A man died on a footpath outside a medical centre in Auckland's Mt Albert suburb, separated from potentially life-saving equipment by a door and a misunderstanding — or something worse. Bystanders say staff refused to provide a defibrillator or basic comfort items during the fifteen minutes before an ambulance arrived; the centre's doctor says he was unaware anything was happening outside. The distance between those two accounts is now the subject of a formal review, and it raises an older, harder question about what duty of care means when help is metres away.
Auckland doctor says he was unaware of dying man outside his medical centre
One man died on a public footpath metres from the medical centre, with bystanders unable to access emergency equipment or medical assistance during the incident.