The father of a Whangarei teen who died of meningococcal disease wants somebody held accountable for his son's "preventable death."
The findings from a coroner's hearing into the death of Ben Brown, 18, from meningococcal disease in August 2011 have just been released. The coroner found that antibiotics may have masked the meningococcal disease that killed Ben, but the "frailties and problems" with the Whangarei Hospital system that contributed to his death have been fixed and a similar death should never happen again, health officials say.
But Ben's father, Darren Brown, said despite Northland District Health Board admitting a number of errors contributed to his son's death, nobody had been held accountable and the family was taking advice in regards to possible compensation for the "avoidable death".
On August 22, 2011, Ben fell suddenly sick after work. He was taken to White Cross accident and medical clinic, but sent home with a meningitis leaflet, a script for oral antibiotics for tonsillitis, and paracetamol. After his condition deteriorated, he went by ambulance to hospital, but was discharged. The oral antibiotics, although not sufficient to destroy the meningococcal bacteria, masked the real cause of his illness.
The next afternoon Ben's condition worsened and he was admitted to the intensive care unit, dying on August 27.