NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Corrections found in breach of HDC regulations after prisoner endures painful tooth infection for months

NZ Herald
31 Oct, 2016 10:41 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The prisoner was left bleeding and in pain in his cell without his prescribed medication. Photo / Greg Bowker

The prisoner was left bleeding and in pain in his cell without his prescribed medication. Photo / Greg Bowker

A tooth fragment was left in a prisoner's jaw which became infected and locked after he had a molar removed.

The prisoner suffered for months with bleeding and pain and was denied pain medication and given food so hard his swollen mouth couldn't eat it.

The Department of Corrections have been found in breach of regulations by failing to provide services to the prisoner with reasonable care and skill according to a report by the Health and Disability Commissioner, which investigated a complaint.

The prisoner, referred to in the report as Mr E, was in an Auckland prison.

He had his lower left molar removed under local anaesthetic on June 11, 2013 as it was badly decayed and painful.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The procedure took around 45 minutes as extraction was difficult.

The dentist gave him Pamol and gauze swabs.

After he was back in his cell, Mr E was in shock and had hot and cold flushes. His jaw was very sore and he was spitting out blood and vomiting.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A nurse visited him four hours after he asked for help.

She gave him Pamol for the pain and cotton wool balls to stop the bleeding, but neither of these were effective.

At 2am the next day Mr E woke up in severe pain. He was given Pamol by a custody officer the report stated.

"This was the only occasion that Mr E was given pain relief from a custody officer, despite multiple requests throughout June and July 2013."

Later on in the morning a nurse assessed Mr E.

"There was quite a bit of blood on his pillow case, he had blood and saliva dripping out of his mouth."

The dentist advised her to pack his mouth with gauze and give him pain relief.

"By that evening Mr E's mouth was bleeding constantly and his jaw had locked closed. The left lower part of his face and neck were swollen and he struggled to swallow."

He told a nurse that he thought his mouth had become infected, but she advised him that it was normal to have some swelling and his condition would improve the next day.

But the next day his swelling had increased to envelope his left jaw line and under his chin, he complained of constant and increased pain. The nurse consulted an on-site doctor who advised pain relief and an antibiotic were to be given three times daily for a week. But contrary to the doctor's orders these weren't regularly administered.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr E submitted a chit to the Health Service stating "can I please see the doctor Asap as my mouth and [throat] have swollen up and I struggle to [swallow]". Mr E would not see a doctor for another seven days. During this time he frequently requested pain medication and was refused.

The prison also failed to give Mr E a soft food diet until three days after his procedure, despite the swelling only allowing him to open his mouth 1.5cm. By June 14 he was struggling even with soft food as his jaw was swollen and locked making it hard to swallow. His diet was then changed back to regular food on June 17 without any review of his condition.

After an x-ray the radiologist noted a tooth fragment had been left in his jaw and there was a partially erupted inferior left third molar that was angled forwards on July 9.

The dentist reviewed Mr E on July 16 and advised that the tooth did not require extraction at that stage.

But almost two weeks later Mr E requested a dental appointment as he was concerned that he had an abscess in his gum.

On July 30 Mr E saw a different dentist than the one who had removed his tooth. The dentist advised that there was no inflammation or infection at the site where Mr E's tooth had been removed on June 11 and that the tooth socket was healing well.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On August 18, over two months after the tooth extraction, Mr E asked to see a doctor to get his pain medication increased as he wasn't sleeping well and his jaw still hurt.

Registered nurse Dawn Carey provided expert advice in the HDC report. She said there was an expectation that Mr E's medication would be administered as the doctors had written it based on their assessment of his pain.

"The submitted [medical administration record] demonstrated a level of incompetence to a standard that is professionally embarrassing.

"The nursing care in relation to safe medical administration was a severe departure from the expected standards."

The defendant accepts that the care provided by the Department of Corrections was below an acceptable standard, including: a failure to respond to requests for pain relief, failure to administer prescribed medication, failure to assess Mr E's condition and failure to reassess Mr E's need for a soft food diet.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

Premium
New Zealand

'Overly aggressive' letter from Napier mayoral candidate upsets national motor caravan body

18 Jun 06:08 PM
New Zealand

Belle of the ball: Shop owner gives away formal dresses and suits to high schoolers

18 Jun 06:00 PM
Opinion

How Act's bill could entrench power for the wealthy

18 Jun 06:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Premium
'Overly aggressive' letter from Napier mayoral candidate upsets national motor caravan body

'Overly aggressive' letter from Napier mayoral candidate upsets national motor caravan body

18 Jun 06:08 PM

The board removed Nigel Simpson as Hawke's Bay chair just one month into the role.

Belle of the ball: Shop owner gives away formal dresses and suits to high schoolers

Belle of the ball: Shop owner gives away formal dresses and suits to high schoolers

18 Jun 06:00 PM
How Act's bill could entrench power for the wealthy

How Act's bill could entrench power for the wealthy

18 Jun 06:00 PM
Premium
Publican on rugby, running 'tough' bars, and the night he sold 85 kegs of Guinness

Publican on rugby, running 'tough' bars, and the night he sold 85 kegs of Guinness

18 Jun 06:00 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP