Covirus 19 coronavirus: the judge cancels the blockade and allows the son to visit the dying father, the PM orders the review of the denials

A Supreme Court judge has allowed a son to visit his dying father, voiding the Covid-19 government shutdown orders.

Oliver Christiansen’s father lay dying and asked, “Where’s my son? Where’s my son?”

But Christiansen couldn’t see him: He was subject to the government’s mandatory 14-day period of isolation after arriving in New Zealand on April 23 on a flight from the United Kingdom.

Christiansen spoke to the Herald on Monday about his “eight days of fighting and about 36 hours off” before his father Anthony Christiansen, who had brain cancer, passed away.

The case prompted Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to order a review of the 24 cases for which health officials rejected a request to see a dying relative during the shutdown.

When he left his family in London, Christiansen thought he had time to quarantine in New Zealand before spending his father’s last days with him.

“Things were still looking good. We thought we had a lot of time to see the 14 days,” he said.

But her father’s condition quickly deteriorated. Doctors gave Anthony, a retired Associate Superior Court judge, just a few days to live, and suddenly it was a race against the clock.

Christiansen, who had no coronavirus symptoms, asked the Ministry of Health to allow her to see her dying father on compassionate grounds. The ministry, after first confusing what Christiansen was asking for, repeatedly refused.

An email response to Christiansen read: “… there is simply nothing we can change at this time. 14 days of isolation in managed facilities is a mandatory requirement in force in New Zealand.”

Christiansen then sent an email directly to the Director General of Health, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, and to the Minister of Health, David Clark.

Bloomfield responded within an hour and a half, saying it will forward the letter to the managed isolation team to “carefully consider the information.” But again it was denied a third time.

Christiansen also requested a Covid-19 test, but it was rejected because she had no symptoms.

On Monday, he said the authorities’ unwillingness to examine him for Covid-19 was extremely frustrating as it seemed like a “logical step.”

So Christiansen went to court to challenge Bloomfield and the ministry’s refusal to allow him to shorten his quarantine period.

“It just seemed like a continuous automatic rejection that fortunately meant that the courts were the last way to the final roll of the dice,” he said.

Meanwhile, his father’s health continued to drop rapidly.

His family was “increasingly desperate” for him to come home to say goodbye to his father, and vice versa.

From his quarantined hotel, he could almost see his family’s Auckland home just 5–6 km away.

The courts recognized how valuable time was, he said, and pushed his case forward.

At a hearing Friday in Auckland High Court, Judge Tracey Walker said the ministry was wrong.

She said it was “difficult to imagine more compassionate reasons than those presented here.”

Christiansen told the Herald that he was able to spend a little more than a day with his father before passing away.

When she finally got to see her father, it was an emotional moment.

“It was a great relief to be able to join the family on time,” he said.

“There was a lot of emotion, a lot of liberation: anguish, grief, all in one.

“It makes you realize, in hindsight, how critical it is for you to be there at the time.”

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Judge Walker said in her ruling, published Monday, that there was “a very strong argument” to allow Christiansen to visit her dying father after he “was not considered on the correct legal grounds and disregarded relevant mandatory considerations. “

“It had the hallmark of automatic rejection based on circumscribed criteria rather than an adequate exercise of discretion required by the Health Law Order (Managed Air Arrivals),” he said.

The judge said the Health Ministry’s decisions to reject the permit were, at first glance, “legally flawed in more than [one] base”.

“If the correct approach had been followed, Christiansen’s request could have been successful within compassionate reasons (with low risk of transmission) or exceptional circumstances,” Judge Walker said.

The judge said that, in his evaluation, general justice “requires an effective and quick response.”

“I am particularly mindful here of the impending death of Mr. Christiansen’s father and the very important factor that visits are only in a private home and not in a public space.”

She ordered the ministry to allow Christiansen out of the managed isolation to visit her father.

But he could only do so if he traveled unaccompanied by car to his father’s house and remained there until his father died.

Christiansen was also told to maintain physical separation from other family members at home and to return alone within 24 hours of his father’s passage in the same car to the isolation facility for the remainder of the period. 14 days.

Judge Walker further told him to ensure that any necessary cleanup and / or quarantine of that private car, wearing personal protective equipment, including gloves and a face mask, was carried out to meet the monitoring requirements of the police or officials, and to comply with any other reasonable condition directed by the Ministry to reduce any risk of transmission.

The judge also considered the issue of “appropriate deference to the experience of decision makers at a time of unprecedented public crisis.”

“No matter how necessary or justified the Covid-19 response is, the decisions must have a clear and secure basis,” he said.

“They must be proportionate to the justified goal of protecting New Zealand taking into account the fundamental civil rights in question: freedom of movement and assembly under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act of 1990.”

Several questions have been raised about the legality of strict government shutdown orders in response to the pandemic, which have greatly reduced individual rights and freedoms.

Such concerns have included an opinion in the Crown Act warning police that they have little or no power to enforce the blockade.

And last Friday, the president of the Court of Appeals, judge Stephen Kós, said that the challenges on the question of whether the government’s decisions on the coronavirus have been legal should be tested in an expedited judicial review.

Judge Kós made the comment at a hearing on two habeas corpus claims that ultimately failed.

In Monday’s written decision on the case, the Court of Appeals reaffirmed that view, saying: “As the Regulatory Review Committee and two of New Zealand’s leading public law academics (Andrew Geddis and Claudia Geiringer) have noted, there are unresolved questions about the legality of notices issued under s70 of the Health Act. “

Speaking at her post-Cabinet press conference on Monday afternoon, the Prime Minister said that authorities must ensure that they “learn” from Christiansen’s decision and other decisions.

Apparently, the response to his request was an automotive response and he hoped the Ministry of Health would take the ruling into consideration, Ardern said.

Ardern told those present at the press conference that 18 people who had recently returned to New Zealand had been able to visit sick relatives.

However, a statement was later issued saying that the Prime Minister received inaccurate information about the number of compassionate exemptions granted by the Ministry of Health. The actual number was zero.

As of April 30, the number of requests from a returning traveler, or travelers, for an exemption to their isolation conditions totaled 283. The number of those exemption requests granted was 18.

As of the same date, the number of requests for ‘compassionate’ or similar exemptions totaled 73. The number of requests for visiting a dying or close-to-die relative totaled 24. None of those 24 exemptions were granted.

Ardern said he has spoken to the Minister of Health and requested that each of these cases be reviewed in light of the High Court decision.

The Ministry of Health has also released a short statement apologizing.

“The design of the Ministry of Health figures provided to the Prime Minister’s Office may have contributed to the confusion over compassionate exemptions. The ministry sincerely apologizes for this.”

Christiansen said he has “full respect” for the New Zealand health authorities and what they are trying to achieve, and is confident that “most of the time they are doing a good job.”

“But something seemed terribly wrong with this process,” he said.

“If that means other people don’t have to go through the same thing, then it was worth it. And luckily, most importantly, we have to say goodbye to him as a family.”

• Covid19.govt.nz – The official government Covid-19 advisory website