Two women with the same disease and same medical treatment plans say they can’t understand why one of them was granted an MIQ exemption, and the other declined.
Tauranga woman Karen Taylor’s had multiple sclerosis, a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord, since 1996 but says lately it’s gotten much worse, affecting her ability to walk and see.
“I just decline every single day. Everyday there's something worse — even this morning I could hardly walk. Yesterday my eyesight was really, really bad.”
She’s booked to undergo HSCT treatment at Clinica Ruiz, in Mexico, in May. The treatment involves intense chemotherapy which aims to stop damage by wiping out and then regrowing the immune system, using the patient’s stem cells. It isn’t available in New Zealand.
“Because I’ll be having two or three weeks of chemotherapy I’ll be left with no immune system. I’ll be really, really sick,” Taylor says.
Because of her reduced immunity, Karen’s Mexico-based hematologist, local neurologist and GP have all recommended she isolates at her home on her return to New Zealand, rather than in an MIQ facility alongside potential Covid-19 cases.
Her GP said it would be “difficult and risky” for Taylor to isolate in a managed facility, and her neurologist said “her risk of acquiring Covid in NZ are less if she isolates at home in Tauranga”.
Despite the recommendations, her application for an MIQ exemption was declined in February.
Letters to Taylor from the MIQ team said her medical needs “can be met in an isolation facility”, and she’d be assessed by a nurse on arrival.
Taylor says she’s “absolutely gutted”.
“It's definitely stressful. It's taken a toll on me. I’ve had lots of tears… really anxious.”
Taylor’s friend, Lee Merritt, also from Tauranga, has multiple sclerosis as well and was treated at Clinica Ruiz late last year. She says after months of trying, her MIQ exemption was granted seven hours before she was due to fly home, and she was able to isolate at home with a carer in November.
“I needed help showering because you're so weak, of course. I needed help cooking because you go into neutropenia and need to go on a special diet.”
She believes there was no risk to the community in doing her isolation at home as she had a security escort from the airport; the gates to her property were locked behind her; and she had regular random checks from police, as well as daily calls from nurses.
“We were no risk to New Zealand at all,” Merritt says.
Merritt says there’s “no way” she would have been able to spend two weeks alone in MIQ while recovering from the HSCT treatment.
“I wouldn't have coped at all — you're so, so weak and you’re sick. Going to the toilet and having to pull yourself off the toilet, you’re so unstable on your feet. If you fall, it's dangerous.”
In an email to Taylor earlier this month, the MIQ team told her while MIQ can provide assistance for 1-2 hours a day, “we are not able to provide around the clock care”.
The email recommended she is joined by a support person while in her hotel room, but Taylor says she doesn’t know anyone who could spend two weeks with her in an MIQ facility, including her husband who has epilepsy.
Paul Taylor says it’s been “really hard” watching his wife deteriorate, but he can’t help her in MIQ because of his severe seizures. He says he was hospitalised for four days last week.
“If I have a bad seizure… I have no memory or knowledge of what's happened and sometimes I end up in intensive care. That's the last thing you want to happen.”
The email to Taylor assured her she would be placed in an MIQ facility close to Auckland City Hospital but couldn’t say which one “as this is only finalised 48 hours in advance and depends on availability at your time of arrival”.
Karen Taylor says she can't understand why her friend, who has the same condition, was allowed to isolate at home. (Source: Other)
Taylor says she’d hoped to get a room with a balcony for fresh air, as she’s unable to leave her room to go to the hotel courtyard.
“We cannot guarantee you will be allocated a room with a balcony as these facilities are limited,” the email said.
Immunologist and associate professor Rohan Ameratunga says it’s “well recognised” that people with weak immune systems are at increased risk of contracting and suffering from Covid-19.
“The immune system will be severely compromised, particularly in the early days after the conditioning of the chemotherapy.”
But he says there’s risk in travelling to Mexico. He also says recent studies have shown immune-compromised people can harbour the virus for longer than healthy people.
“There is a slightly increased risk of acquiring Covid in an MIQ facility, but on the other hand, if the person is one of these chronically infected persons, that could be a serious issue for the family and community potentially.”
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) told 1 NEWS Taylor and Merritt’s cases have been treated differently because MIQ was “unable to meet” Taylor's needs at the time she applied.
“In Ms Taylor’s case, her application was declined because the independent health adviser determined that her needs can be met within a managed isolation facility, and didn’t need hospital-level care. As part of this assessment the assessor consulted with a haematologist at Auckland City Hospital.”
“This assessment differs to that of Ms Merritt’s where the facility was unable to meet her specific medical needs at that time that she applied last year.
“Managed isolation facilities are equipped to handle most medical needs, unless hospital admission is required… A comprehensive plan will be developed to support Ms Taylor in her room and meet her dietary requirements.”
When asked if MIQ will reassess Taylor’s case, MIQ said her situation “can be reassessed at any time, prior to entering managed isolation, or while she is in managed isolation, if her medical circumstances change”.
Do you have a story about MIQ? Email our reporter Kristin Hall on kristin.hall@tvnz.co.nz
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