Investigation finds multiple rest home failures after death of elderly man paralysed with dementia
3 May, 2021 03:48 AM
2 minutes to read
An elderly man who was paralysed with dementia died after a rest home failed to care for him properly. Photo / 123rf
An elderly man who was paralysed with dementia died after a rest home failed to care for him properly. Photo / 123rf
Emma Russell is a health reporter for the New Zealand Heraldemma.russell@nzherald.co.nz
An elderly man who was paralysed with dementia died after a rest home failed to provide appropriate support and interventions.
Oceania Care has been found in breach of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers Rights for multiple failures in the man s care.
+Undoctored
Media release from the Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner
Monday 3 May 2021, 04:41 PM
1 minute to Read
Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Kevin Allan today released a report finding a counsellor in breach of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights (the Code) for developing a personal relationship with her client, who was a prisoner.
The counsellor provided counselling to the man from May 2017 until his transfer to another prison in April 2018.
From January to April 2018, the man telephoned the counsellor on 56 occasions. The conversations were recorded and were personal and domestic in nature.
When the man was transferred from the second prison to a residential facility, both he and the counsellor told staff at the facility and the man’s probation officer that they were in an intimate relationship. The counsellor visited the man and sent him gifts and money.
From January to April of that year, the man phoned the counsellor on 56 occasions, Allan heard. The conversations were recorded and were “personal and domestic” in nature, Allan found. When the inmate was moved from the second prison to a residential facility, he and the counsellor disclosed to staff at the facility, and the man’s probation officer, that they were in an intimate relationship.
123RF Ms B had visited Mr A at the facility and sent him gifts and money. Allan’s report traversed the power imbalance between prisoners and their heath providers. He said the onus was on the provider to maintain professional boundaries and ethical standards.