Poorly identified girl, 11, injected with drugs rarely given to children

A review found that an 11 -year -old girl confused with a 20 -year -old boy was admitted to a mental health ward, although some hospital staff initially observed that “he looked like a child and may have a disability.”

Health NZ released the findings of its review after the child was confused with a mental health patient in Hamilton last month.

The autistic, nonverbal girl was handcuffed, admitted to Henry Bennett Center of Waikato Hospital, and medicated after she was seen climbing a bridge.

A five -person overhaul panel found the police ill badly to her, and the hospital accepted this because “it is common for the police to confirm the patient’s identity.”

She was contained and received two doses of interplay drugs because she refused oral medication, he said.

The drug used was “rarely administered to children” and not the first -line choice for adults – but was given due to the shortage of supply.

There was no cultural support offered to the girl, and the disability was not considered beyond the initial assessment, the reviewers discovered.

The fact that she was not admitted to the emergency department was described as a “missing opportunity”, which could have led to a different diagnosis.

Rapid Incid -Review Review said “various flaws” contributed to the suffering and trauma experienced by the young man and his family.

It was publicly launched after the panel spent a week reviewing clinical and relevant Waikato’s political records and procedures, interviewing relevant staff, talking to an external review panel and the 11 -year -old’s family.

Eight recommendations made

The panel made eight recommendations, including an apology to the girl and her family.

He recommended a rapid revision of international best practices to identify unidentified patients, “particularly for people with any kind of communication difficulty,” to create a national policy.

“This should be done in collaboration with cultural and disabled services and consultation with the police.”

He recommended that all emergency departments perform medical reviews on all unidentified patients and that a national restriction group is established “to specifically develop best practices for physical restriction, medicine restrictions, monitoring after sedation, climbing processes and team training.”

“The scope of the work of this group should include the development of a verification list for evaluation before the restriction of medicines and procedures to monitor vital signs after sedation in mental health units.”

He recommended that Health NZ revise its criteria and admission procedures for admission to psychiatric intensive care units, which analyzes the workforce resources in the district mental health unit, ensures that cultural support is offered to mental health patients as soon as possible in the admission process.

He recommended that cultural and disabled services are involved “in the action of relevant recommendations.”

These recommendations will be converted into an action plan with clear deliveries and schedules within a week, according to the report.

Health NZ Response

In a statement, New Zealand’s clinical director of health, Dr. Richard Sullivan, said the team strives to provide high standards of care and wanted to ensure that this incident would not happen again.

“We recognize this young man and his family’s anguish. We continue to provide proper and continuous support,” he said.

“We accepted the entire revision of the findings. The review team included several senior doctors of the Health NZ, as well as a panel of NZ Health experts who were extensively involved in the revision and supply of feedback.”

Previously, the interim superintendent of Waikato district commander Scott Gemell told RNZ “the identification was from a primary concern” when police took the girl to Waikato Hospital.

“We took a picture of her and distributed it to our team on one of our distribution lists.

“One of our teams came back with the indication of a person who lived in a community -based mental health center, approaching the Fairfeld Bridge.”

Police talked to a caregiver and sent a copy of this photography for identification purposes, he said.

“We did this and the caregiver came back to say that he thought it was that person too.

“Based on this knowledge, we entered the Emergency Department of Hospital Waikato and, based on these information we need to deliver, we believed it was someone else.”

Gemmell said the 20 -year -old woman was not in a mental health center at the time of the incident.

At around 6 pm that night, a woman reported her 11 -year -old daughter missing and a team member recognized her when the female attended to the bridge.