Man dies of bee sting waiting for help

Louis Boonen

Louis Boonen might be alive today if he had gone to his doctor after being stung by a bee, rather than waiting for an ambulance.

The 48-year-old Muriwai father died at his home on September 20 last year after reacting to a bee sting.

Yesterday, following an inquest into the death, his partner, Rhonda Page, spoke to the Herald in the hope other people would not have to go through a similar tragedy.

Miss Page said she never thought that her partner of 17 years would die from a bee sting. Nor did she think waiting at home for the ambulance would have made such a difference.

Mr Boonen was painting the couple's home when he was stung.

"I was putting our young daughter to bed when he came in and said he thought he'd been stung by a bee," said Miss Page.

Mr Boonen removed the sting. He said he felt fine, but then his skin changed colour, a rash appeared and he started feeling unwell.

Mr Boonen lay down while Miss Page went next door to ask a relative for some antihistamine. When she returned, Mr Boonen was getting worse.

Miss Page rang their doctor and was told to bring him to the clinic, about a 10-minute drive away.

However, Mr Boonen was then having trouble breathing and at 1.07pm Miss Page rang 111 for help.

St John sent a First Response Unit, but it could provide only basic first aid until an ambulance arrived from Helensville. Medics could not give the adrenalin that probably would have saved Mr Boonen's life.

By the time the ambulance arrived - 27 minutes after the 111 call - Mr Boonen had suffered a heart attack and could not be revived.

While Miss Page said she did not blame St John, she wanted call-takers to provide people, especially in rural areas, with better information.

She said she had no idea a first response unit could not give adrenalin. She also did not realise the closest ambulance was nearly half an hour away. If she had been told both those things she would have made a different decision.

"We wouldn't have waited because the GP was 10 minutes away."

Auckland Coroner Murray Jamieson's written decision into the death will be released at a later date.

St John did not want to comment until after seeing the decision but has completed a report into Miss Page's concerns and found the actions of the St John staff were reasonable.

St John medical adviser Dr Tony Smith also found that most patients were better off waiting for an ambulance than driving to a GP.

However, he acknowledged that Mr Boonen may have lived had he not waited for the ambulance.