KEY POINTS:
A charge nurse at Middlemore Hospital in south Auckland says she's sure Folole Muliaga knew how ill she was before she left hospital two weeks before her death.
Susan Beaumont-Orr said she had frequently discussed Mrs Muliaga's health with her during her hospital stay, and that she was
sure Mrs Muliaga understood her.
Ms Beaumont-Orr was giving evidence at the inquest at Auckland Coroner's Court into Mrs Muliaga's death on May 29 last year.
Mrs Muliaga, who was using an oxygen machine, died in her Mangere home three hours after a contractor cut her power last year because of an overdue bill of $168.40.
It has been said during the inquest that Mrs Muliaga was morbidly obese and the pressure which that condition put on her heart and system was such that she was dying.
Ms Beaumont-Orr said she spoke several times to Mrs Muliaga during her stay at hospital, finding her to be good-humoured.
She said Mrs Muliaga was about 200kg when she arrived, dropping to 180kg when she left.
Mrs Muliaga required four or five nurses to turn her in her bed, something which needed to be done several times a day.
Responding to cross-examination from Olinda Woodroffe, the lawyer for Mrs Muliaga's husband, Ms Beaumont-Orr said she realised Samoan people would sometimes say "yes" to authority figures out of respect even if they didn't mean it.
Despite this knowledge, Ms Beaumont-Orr said she was confident Mrs Muliaga had understood her due to the level of input she had in the conversation.
She said she had taken several courses on how to deal with Pacific Island patients.
Ms Beaumont-Orr also insisted she had an informal conversation with Mr Muliaga and two of the Muliaga children at Mrs Muliaga's request to advise them on how to eat healthily so they wouldn't end up like her.
She said Mrs Muliaga had improved during her stay at Middlemore and she was allowed to go home in the hope she would improve and have some quality of life.
Though she didn't talk directly to Mrs Muliaga's family about the level of her illness, saying that was up to her doctors, Ms Beaumont-Orr believed the family members were informed of the seriousness of her illness.
Family members have said at the inquest that they were not aware she was close to death.
Auckland respiratory specialist Dr Kenneth White told the hearing the written records of Mrs Muliaga's stay at Middlemore were insufficient to make judgments about what she knew and of a number of other aspects of her care.
Ms Beaumont-Orr agreed some of the record keeping was not up to scratch, but said nurses often didn't have time to record every detail of their patient interactions.
Dr White said he was almost certain that turning Mrs Muliaga's oxygen machine off was a factor in her death, but he could not say anything for certain.
Evidence at the inquest is likely to conclude tomorrow, with lawyers for the parties expected to sum up their positions on Thursday.
- NZPA
