"We must have a safe, adequate and effective service people can access."
She was critical of the proposal to base all six neurosurgeons in a regional service in Christchurch and have Dunedin general surgeons trained to carry out acute procedures when patients were unable to travel.
She was concerned there had been no public debate over neurosurgery services around the Southern District Health Board table and no opportunity for community input.
"We're living at the edge of the neurosurgery precipice in the lower South Island and generally people don't know about it."
Board members, who were the "first line" in the democratic process and were elected to serve the interests of the community, should speak out on the issue, she said.
Canterbury and Southern district health boards, after months of deliberation, cannot agree on where neurosurgery services for the South should be provided.
Director-general of Health Stephen McKernan last week announced an expert panel was being convened to advise him on the impasse.
Southern chief executive Brian Rousseau said, in a letter to Mr McKernan a month ago, Dunedin Hospital senior doctors vigorously opposed the Canterbury one-site proposal.
He advised Mr McKernan he had two neurosurgeons on standby and that he must act immediately to appoint them or risk losing them.
Mr McKernan has asked that no permanent appointments be made pending future decisions, but the Otago Daily Times has been unable to establish what action Mr Rousseau may have taken or contemplated since.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell said it would be extraordinary to recruit someone to a position where the future was uncertain, as specialists were usually keen to seek places where a service was stable or expanding.
He could not comment on the configuration issue, but said it was in everybody's interest to have it resolved.
The woman (who did not wish to be named to protect her family's privacy) said in the case of her family member's emergency there was no neurosurgeon rostered on at Dunedin Hospital when it occurred.
A visiting neurosurgeon locum, who happened to still be in Dunedin after finishing his stint in the city, came to work beside the general surgeons to stabilise the patient, who was later transferred to Christchurch.
While the clinical outcome for the patient had been positive, it could easily have been different if no neurosurgeon had been available.
She described the experience as traumatic and expensive, with the cellphone bill alone $700 for 10 days.
She estimated the experience had cost the family several thousand dollars.
There was also the emotional burden of being away from family and friends, and many people would face employment problems.
In response to questions related to the care, Canterbury District Health Board chief executive David Meates said it was difficult to comment without knowing the specifics of the case.
The woman who spoke to the ODT said the family intended to supply the board with an analysis of its experience when it had the time to do so.
"We want to be constructive in this. If we are to have regional services, the board needs to understand the position of the patients and families."