Waikato Hospital death: Nurses’ union demands independent inquiry
The country’s main nurses’ union is calling for an independent inquiry into the death of a patient at Waikato Hospital’s emergency department waiting room.
On Tuesday, the Herald revealed a man collapsed and died in an ED waiting room toilet. A hospital source says he’d been waiting “nine hours”.
The Herald has seen video of the moments when staff tried to revive the man, who was wheeled out of the waiting room just after 1am on Tuesday on a hospital gurney while a nurse was performing chest compressions on him.
The Herald won’t publish the video out of respect for the family of the deceased.
Health New Zealand (HNZ) medical director of medicine for Waikato Hospital, Ian Martin, confirmed a “Serious Adverse Event Review” is underway, but would not answer other questions from the Herald about the incident.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) chief executive Paul Goulter says he’s concerned that HNZ bosses have been unable to say publicly whether the ED was understaffed or not.
“The public deserve better than obfuscation,” Goulter said.
He said the inquiry is needed to examine whether Waikato Hospital has enough money to employ the staff required to meet patient need.
“NZNO had spent 20 months in bargaining raising concerns that short staffing is putting patients at risk. After 20 months of their concerns being brushed off, our members have little confidence in Te Whatu Ora reviewing its own processes,” he said.
Asked for a response to the NZNO’s calls for an inquiry, a HNZ spokeswoman said reviews into the death “will be thorough, looking at all aspects of the incident so we can provide answers for the family”.
Goulter also challenged Health Minister Simeon Brown, saying the family of the deceased need to know whether the Government has “deliberately” underfunded Waikato Hospital to meet “arbitrary” budget cuts.
Zanae Kahu King, 23, was at the ED early on Tuesday morning for a chest infection. She spoke briefly with the deceased then notified security after hearing a “bang” in the ED’s toilet cubicle.
“He got up to go to the toilet and asked me, ‘is this toilet free?’ And I said ‘yes, it’s free’.
“I went into the toilet on the other side and then came out and I heard a big bang, and I walked back in and he was on the ground,” she told the Herald.
She believed this was about a lot more than a single tragic event.
“It reflects a health system that has been under immense pressure for years. Our hospitals have faced ongoing staff shortages ... and too many dedicated healthcare workers feel exhausted, undervalued and underpaid.”
Grace Minardo was also at the ED with her husband and 2-year-old daughter.
They were sitting near the ED toilets when her husband got up to use one. He noticed one of the toilet doors was closed but not locked.
Minardo said her husband opened the door and saw the man leaning backwards on the toilet seat.
“He got a fright and came out and said, ‘There is someone who has fallen asleep’, because that’s what he thought had happened,” she told the Herald.
She then told a nurse someone appeared to be asleep in the toilet, and the nurse alerted the front desk.
Minardo went to use another, unoccupied toilet when, she said, “the doctors came running”.
“We heard a whole lot of commotion: ‘Pass me the adrenaline. Check the pulse; there is no pulse’.
“It was a horror situation. It should not have happened.”
Michael Morrah is a senior investigative reporter/team leader at the Herald. He won News Journalist of the Year at the 2025 Voyager Media Awards and has twice been named reporter of the year at the NZ Television Awards. He has been a broadcast journalist for 20 years and joined the Herald’s video team in July 2024.