Member for Maitland Jenny Aitchison has vowed to fight for change to death verification protocols after learning that an elderly Rutherford woman’s death was verified in a public car park last week.
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Mrs Aitchison is backing Elizabeth O’Kane’s grandson, Josef Krausert-O’Connor, in his online petition and quest to have the matter discussed in NSW State Parliament after reading the Mercury report of two Rutherford doctors reaching into the back of an undertaker’s panel van at Rutherford Shopping Centre car park to verify his grandmother’s death.
Mrs O’Kane, 71, was diagnosed with terminal cancer in April. Her wish was to die at her daughter’s Rutherford home with her daughter, Anna Krausert, and have her death verified there. She passed away on November 6.
Her final wishes did not happen. Instead two undertakers and a handful of rubberneckers looked on as a doctor listened for a heartbeat from Mrs O’Kane, whose corpse lay in a body bag in the back of a panel van, parked in a public street during the lunch time rush.
When Mrs O’Kane’s family contacted her GP to verify her death, they were told her doctor was not working and they would have to arrange to bring her body to the surgery for another doctor to examine. Josef has since learned that taking the deceased to a medical practice for death verification has become standard practice. “This must change,” he said.
Mrs Aitchison said it beggars belief that a grieving family has had to go through such a terrible experience after they lost a loved one. “I will be raising this issue with the Minister for Health to investigate the circumstances and see what gaps in the policy or practice of his department have led to this tragic situation,” she said.
“We know the government hasn’t funded enough palliative care nurses in Maitland, we’ve seen patients who’ve had to suffer through the night unable to get pain relief, and now we’ve seen this family go through a traumatic experience.
“The Government needs to ensure that all families who face this extraordinarily difficult situation of caring for a loved one dying at home are supported throughout the entire process with access to appropriate medical professionals at all times,” she said.
Josef has started an online petition lobbying for change which can be found linked to the web version of this story on the Mercury website.
