Selina Gilfedder with her husband Wayne and two sons Luke, 8, and Beau, 4. Photo / Dean Purcell
Selina Gilfedder with her husband Wayne and two sons Luke, 8, and Beau, 4. Photo / Dean Purcell
Dying mum Selina Gilfedder says ACC today told her if she refuses to give them a six-month extension to make a decision on her claim, it will likely be declined.
This comes as National Party's ACC spokesman Tim Macindoe is calling on the Government to look into the West Aucklandmum's case as a "matter of urgency".
ACC say Gilfedder's claim may be declined without more time because it was too early to say if there had been a failure to treat.
The 38-year-old whose cancer was not diagnosed for almost two years fears ACC will not make a decision on her treatment injury claim while she's alive.
Her doubt came after ACC sent her a letter requesting more time - of up to nine months in total - to make a decision.
Macindoe says this isn't good enough and Gilfedder's claim should be accelerated.
"This is clearly a tragic case where decency and compassion require fast-tracking of ACC's usual procedures.
"I call upon the ACC Minister to request that his officials look into Mrs Gilfedder's claim as a matter of urgency, both to reduce the considerable stress this family is facing and to ensure that Selina doesn't miss out on her compensation payment if it is found to be justified," Macindoe says.
Dying mum Selina Gilfedder, 38, fears her a decision on her ACC compensation claim won't be made while she's alive. Photo / Dean Purcell
ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway responded saying: "While I can't comment on individual cases, I do expect ACC to work with people affected by terminal illness in a timely manner and do what they can to help as quickly as possible."
Lees-Galloway would not comment on whether the system needed to change to ensure claims of New Zealander's who were dying are fast-tracked.
An ACC spokesman told the Herald today if Gilfedder declines giving them more time to investigate her claim, they must make a decision based on the medical information they hold.
"Without the benefit of an external expert opinion we can't determine if there was a delay in diagnosis," he said.
Gilfedder said it made her feel devalued as a human being.
"It hurts to know I have no choice but to do as they say or I won't get what I'm entitled to," she said,
ACC can legally take up to nine months to make a decision on a treatment injury claim - due to the complexity - but it must get permission from the complainant to take that long.
Gilfedder said she was horrified to last week receive a letter from ACC requesting that - three months after she'd lodged the claim.
In January, doctors estimated she had a year to live but ACC did not have to make a decision until early December.
Selina Gilfedder was in pain for many months before cancer was confirmed. Photo / Dean Purcell
If ACC finds her disease had progressed due to lack of treatment and she has died by the time a decision is made, she will miss out on $130,000 of compensation - not including the money her family will be given.
Gilfedder's story dates back to January 2017 when she first visited her doctor feeling unwell.
Between then and October last year, she went to her GP at least seven times complaining she had been bleeding from her bottom and experiencing severe abdominal pain.
By October last year, she had lost 6kg and was still complaining of the same symptoms. She was given stronger pain relief and later, when she returned in "crippling pain", a higher dosage.
"I was like a walking drug supply living off three doses of Tramadol a day," Gilfedder said.
On New Years' Eve she was rushed to hospital and had emergency surgery where a large cancerous mass was removed from her bowel. Doctors said it was too advanced to treat and Gilfedder was given about a year to live.
Bowel Cancer NZ spokeswoman Mary Bradley said stories like Gilfedder's are happening far too often and GPs needed to be much more thorough.
"It's simply not good enough that this keeps happening."
Bradley said patients needed to be given all the options, GPs needed to connect the dots better and everyone needed to be aware bowel cancer was not an old person's disease.
