Photo: RNZ
A woman died after being dropped from a hospital stretcher at WhangΔrei Hospital, a coroner has found.
Margaret Batten, 83, suffered a head injury after falling onto a concrete floor in the ambulance loading bay when a St John officer lost control of her stretcher during her discharge in May 2023.
Coroner Tracey Fitzgibbon said Batten was secured on a Stryker stretcher and was in the process of being moved down a ramp by a St John patient transfer service (PTS) officer when she fell.
"As the stretcher started to descend, the left wheel at the head of the stretcher has caught on the wooden kickboard and tipped down towards the loading bay floor. The stretcher has toppled.
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