'Why didn't they do something?'

A young Kelle Cadwallader with her daughter, Malorie. Photo supplied.
A young Kelle Cadwallader with her daughter, Malorie. Photo supplied.
A devastated family is demanding answers after a heavily pregnant mother of three died in Dunedin Hospital two days after she was sent home from Southland Hospital still complaining of chest pains.

Invercargill woman Kelle Cadwallader (37), who was 34 weeks' pregnant, died in Dunedin Hospital on September 17.

Her death - and that of her unborn child - have been reported to the coroner and are being investigated by health authorities.

Southern District Health Board medical director of patient services Richard Bunton confirmed a serious adverse event investigation was under way.

Ms Cadwallader's family said she had been excited about the arrival of her baby, whom she had named Archer.

He had been due to be born next week.

''She always wanted to have another baby, and we always understood that because she was the mothering type,'' her daughter, Malorie Cadwallader, of Wellington, told the Otago Daily Times this week.

Her mother was an avid pet lover and had found alternative homes for her seven cats and four dogs as she prepared for the arrival of her fourth child, another sibling for Kayden (20), Malorie (18) and Jack (15).

The baby was due around Malorie's birthday, and she had planned to return home to spend time with her mother and new brother.

But instead of welcoming the new arrival, she returned home for their funeral.

''It is not exactly the nicest thing to lose your brother and your mum in the space of two days,'' Miss Cadwallader said.

Mr Bunton said the deaths had been reported to the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee, an independent committee that reviews the deaths of babies and mothers in New Zealand.

''The DHB extends its sympathy [over] these tragic deaths to the families involved,'' he said in a statement.

The board declined to comment further because the matter was before the coroner.

On Monday, September 15, Ms Cadwallader was taken to Southland Hospital in an ambulance after complaining of chest pains.

Her sister, Naomi Meech, met her at the hospital.

''I said to her `is it your asthma, Kelle?' because she was short of breath, and she said 'no, it feels like a different chest pain','' Mrs Meech said.

She described it as like having an ''air bubble in the chest and Kelle kept on saying she wanted the baby out''.

Ms Cadwallader was given several tests, including two ECGs, and had a chest X-ray, but was not given a CT scan.

''They told her she had acute indigestion'' and she was sent home, Mrs Meech said.

Within 48 hours, she had died in Dunedin Hospital following heart bypass surgery.

''I went hysterical when I was told she was dying and said `why didn't they do something on the Monday?' and the surgeon said 'pardon'.

''My sister wasn't a hypochondriac. She would never go see a doctor unless she had to. But they fobbed us off and now my sister - and her baby - are in a box on my windowsill.''

A day after Ms Cadwallader was taken to Southland Hospital, and sent home, Mrs Meech got a call from her nephew.

Rushing to her sister's home, she found her being treated by paramedics for what ''I believed to be a heart attack''.

''It was just horrible ... the worst day of my life.''

Ms Cadwallader was again taken to Southland Hospital.

The obstetrician could not find the baby's heartbeat and, following a CT scan, Ms Cadwallader was taken to ICU with a suspected heart aneurism.

Adverse weather on Tuesday night meant she could not be airlifted to Dunedin until 7am the next day.

''That was the last time I saw her conscious ... She knew things were going bad and she told me how proud she was and that she loved me,'' Mrs Meech said.

''I don't remember the drive to Dunedin, but it was about halfway when I realised the baby was dead, because the baby wasn't being monitored [at the hospital].

''When I got to Dunedin, I demanded they tell me but they still wouldn't ... They kept telling me to have hope.''

Ms Cadwallader was pleading with hospital staff to ''take Archer out''.

Later, a nurse told Mrs Meech that her sister - who she says never knew her baby had died - had asked ''that the baby be saved before herself''.

''That would have sent her in a spin if you told her her baby was dead.''

While the heart bypass surgery was a success, her organs failed and she died at 8.45pm, the same time as a desperate Malorie was phoning her aunt trying to find out what was going on.

Miss Cadwallader said she ''hit the concrete pretty hard when she told me Mum had passed away''.

''I rang my older brother and told him ... he was devastated.''

Mrs Meech said the surgeon did not know her sister had gone to Southland Hospital just two days earlier complaining of chest pains.

Both she and her niece now wanted answers.

''I don't think it should happen again,'' Miss Cadwallader said.

''If the hospital had got to Mum a day earlier, then mum and baby would have been alive.''

The family was still in shock following the death of a woman who was ''very straight-up and focused on making other people more happy than herself''.

''She is my mum; it hurts. And it is going to make it hard to get closure, but as time goes by you are going to have to get over it, regardless.''

Her mother and brother were cremated on Thursday, September 25 and their ashes were divided among the children and Mrs Meech.

hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz

 


Double tragedy

Monday, September 15: That night, 37-year-old Invercargill woman Kelle Cadwallader, who was 34 weeks pregnant, was taken by ambulance to Southland Hospital after complaining of chest pains, the family says.

She had two ECGs, a chest X-ray, but not a CT scan; told by medical staff she had ''acute indigestion'' and was sent home.

Tuesday, September 16: Still had same symptoms; paramedics called to her home at 9.30pm. Taken to hospital again; the obstetrician failed to find the baby's heartbeat. Ms Cadwallader given a CT scan, heart aneurism detected and she was sent to ICU.

Wednesday, September 17: She was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital. Despite successful heart bypass surgery, she died about 8.45pm.


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