Health and Disability โCommissionerโ Apologises to Doctorโค Misidentified inโข Hawke’s Bay Case
Hastings, New Zealand – โThe Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) hasโข issued an apology to a doctor who was โฃmistakenly implicated in a report concerning failings atโข Hawke’sโ Bay Hospital. The error โขstemmed โfrom the HDC’s pseudonymisation โคpolicy used โwhen publishingโ decisions to protect patient โคand staff privacy.
The HDC report detailed a case โคwhere a patient underwent surgery at Hawke’s Bay Hospital performedโ by a practitioner who lacked the necessary credentialsโค and did not seekโ support as recommended. While the report โฃdid not nameโค individuals,theโฃ HDC’s use of initials led to the incorrect association with another doctor. An HDC spokesperson โขconfirmed the organisation has “acknowledged and apologised to the doctor forโ anyโข concernโ causedโข by any โinference that he was involved in thisโฃ case.”
The HDC’s standard practice involves assigning pseudonyms in alphabetical order, โunrelatedโ to โคactual surnames, to โคprotect identities. โHowever,the โฃspokespersonโ stated the policy isโข under review,scheduled for next year,following this incident. “Names have been removed toโข protect privacy. Identifying lettersโ are assigned in alphabetical order โฃand bear no relationship to the person’s actual name,” reads aโฃ disclaimer included on all published decisions.
The HDC โconfirmed it had โฃnot received prior reports of similar misidentification issues. Theโค caseโฃ highlights the challenges of balancing transparency with privacyโ when investigating and reporting on healthcareโข failings. Ricโค Stevens, a journalist with NZME’s Open Justice team,โ reported on the incident.
