Mother, sick baby turned away from medical clinic

By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter

A feverish and vomiting baby was refused treatment at an after-hours medical clinic because his mother did not have $18 for a consultation.

Rachel Thompson said yesterday that she was furious about being turned away "like paupers" from the White Cross Accident and Medical Clinic, which rents space at the Ascot private hospital in Auckland.

The clinic manager, Dr Andrew Dixon, said he accepted that the incident had happened, and blamed it on a receptionist's misunderstanding of company policy. He had apologised to Mrs Thompson.

With a friend, Mrs Thompson, of Glen Innes, took her son Klayton, now aged 5 months, to the Greenlane East clinic on Saturday, May 19 at 6.15 pm.

He was feverish, vomiting, crying and having difficulty breathing, said Mrs Thompson, who also has two other children under 6. The family has a history of asthma.

She saw a notice about payments and told a receptionist she did not have enough money.

The receptionist would not allow a consultation and referred her to the Starship children's hospital.

"I tried to plead with her that I would come back on a later date to pay the bill and had little petrol in my car and would not make it to the Starship."

The next morning, "after a sleepless night of anguish," she took her son to their usual Glen Innes clinic. He was diagnosed with bronchitis and given medicine.

"He's just starting to come right now," she said yesterday.

Mrs Thompson said she and her husband were appalled at the White Cross incident, "especially when New Zealand has one of the highest asthma rates in the world ... "

Dr Dixon said the receptionist had been given a written warning.

"It goes against everything we are all about - the Hippocratic oath, the Health and Disability Commissioner's code, the Human Rights Act.

"Our policy is that someone's ability to settle their account would never preclude their being seen.

"Unfortunately that information was not conveyed in an effective form to the Thompsons on the day."

The receptionist had misinterpreted a longstanding company directive, re-issued recently, that patients be asked to pay on the day of their consultation.

This policy was because of the high number of bad debts.

Dr Philip Rushmer, chairman of the Medical Association's GPs' council, said doctors had an ethical obligation to treat patients in medical emergencies.

An $18 charge for after-hours treatment of a child under 6 was "at the high end."

The Government pays GPs $32.50 for each consultation with a child under 6. The intention is "free" treatment but GPs are not prevented from charging extra.

Dr Rushmer said only a minority of GPs charged extra.