Clinic nearly 'cost her life'

Oggie Tini had a bad experience. Photo / Herald on Sunday

A mother of five with meningitis claims she was turned away from a clinic because she had no money and her condition was thought to be ringworm.

Oggie Tini, 42, is angry with the way she was dealt with by Waipareira Health Centre in Henderson, Auckland, and believes the misdiagnosis could have cost her life.

Tini didn't have any money on her but went to the health centre, known as Wai Health, late last month with a severe headache, rash and fever.

"The receptionist insisted I pay the fee first. I think it was about $13. I said I would return with the money the next day but she was really rude and insisted I pay right there and then.

"I felt so sick that I thought I would collapse. And I felt like an idiot as no one was listening."

She was then told that no doctors were available.

"I was obviously in a lot of pain and was finally told the nurse could see me."

Tini said a nurse told her the large rash on her leg was probably ringworm and offered her a Panadol for the headache.

Tini says she was then told all the doctors were at lunch and she could wait an hour to see one of them if she wanted to.

Furious and in a lot of pain she went to another medical centre, where staff advised her to go straight to hospital. She went home but a few hours later her partner called an ambulance.

She spent four days in North Shore Hospital, where she was put in isolation and given intravenous antibiotics. Family and friends had to wear a mask and gown while visiting her and she feared she would die. A lumbar puncture confirmed she had bacterial meningitis.

Tini said the health centre had apologised to her.

"But I felt they had done a sloppy job. They should have had a doctor on deck all the time and not having any cash on me nearly cost me my life."

Medical director of Wai Health Dr Glen Doherty declined to talk to the Herald on Sunday. He referred the matter to the Waipareira Trust chief executive, John Tamihere.

Tamihere said he was comfortable with the way Tini was dealt with. He refused to comment further.

The Medical Association says doctors have a right to refuse care for a patient in some circumstances but only when it is not an emergency.

Spokesman Dr Mark Peterson said some kind of triage should take place to ascertain whether or not it was an emergency.

"Some mechanism should be in place to make sure that acutely ill patients are not turned away," he said.