Ministry of Health's reporting of COVID deaths and Comorbidities
Paul Roberts made this Official Information request to Ministry of Health
The request was successful.
From: Paul Roberts
Dear Ministry of Health,
With concern to the News article at the following link;
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/...
We quote from this article;
"But after further consideration, the Ministry of Health ruled coronavirus didn't cause her death, but it would be included in the ministry's count of deaths related to Covid-19."
"We have decided to include Eileen's death in our overall tally of Covid-19 related deaths, consistent with our inclusive approach to date so that we have got a good idea of the full impact of this condition on our health and well-being in New Zealand."
Under the Official Information Act we request you to provide a list of all Patients attributing to the current death statistic of 22 persons at the time of this writing listing the following information;
* Patient Age
* Primary cause of death
* List of Comorbidities
Please note we are NOT asking for personal identifying information about these patients, rather we are just wanting a list that clearly shows the cause of death and comorbidities and which category Covid-19 falls into, eg:
Patient A, Age: 80, Cause of death: Terminally ill cancer, Comorbidities: Covid-19
Patient B, Age: 34, Cause of death: Covid-19, Comorbidities: Trauma from car accident
Patient C, Age: 86, Cause of death: Lung cancer from smoking, Comorbidities: Covid-19
...etc
With this anonymized information it will help us clearly understand the reported death statistic.
Yours faithfully,
Paul Roberts
Ministry of Health
Kia ora
Thank you for your email dated 28 May 2020 requesting the following
information under the Official Information Act 1982:
"we request you to provide a list of all Patients attributing to the
current death statistic of 22 persons at the time of this writing listing
the following information;
* Patient Age
* Primary cause of death
* List of Comorbidities
Please note we are NOT asking for personal identifying information about
these patients, rather we are just wanting a list that clearly shows the
cause of death and comorbidities and which category Covid-19 falls into,
eg:
Patient A, Age: 80, Cause of death: Terminally ill cancer, Comorbidities:
Covid-19
Patient B, Age: 34, Cause of death: Covid-19, Comorbidities: Trauma from
car accident
Patient C, Age: 86, Cause of death: Lung cancer from smoking,
Comorbidities: Covid-19
...etc"
The Ministry's reference number for your request is: H202003867.
As required under the Act we will endeavour to respond to your request no
later than 26 June 2020, being 20 working days after the day your request
was received.
If we are unable to respond to your request within this time frame, we
will notify you of an extension of that time frame.
If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch.
Nga mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [email address]
[1]http://www.health.govt.nz
show quoted sections
References
Visible links
1. http://www.health.govt.nz/
From: Paul Roberts
Dear Ministry of Health,
Having found a OIA request by another person who asked for data on Ethnicity of Covid-19 deaths declined here https://fyi.org.nz/request/12717-ethnici... - in the case you may do the same to our first request, we hereby make a further request for consideration.
Please provide a summary of Covid-19 Death data for the 22 deaths which categories Covid-19 as;
i) The primary cause of death,
ii) Covid-19 being a Comorbidity in death
For example, the following summary is what we are looking for;
Out of 22 Covid-19 related deaths, 6 of them were death by Covid-19 as the primary cause, and the remaining 16 were patients who had Covid-19 as a Comorbidity.
Yours faithfully,
Paul Roberts
Ministry of Health
Kia ora Paul
Thank you for your request for information.
This subsequent request will be added on to the request you have already
submitted under reference: H202003867.
Please be advised that each part of your request (i.e. age, cause of death
and comorbidity) will be considered separately.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [email address]
From: "Paul Roberts"
<[FOI #12914 email]>
To: "OIA/LGOIMA requests at Ministry of Health"
<[Ministry of Health request email]>,
Date: 28/05/2020 05:30 p.m.
Subject: Re: Acknowledgment of your OIA request - H202003867
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Ministry of Health,
Having found a OIA request by another person who asked for data on
Ethnicity of Covid-19 deaths declined here
[1]https://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=15517&...
- in the case you may do the same to our first request, we hereby make a
further request for consideration.
Please provide a summary of Covid-19 Death data for the 22 deaths which
categories Covid-19 as;
i) The primary cause of death,
ii) Covid-19 being a Comorbidity in death
For example, the following summary is what we are looking for;
Out of 22 Covid-19 related deaths, 6 of them were death by Covid-19 as the
primary cause, and the remaining 16 were patients who had Covid-19 as a
Comorbidity.
Yours faithfully,
Paul Roberts
show quoted sections
Ministry of Health
Kia ora Mr Roberts
Please find attached a letter regarding your request for information.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [email address]
show quoted sections
From: Paul Roberts
Dear Ministry of Health,
Thank you for the details provided. Concerning the report of the 22 deaths in EpiSurv as having COVID-19 as the primary cause of death.
In the original request we provided the News article about the 22nd reported death of a Eileen Hunter here https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/...
In the article it states "Hunter was diagnosed with coronavirus in mid-April and spent time at Waitākere and North Shore hospitals." ... "Hunter was taken back to St Margarets after returning two negative coronavirus tests and was considered to have recovered, Bloomfield said."
It then says, "But after further consideration, the Ministry of Health ruled coronavirus didn't cause her death, but it would be included in the ministry's count of deaths related to Covid-19."
Would you please confirm the above statements quoted from this article made by Ashley Bloomfield/Ministry of Health are accurate and reflect the Ministries current position?
We have some further questions of the 22 reported deaths;
1) How many were diagnosed positive with Covid-19 by symptoms?
2) How many were diagnosed positive with Covid-19 by a PCR test?
3) How many had a serology test for the presence of Covid-19 antibodies?
4) How many were tested and diagnosed negative "once" after first testing positive?
5) How many were tested and diagnosed negative "twice" after first testing positive?
6) How many were tested and diagnosed negative "three or more times" after first testing positive?
7) Please provide data showing the Median, Upper and Lower Quartiles for the number of days counted from the first negative test until the patients time of death?
8) How many were placed on a Ventilator as apart of treatment?
Yours faithfully,
Paul Roberts
Ministry of Health
Kia ora
Thank you for your request for official information received on 18 June
2020 for:
"In the original request we provided the News article about the 22nd
reported death of a Eileen Hunter here
[1]https://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=15517&...
In the article it states "Hunter was diagnosed with coronavirus in
mid-April and spent time at Waitākere and North Shore hospitals." ...
"Hunter was taken back to St Margarets after returning two negative
coronavirus tests and was considered to have recovered, Bloomfield said."
It then says, "But after further consideration, the Ministry of Health
ruled coronavirus didn't cause her death, but it would be included in the
ministry's count of deaths related to Covid-19."
Would you please confirm the above statements quoted from this article
made by Ashley Bloomfield/Ministry of Health are accurate and reflect the
Ministries current position?
We have some further questions of the 22 reported deaths;
1) How many were diagnosed positive with Covid-19 by symptoms?
2) How many were diagnosed positive with Covid-19 by a PCR test?
3) How many had a serology test for the presence of Covid-19 antibodies?
4) How many were tested and diagnosed negative "once" after first testing
positive?
5) How many were tested and diagnosed negative "twice" after first testing
positive?
6) How many were tested and diagnosed negative "three or more times" after
first testing positive?
7) Please provide data showing the Median, Upper and Lower Quartiles for
the number of days counted from the first negative test until the patients
time of death?
8) How many were placed on a Ventilator as apart of treatment?"
The Ministry's reference number for your request is: H202004412.
As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Ministry will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 16 July 2020, being 20
working days after the day your request was received.
If we are unable to respond to your request within this time frame, we
will notify you of an extension of that time frame.
If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [email address]
show quoted sections
References
Visible links
1. https://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=15517&...
Ministry of Health
Kia ora
Please find attached a letter regarding your request for information.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [email address]
show quoted sections
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