The health board replied to concerned mother Vanessa Cottier two weeks ago, three months after she had originally requested it, after her son, Alex Cottier, was held at the Lakes District Hospital overnight because hospital staff assumed he was intoxicated.
The report has not been made public, but Mrs Cottier told the Otago Daily Times yesterday she was mystified by one finding in the report that Lakes District Hospital staff had recorded her son as having drunk 24 cans of beer within two hours.
The report identified several incidents of a breakdown in communication between hospital and ambulance staff in January after her son arrived having vomited and collapsed at the National Rugby 7s tournament in Queenstown due to an arteriovenous malformation which had caused a brain bleed.
One of the mistakes outlined in the report was Mr Cottier's diagnosis card being incorrectly filled out by an unidentified staff member.
Mrs Cottier was startled at the claims he had been drinking heavily, saying her son had consumed three standard beers during four hours at the Queenstown recreation grounds.
"Twenty-four cans of beer in two hours; surely he would be dead?", Mrs Cottier said, questioning whether he could have survived such heavy drinking.
Mrs Cottier was outraged her son was left undiagnosed for 24 hours before being sent to Southland Hospital, Invercargill, for a CT scan of his head.
The scan detected bleeding on the brain, and 30 minutes later he was flown to Dunedin Hospital for another CT scan and surgery.
She said the report stated "there were a number of things that weren't done properly" and she was "kind of" satisfied that those aspects had been addressed.
Mrs Cottier accepted the board's findings the initial assumption her son was drunk was "justified", but was disappointed it took so long for him to be transported to another hospital for further treatment.
During Mrs Cottier's time at the Lakes District Hospital on January 8 and 9, she said she was told not to interfere.
However, the report stated staff had "differing opinions" over this accusation.
"This wouldn't frustrate me so much if they had vaguely listened at the time.
"I guess there's a few issues that I don't know I totally agree with."
One aspect was the board's reference to the Queenstown's "geographical isolation" to the Dunedin and Southland hospitals as a reason behind Mr Cottier's treatment delay.
"What a cop-out. I don't think that's a reasonable explanation for the delay at all. That's just a big cop-out."
The report, sent by SDHB general manger Ian Winwood, also outlined some staff training issues and issues surrounding communication between Dunedin and Lakes District hospitals.
Mrs Cottier said the decision to keep her son overnight rather than fly him to Dunedin was made because when they had "banged" him on the chest he was able to say five words and pass the Glasgow Coma Scale - a neurological test to measure the conscious state of a person.
The report outlined recommendations.
However, no disciplinary action would be taken concerning staff at the Lakes District Hospital.
Mr Cottier yesterday said he was pleased the report had been received and was looking ahead to his recuperation after receiving radiation treatment last month in Christchurch.
