A doctor in New Zealand is told to apologize for not obtaining a chest x-ray soon enough

“A doctor who failed to arrange a chest X-ray for an elderly patient, later rushed to hospital with pneumonia, has been told to apologise.

The woman’s granddaughter complained to the health and disability commissioner in 2003 about the care her grandmother, a rest home resident, received.

The doctor, known as Dr C, assessed the elderly woman on June 20 and found she was anaemic. He rang the rest home to check on her on June 23 and 24 but did not see her again till June 27 when he referred her to a public hospital specialist.

Three days later, the patient was taken by ambulance to a hospital emergency department, when her condition deteriorated during the night. She was diagnosed with pneumonia and a urinary tract infection and treated in hospital for more than two weeks.”

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