Kirsten Anderson’s battle began when Natalya’s left eye became infected by chicken pox in 2006. No tests were done at the time – and a Dutch locum specialist sent to Queenstown from Invercargill “refused” to diagnose her.
The infection worsened and she was rushed to Southland Hospital when her eye began swelling uncontrollably. She lost the surface of her cornea, or front of her eye.
Three years later Anderson discovered Auckland surgeon Charles McGhee, who performed a corneal transplant – a world-first on someone so young – to restore her sight last November.
Natalya’s story first appeared in Mountain Scene in April, when she’d obtained 30 per cent vision – equivalent to that of an 18-month-old baby.
Now with 50 per cent vision, it’s hoped ongoing treatment will eventually regain her 80 per cent of her sight.
They took away her sight – now they could snatch away her place at one of New Zealand’s best-known havens for sick kids and their families.
Little Natalya Skelton, 7, her solo mum and her brother face being forced to live on the streets in Auckland after Southern District Health Board’s shock decision to stop paying for part of her care at the city’s Ronald McDonald House.
The former pupil of Queenstown’s St Joseph’s lost sight in her left eye in 2006 after eight weeks of alleged misdiagnoses and “inadequate” medical testing in the resort.
The family uprooted from Queenstown in January and have been living at Ronald McDonald House while Natalya receives ongoing treatment following major eye surgery to restore her sight.
SDHB pays $140 a week towards the cost of a unit – Ronald McDonald House covers the rest – and has also paid for medical treatment alongside Auckland District Health Board.
But last Friday, mum Kirsten Anderson found out via Natalya’s surgeon that SDHB’s accommodation contributions would stop – instead, she could move back to Queenstown and have access to a locum eye surgeon in Invercargill.
“They say her essential medical care is now completed, which is completely incorrect because we still have to go to clinics and Natalya’s still got to have surgery to remove her stitches in October,” Anderson says.
Her local GP Fiona McPherson appealed to SDHB about the sudden change and as a result, Anderson says, the family’s been given a further two weeks to find a new place to live.
“How can I rapidly sort out my situation in Queenstown having not worked at all this year? I’ve got no money. What am I supposed to do?
“Effectively we’ll be on the streets, unless I can find somewhere else to live in the next few weeks.”
She wants to stay in Auckland for another three months till after Natalya’s surgery.
Anderson refuses to return to Queenstown because of what she calls the “inadequate” local hospital care on offer, and with Invercargill Hospital two hours’ drive away.
“I don’t want to come back and be a victim of SDHB’s inability to look after Natalya appropriately.”
Natalya’s surgeon, professor Charles McGhee, told Anderson “I’d be able to get more than adequate support for Natalya through [Auckland DHB]”, she says.
Mountain Scene has sighted an email from McGhee to Anderson offering to treat Natalya free of charge at his private clinic – “in the worst case scenario”.
Unable to work all year because she helps with her daughter’s daily therapy, Anderson used her entire personal savings to pay for therapy resources, plus feeding and supporting Natalya and son Kiran, 11.
“I came up here with close to $10,000 – and it’s all gone.”
She plans to move her family to Christchurch in November so Natalya can attend New Zealand’s only Blind and Low Vision Education Network NZ school and be around eye specialists.
“It’s what you do for your children when you know you’ve got to get an outcome.”
SDHB’s chief medical officer Murray Fosbender says the decision to cease paying for accommodation was based on patient notes that indicated Natalya could become an outpatient after six months.
Fosbender says it’s “regretted” the DHB didn’t approach Anderson first.
He admits he’s concerned the family has nowhere to go with no money.
“It looks like she needs help,” Fosbender says.
“If she’s got no money then we’ll have to look at that. We can’t toss anyone out so I’ll have to look at other ways of managing that.”
Keeping the family at Ronald McDonald House “could be one of the options”, Fosbender says.
My family stayed at Ronald McDonald House Auckland for 8mths and I know of the family in the article. We can't speak highly enough of the support and care we received whilst there. I think the paper has got it wrong as I'm sure it's $140 a night that the local health board pays. We had to give up jobs etc and get government support which I'm sure this mother has done. Ronald House provides so much in the way of basics (food, travel vouchers, groc vouchers etc) I can see why some people find it frightening to leave. However the professionals have discharged her daughter to outpatient care so it is time for this mother to make the move forward so other families with sick children can experience the support of Ronald McDonald House.
02 Aug 2010 09:44AMmansonk
Unbelievable
I can't believe the attitude of these tight-wad bureaucrats at SDHB. Don't they have a heart? $140 a week is not much!!
30 Jul 2010 02:17PMwalrus
Even fatter cats...
It's amazing SDHB can keep track of where $140 goes a week to house a little seven-year-old cutie they nearly blinded and her mum and brother, yet their uberfuhrer ODHB let $16 million slip into the pockets of Swann and Harford under their very noses. Re-read the Hippocratic oath. I quote: "I will ... benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgement, and I will do no harm or injustice to them."
30 Jul 2010 01:58PMlocarno
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