I feel validated: woman who lost two babies due to Dunedin GP ‘incompetent’ drug failures

“I had to bury two children and that is something that I don’t think I can overcome.”

Nikki Cockburn, who has fought for two and a half years to hold her doctor and medical center accountable for her role in contracting drug-induced Cushing’s syndrome.

The prescription of a dangerous drug by a Dunedin doctor to a Dunedin woman has been labeled “incompetent and unsafe” after it caused her to terminate two pregnancies and contract a rare disease.

Yesterday, the Health and Disability Commissioner released its findings on the Cockburn case, a searing report that ended with the commissioner taking the rare step of referring Cockburn’s doctor and his medical center to the director of procedures for possible further legal action.

“I feel validated,” Cockburn said.

“It took me a long time to get to this point and sometimes you start to question if everything was really that bad and time is playing with you.

“But they listened to me. They know how serious it is.”

Cockburn’s ordeal began in 2012 when he approached his doctor with a case of psoriasis, a skin condition.

In 2013, as her condition did not improve, the doctor prescribed Neotigason, a drug that often causes serious and life-threatening birth defects.

The doctor did not assess whether Cockburn was pregnant, she was, and the pregnancy was terminated.

The doctor also did not tell her that the drug could cause problems for another three years, an omission that led to the termination of the patient’s subsequent pregnancy.

“I’ve been angry for a long time. I think I’m sad now … there were so many doctor appointments, so many scans. It was almost like a case study because they hadn’t had a case of a woman who was pregnant and had taken Neotigason for 20 years, “Cockburn said.

“I was surprised to find that even if I had donated blood and a pregnant woman had taken blood from me, she would have passed it on to her unborn child.”

As if the endings weren’t agony enough, the Neotigason caused Cockburn to develop Cushing’s syndrome, a rare condition that caused insomnia, overheating, constant sweating, impaired cognitive function, and left thick purple streaks in about 80 percent of his body.

Stopping use of the drug and receiving proper treatment has at first glance alleviated the worst of Cushing’s syndrome, but Cockburn still suffers from physical and mental anguish due to the inadequate treatment he received.

“Every time I look in the mirror, I see what has happened to me,” he said.

“I’m taking painkillers for my nerves and muscles and working to sleep and nourish myself properly, all of which play a role in his mental health … I haven’t even started to deal with what happened to me yet. I put it there and focused. in my physical self because I’ve been sick for a long time. “

Commissioner Morag McDowell found Cockburn’s GP’s prescription failures to be “severe and numerous,” and criticized the GP’s “knowledge gap” about the long-term effects of Neotigason.

“I would have hoped that a GP with Dr. B’s experience would have learned of the current treatment guidance and risks before prescribing it to patients.

“I am critical that Dr. B provided false information on the Pharmac Special Authority form.

“This was an opportunity for him to realize his mistakes, and he did not, and instead provided false information on the form.”

The commissioner also found that the Cockburn Medical Center “buried” important clinical alerts under unnecessary administrative alerts.

“As a result, several GPs continued to prescribe large amounts of the drug for him in the office for six years after the alert was placed on his record.”

Cockburn first spoke to him Otago Daily Times two years ago, hoping that other people would be warned and not go through what she has gone through and continues to suffer.

“My life has changed forever,” he said. “I knew none of this was going to help me, but I know it is going to help other people … I should never have prescribed this in the first place and too many people are doing it.”

Mrs. Cockburn’s fight is not over.

In addition to the next steps the director of procedures takes, Ms. Cockburn is also embroiled in a dispute with the ACC over her
rights to assistance.

“While one system has hurt me, we rely on another system to help us, and I have had to fight for ACC to help me … I think they just want me to leave, but I am a fighter and I will fight until the day I die to do things are fine for me and for other people. “