uterus, Pirecki said she didn\u2019t as there was no external bleeding. <\/p>\n

Becroft asked her if there was anything that she would change or do differently, Pirecki said \u201cno\u201d, short of having a bigger room and being able to treat Neho inside. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou were dealing with the realities of the situation?\u201d Becroft asked. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she replied. <\/p>\n

The inquest is set to conclude next week.<\/p>\n

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The counsel assisting the coroner, Fenella Becroft, said that up until the birth, Neho\u2019s pregnancy was \u201con the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13735,3595,17400,2837,1888,42,5126,69606,259277,43,2247,259276,11420,23742,40,38,41,39,1354],"class_list":["post-523691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-actions","tag-by","tag-collapse","tag-during","tag-first","tag-headlines","tag-john","tag-maria","tag-nehos","tag-news","tag-pregnant","tag-responder","tag-st","tag-stands","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523691","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=523691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}