A Hawke's Bay man says he was forced to take drastic action to ensure his ailing wife received the drugs she needed.
Kevin Piper claims the local DHB is trying to get his wife's anti-nausea drug only after he refused to take her home from hospital and went public with her plight.
Joanne Piper has insulin dependent diabetes, and a raft of serious health complications because of it
"At the moment I've got vomiting every day and all day," Joanne says.
Joanne says the only drug that effectively controls her nausea is one called ondansetron. But the Hawke's Bay hospital refused to prescribe enough of it for her to take at home.
"So what you're telling me is you want to send my wife home without the drugs that she needs, so she will most probably die so you can put someone else in her bed and do the same thing to them? I said - its not going to happen!," says Kevin.
The Hawke's Bay clinical director David Grayson says the medication that she ended up needing to control her nausea is only a medication that's used in the hospital setting.
The Piper's story hit the headlines on Friday and that same day the hospital agreed to apply to Pharmac to supply the drug to Joanne as an outpatient, meaning the Pipers wouldn't have to foot the bill themselves.
"Those concerns weren't really raised adequately with staff so that they could address those concerns," Grayson says.
Pharmac says ondansetron is available on prescription to outpatients under exceptional circumstances. They'll consider whether Joanne's situation meets their criteria within 48 hours of receiving a written request from the hospital.
So, they're no guarantees. But the hospital says there are other options and other drugs Joanne could try.
"Nothing else has worked...I've tried a lot of other things as well and they haven't worked," she says.
Joanne is now waiting to hear if she'll get access to the drug she says will make her well enough to return home.
