A Motueka woman who has limited use of her arm says she’s in limbo after a public referral to a specialist was declined.
Maria Best had been on opioids for for years to cope with worsening pain in her left arm, which had now started to impact her right arm too.
“The pain down my arms is like being stung by a thousand bees on the inside,” she said.
In 2014 she was in a workplace accident and eventually underwent spinal surgery. Doctors treating her found a rare brain condition and a second surgery saved her life.
She said she “had to relearn to walk, talk, balance, memory – everything”.
But all the while she complained of pain in her arm. A Christchurch orthopaedic surgeon recommended she have a spinal fusion but it was turned down by ACC.
A different doctor later told Best that she didn’t need the surgery after all.
“He said, ‘Well, it’s your head, we don’t think there’s anything wrong with you. We think it’s to do with your brain.’
“And then he sent me away and I was just really confused.”
She said for four years she’d been on opioids, including morphine and oxycodone, while the pain in her arm had worsened.
“Now it’s got to the point where I have no feeling, especially my thumb and my finger. I can’t hold anything. I constantly break things,” Best said.
Earlier this year, she finally felt she had a breakthrough.
A Nelson surgeon wrote to Christchurch Hospital saying: “Maria has been left in limbo because the Nelson service publicly is compromised”.
It was not long after two orthopaedic surgeons quit – including Perry Turner, who was Nelson’s only spinal surgeon.
The surgeon went on to say they were “struck by the severity of her symptoms”, adding that a historic MRI from 2023 was “quite clear”.
“My appeal to you is to attempt to get her on the waiting list for the procedure [spinal fusion].”
But in August the referral was declined by Christchurch Hospital Neurosurgery due to demand on their service.
“I spent the day crying and this is when I got in touch with you guys,” Best said.
The day after 1News contacted Health New Zealand about the case, Best received a call from Nelson Hospital. They offered her a non-surgical neurological appointment as soon as possible. The following day, she was also put on the waitlist for orthopaedics at Christchurch Hospital.
In a statement, Health New Zealand Executive National Director Clinical, Dr Richard Sullivan, told 1News: “We acknowledge and apologise for the frustration our patient has felt with the way we’ve communicated.
“At this stage, this patient is not eligible for surgery for a number of clinical reasons, and it would be irresponsible for us to recommend a high-risk surgery when this patient isn’t likely to have a good outcome.”
But Best said living in pain, with a limb she struggled to use, wasn’t a good outcome either.
“I still to right now have no idea where I sit or where I stand with this.”
