Two a penny

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The Warriors’ NRL playoffs hopes have been finally ended, being outclassed by St George at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium tonight.

Needing to win their final seven matches to have a mathematical chance of making the top eight for the post-season the Warriors were comprehensively beaten 29-4 by a clinical Dragons side that went four points clear at the top of the table with this win.

Having won eight of their last nine matches St George are the form side and are starting to really show the benefits of the tuning from master coach Wayne Bennett.

The Warriors lie 13th in the 16-team championship.

Left wing Brett Morris had a merry time down his touchline, running in two tries to take his season tally to 17 from 16 matches.

They were purring in most departments as they ran in five tries to one, scoring from just their second set of the afternoon and never being in danger.

Nathan Fien, dropped midseason by the Warriors and picked up by St George had a lively time off the bench after Bennett decided against starting him at hooker.

On the other wing veteran crowd pleaser Wendell Sailor had a busy game too while former Kiwi Chase Stanley was always lively with the ball in hand.

To their credit the desperate Warriors continued to give the ball plenty of air but were met by some stern defence from the Dragons. Fien came on at the end of the first quarter and was a menace to his old side around the rucks.

They also couldn’t match the visitors’ off-loading game and the Warriors attack was also guilty of going sideways too often to the frustration of the crowd of 13,500.

The Warriors’ chasing game was disappointing, failing to put enough pressure on St George. Big Manu Vatuvei produced 16 hit-ups but couldn’t break free.

Stacey Jones was in the thick of the action and there was the usual honest game from Michael Luck while Wade McKinnon kept trying to spark things from the back.

But with the Warriors pressing, impressive St George playmaker Jamie Soward hauled in a chip kick and sprinted 95m for a try to reassert their authority.

After leading 18-4 at halftime the Dragons’ standards slipped during a ragged third quarter that was scoreless.

“They did all things very well and they did it for all of the game.

The game petered out from there and the Warriors’ season effectively went with it – a wimpering finish for a side touted as title contenders earlier in the year. . They showed why they are leading the comp,” Warriors captain Steve Price told Sky Sport.

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Murderers will no longer be able to claim they were provoked into committing their crime under a law change the government is planning.

Cabinet will consider the proposal in the next two to three weeks but Prime Minister John Key has given his approval, making it almost certain to go ahead.

Justice Minister Simon Power, in a speech to the Institute of Policy Studies in Wellington today, unveiled a raft of areas the government was looking at including updating the law around sexual crimes, better protection for children and the partial defence of provocation.

The jury yesterday found him guilty of murder.

The defence has sparked heated debate after Otago University tutor Clayton Weatherston argued he was provoked into stabbing girlfriend Sophie Elliott stabbed 216 times and was only guilty of manslaughter.

He told reporters: “I think (the defence has) had its time, I think there are other mechanisms on the statute book that deal with some circumstances that may arise”.

Mr Power said the defence “wrongly enables defendants to besmirch the character of victims, and effectively rewards a lack of self-control”.

Once Cabinet gave approval a bill would be drafted.

“It would be fair to say there would be lot of support around the Cabinet table for the move that Simon Power is leading,” he said.

Mr Key indicated Cabinet would be advancing it.

His defence argued that Mr Brown came on strongly to Ambach and might have attempted to rape him, leading Ambach to lose control and beat him with a banjo before ramming the stem down his throat.

Ferdinand Ambach this month favourably used the defence in his trial for killing Auckland man Ronald Brown, 69.

“It was on its own time track, I have been very careful to make no comment on the Weatherston trial or for that matter any other trial.

Mr Power denied today’s announcement was knee-jerk reaction to recent cases saying the work had been going on for some time.”

He would have delayed the speech had a verdict not been delivered.”

He would have delayed the speech had a verdict not been delivered.

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Job losses are mounting as the Government advised that the country is staring down the barrel of a $50 billion recession.

Inland Revenue staff were told yesterday up to 250 jobs would be axed as government departments are told to tighten their belts and Finance Minister Bill English has issued a stark warning of trade-offs in the May Budget, which will outline a plan to tackle ballooning debt. .

The recession was expected to blow a $50b hole in the economy during the next three years, plunging the Government further into the red as costs climb and tax revenues fall. But tax cuts in 2010 and 2011 would only go ahead if they were affordable, Mr English said.

Labour leader Phil Goff said the Government was softening the public up for a broken promise on tax cuts.

“That’s $50 billion we will not recover as a nation, and $50 billion that cannot be taxed by the Government,” Mr English told a business audience in Auckland.

“I think [Mr English] is making the situation as black as he can in order to justify breaking a promise on tax cuts and slashing services to New Zealanders. The union said the cuts coincided with an increase in workload because of tax changes and KiwiSaver.”

Layoffs at Inland Revenue have alarmed the Public Service Association.

Inland Revenue commissioner Robert Russell said the redundancies among the department’s 6000 staff were voluntary at this stage.

“Our concern is that job cuts in the public service will push workloads to unmanageable levels that will threaten the provision of essential public services like those at Inland Revenue,” national secretary Richard Wagstaff said. Normally it would try to avoid redundancies by applying a sinking lid, but with the economy so uncertain, staff were staying put.

The department, like other businesses, was having to tighten its belt, he said.

“People who used to be very confident about being able to leave a job today and getting a new one tomorrow just don’t have that confidence.

“People who used to be very confident about being able to leave a job today and getting a new one tomorrow just don’t have that confidence.

Ports of Auckland said yesterday that it was cutting 30 jobs. Public service layoffs are expected to accelerate during the next few months as spending is scrutinised by a Cabinet razor gang.

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With no change in policy, debt would reach 70 per cent of gross domestic product by 2023 equivalent to $30,000 for every New Zealander.

Mr English warned that with the economy now in what was likely to be its sixth quarter of recession, and government gross debt set to double in the next three years, the Government had no choice but to bring debt under control or leave the country “especially vulnerable”.

“We will not let that happen.

If left to rise to those levels, it would eventually require “radical steps to bring it under control”.”

– TRACY WATKINS and VERNON SMALL,

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Trustees of real estate baroness Leona Helmsley’s estate say they’re giving US$136 million to charity – with just US$1 million going to the dogs.

Helmsley’s estate announced 53 charitable grants overnight, the bulk of which went to New York City hospitals and medical research.
Animal rights groups had rejoiced a year ago at public reports that Helmsley, sometimes called “The Queen of Mean” for the imperious way she treated her staff, had wanted her entire fortune to be donated to care for dogs.
But a subsequent judgment ruled Helmsley was unfilt when she executed her will.
The hotel queen’s will had named her dog, Trouble, as a US$12m beneficiary -but cut out two of her four grandchildren entirely, allegedly because they failed to name any of their children after her late husband.
The largest grant announced overnight, US$40 million, went to a digestive diseases centre at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Centre, while US$35 million went to start two research facilities in Helmsley’s name at Mount Sinai Medical Centre. Trouble’s trust fund was reduced to US$2m and the disinherited grandchildren were awarded US$4m.
The estate for Helmsley – who died in 2007 at age 87 – divided US$1 million equally to 10 animal rights charities, including the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and several groups that train guide dogs for the blind.
“Throughout their lives, the Helmsleys were committed to helping others through the innovations of medical research of responding to those in need during critical times and in other areas,” the trustees said in a statement.
A surrogate court judge ruled in February that trustees for the Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust had sole authority to decide which charities benefit from her estate.”
The grants include US$25 million to create a Helmsley Centre for Electrophysiology – the study of electrical properties of cells and tissues – at Mount Sinai, and US$10 million for the Helmsley Inflammatory Bowel Disease Centre. “We now have the privilege of continuing their good works by providing support where it will make a difference.
The foundation gave several US$200,000 donations to New York City homeless and poverty programs such as Citymeals-on-Wheels and Bowery Mission.
More than US$15 million was donated to health care systems in South Dakota, including funding for advanced cancer treatment and pharmacies at hospitals.
Helmsley was famously quoted as saying “only the little people pay taxes” before going to jail for tax evasion.
Helmsley was famously quoted as saying “only the little people pay taxes” before going to jail for tax evasion.

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Plastic fantastic, but price tag a drag

By CHARLIE GATES – Thursday, 26 February 2009

KIRK HARGREAVES/
COMFORT STOP: the newly designed lounge for bus passengers at the Christchurch bus exchange.

A $1 million Christchurch bus exchange makeover, including a space-age waiting room, has delighted commuters but some are shocked at the price tag. .
The $1m budget includes the new waiting area, complete with colourful moulded plastic seats, as well as revamping the Colombo St bus stops removing bus shelters and installing new railings and bins.
"I reckon it is really awesome.
Commuter Reremoamarua Diaz, 14, praised the new waiting room, but was amazed at the cost. That is a lot of money though. It is really nice to have more space, because the bus exchange is really full.
Diaz also liked the workbench and stools, presumably installed to allow waiting students to make a start on homework. I reckon it is a bit too much to spend," she said.
"I think it is probably not worth it.
Bethana Hercock, 17, liked the new waiting room, but was surprised at the price. They should spend it on something more worthwhile as most people don't wait here too long," she said. $1 million is a lot of money.
"It seems a crazy thing to spend money on, especially during a recession," she said.
Tasha Bylenok, 18, said it was too much to spend in a time of economic uncertainty.
Real-time bus information is displayed on screens in the new lounge so commuters can wait in comfort rather than on the street.
The new lounge was built in an empty shop and was designed by council architect Crispin Schurr.
However, he said he preferred that to the "absorbent" seating in the old bus exchange.
John Irving, 24, said the glossy seats looked "a bit sterile and wipe down".

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More bad loan advice received

By KATHERINE NEWTON Thursday, 19 February 2009

At least five more letters may have been sent from Work and Income telling Mangere clients to take out loans, despite Work and Income's claim a similar letter was an aberration. .
Ms King said she believed a letter she tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, that advised a Mangere client to take out loans and pawn possessions, was not a one-off."
Each of the letters seemed to have been written by the same person.
"I do know out of that Mangere office there have been at least six letters."
Ms King did not believe the problem was systemic, but was concerned by a similar case in Hamilton brought to her attention yesterday. "They're saying the same things.
In an email, the Hamilton woman told how a case manager advised her to take out a loan with QCard, an offshoot of Fisher & Paykel Finance, after her car broke down.
"The case manager saw this as an option for me even though I would be charged interest.
"I specifically said to her that I did not want to go to a finance company," the woman said.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has asked her ministry to investigate, saying such advice was unacceptable."
The woman said she was shocked at the advice she was given and disgusted that other clients had been told the same thing. He would follow up the Hamilton case.
Ministry chief executive Peter Hughes said he was not aware more than one letter had been sent out, calling the Mangere incident an "aberration".
Telling clients to take out loans was not ministry policy, he said.
Telling clients to take out loans was not ministry policy, he said.
"I'm disappointed that we did not do more to discourage that."
Some of the suggestions in the Mangere letter Ms King had tabled were made by the client herself, Mr Hughes said."
The ministry was clarifying its procedures rather than focusing on the case manager involved, a spokeswoman for Ms Bennett said. We need to make sure that the rest of our staff are clear that this is not an option.

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$80m paid out on medical accidents

Tuesday, 03 February 2009

Patients want more protection

Compensation to patients who suffered surgical errors, missed diagnoses and other "treatment injuries" may have topped $80 million last year.
Figures given to The under the Official Information Act show the biggest individual payout of more than $550,000 went to a patient blinded as a result of a treatment injury. Figures were unavailable for the last three months of 2008.
Between January and September, the ACC paid more than $63 million in new and continuing claims an average of $7 million a month.
ACC's director of clinical services, Kevin Morris, said the increasing number of claims did not mean hospital staff, dentists, pharmacists and other health workers were making more mistakes rather, it reflected greater openness. The cost of treatment injuries and medical misadventure has risen more than 250 per cent since 2001, from $26 million for 2643 claims to $69 million for 7235 claims in 2007. "In cases of medical error, there was a tendency for lawyers to get involved, which strung out the process considerably.
In July 2005, ACC replaced "medical misadventure" with the treatment injury category, meaning claimants no longer had to prove an error had been made. "As a result, there are more claims, but we see that as positive."
The average time to settle a claim had dropped from five months to 20 days."
Dr Morris said ACC data was fed back to health providers and professional groups, who now had a clearer picture of where errors occurred and could better prevent them. It's possible that some events were not being disclosed previously but now health professionals are happy to co-operate.
Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson agreed the "no fault" approach was fairer for patients.
Wound infections were the most common injury, followed by allergic reactions, bruising, nerve damage, skin infections, damaged teeth, skin tears, pressure sores and incisional hernias blowouts in the abdominal wall which formed when surgical cuts failed to heal properly."
However, he suspected health workers still hestitated to report incidents that could trigger disciplinary action. "It's not that health professionals wanted to stand in the way of patients getting compensation, but they would fight the claim because they didn't want a black mark beside their name.
"Doctors understand they have to be open and transparent. ."
Wellington lawyer and ACC specialist John Miller said the new system was fairer, but some inequities remained. We're all human and mistakes will always happen, but the only time that the medical profession gets into trouble is when it is less than open.

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BIGGEST PAYOUTS
Biggest individual payouts in 2008
– Blindness $552,435
– Osteomyelitis (bone infection) $483,359
– Adverse drug reaction $452,246
– Paralysis after spinal cord injury $295,485
– Ovarian cancer spread due to delayed diagnosis $206,644
– Stroke $190,910
– Lymphoma spread (delayed diagnosis) $188,215
– Brain haemorrhage $182,026
– Blindness $166,219
Payouts include ongoing medical and rehabilitation costs, as well as compensation paid directly to victim

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Broken vertebra missed

– Friday, 16 January 2009

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LAID UP: Glenn Daniels was discharged from Christchurch Hospital’s emergency department with an undiagnosed broken vertebra.

A man has been discharged from Christchurch Hospital's emergency department with an undiagnosed broken vertebra.
He was taken to the emergency department by ambulance and discharged with a diagnosis of "back strain and sprain".
Electrical engineer Glenn Daniels hurt his back on Sunday when he fell about three metres from a ladder on to a concrete floor.
"The physio said, `Man, I can't touch you while you are in so much pain; you need an X-ray'," Daniels said.
A few days later, Daniels had a pre-arranged appointment with his physiotherapist.
The Canterbury District Health Board has defended its treatment of Daniels, saying everything was done "by the book" and that there would always be some misdiagnoses.
The X-ray showed a broken vertebra in his lower back. .
Daniels said he was grateful he did not suffer worse injuries. "You would have thought it would be a pretty obvious test to do for someone who had fallen 3m on to a concrete floor.
"I'm really disappointed they didn't give me an X-ray," he said. He spends the day either lying on the couch or standing."
Because of his injury, Daniels cannot sit down and cannot go back to work for at least two weeks.
Daniels was seen by a "very senior doctor" who made a judgment on whether to do an X-ray.
Christchurch Hospital emergency medicine specialist Professor Mike Ardagh said he had reviewed Daniels' file and had no problem with his treatment.
Daniels was checked and told to visit his doctor if the pain increased, Ardagh said. Doctors had to weigh up the cost and potential damage exposure to radiation could cause, he said. Internationally, there was about a 1 per cent to 2 per cent rate of misdiagnosis, but Christchurch tended to be better. Emergency departments would always miss some cases, he said. Ongoing pain would cause patients to see their GP or return to the emergency department. Ardagh said L2 fractures, which Daniels had, could be severe but would not typically cause long-term damage.
A report by the Health and Disability Commissioner said the health board failed in its duty of care for Carroll.
The department was criticised for its misdiagnosis of Canterbury man Dean Carroll, who died in April 2007 of acute blood poisoning a day after being discharged.

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Swedish cop killed in camper crash

Holiday road toll now 15

Thursday, 01 January 2009

Police to target speedsters this year

One of the first people to die on the roads this year was a Swedish police inspector, who was killed when the campervan in which he and his family were travelling crashed this morning.
About 10.
He appeared to have been unable to make a left hand turn at the intersection, and skidded across SH 47 before rolling down a 20m bank into a small creek, said Sergeant Marc Clausen.15am today, the campervan driven by 50-year-old Goran Oskarsson left the road at the intersection of state highways 47 and 48, near the central North Island settlement of National Park. His wife was flown to Waikato Hospital with broken bones and head injuries, and his three teenage children were taken by ambulance to hospital with minor injuries.
Mr Oskarsson died at the scene.
Next of kin had been advised.
Identification on Mr Oskarsson indicated that he was a police inspector in Sweden, Mr Clausen said.
That involved the death of a motorcyclist found dead just outside Queenstown.
The new year has started badly with four road deaths, though the time one of those was killed is yet to be clarified.
About 1. The accident may have happened either side of midnight.
Around the same time, a 51-year-old Balclutha man failed to negotiate a moderate right hand bend on Cannibal Bay Road near Owaka, 27km southwest of Balclutha.30am, a 33-year-old Levin man was hit by a northbound car in the town centre while walking along the middle of State Highway 57, police said.
Emergency services were called about 10am after passing motorists saw the vehicle, but the accident was believed to have happened one or two hours after midnight.
His vehicle went down a steep incline, rolling a number of times before stopping about 50m from the road, police said.
Local police, the coroner and a serious crash investigator were investigating the cause of the crash.
The man was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
She was 28-year-old Lauren Leigh Stoneley of Hornby, Christchurch.
Meanwhile, police have named the woman killed in Canterbury on Tuesday.30pm.
Ms Stoneley was the passenger in a car being driven by her boyfriend when it left the road and hit a tree on Arundel-Rakaia Gorge Rd, near Alford Forest, about 8.
The Christmas-New Year road toll now stands at 15, with three and a half days of the period remaining.
The man suffered minor injuries.
The road toll for the whole of 2008 was estimated at 359, the lowest in 49 years, but may change when the timing of the Otago fatality is confirmed. .
The road toll was a decrease on the 421 deaths in 2007, and 393 in 2006, according to the Ministry of Transport.
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Hewitt to warn soldiers of perils of drink

– Monday, 15 December 2008

The army has engaged former All Black Norm Hewitt to teach soldiers about the dangers of alcohol abuse as it emerged yesterday Burnham soldiers were sent home from East Timor after a drunken pub crawl while on duty.
A New Zealand Army spokeswoman said alcohol was a concern for the entire country and the army as a section of society was no exception.
Hewitt has built a reputation as a responsible-drinking advocate since being forced to admit he had a drinking problem when he smashed through a glass sliding door at a Queenstown apartment in 1999.
"The New Zealand Defence Force has very strict policy with regards to the consumption of alcohol while on duty and takes these incidents seriously.
The army released a statement yesterday saying eight Burnham soldiers had been sent home for drinking while on duty.
"The soldiers received between 12 and 27 days detention in the services correction establishment at Burnham Military Camp.
"The breach of military procedures was dealt with firmly by a summary trial in Timor-Leste following a military police investigation."
The six-month posting to East Timor was a "dry mission", it said.
The soldiers got drunk, swore at locals and drove their army truck.
Eight armed soldiers had abandoned a patrol of the capital, Dili, and gone drinking in two bars and in a United Nations cafe, a Sunday newspaper reported yesterday.
The section commander in charge at the time of the pub crawl was demoted from corporal to private.
The army spokeswoman yesterday said none of the soldiers had been discharged from the army.
The programme was supported by Major General Lou Gardiner, the Chief of the Army, who felt strongly about the issue, the spokeswoman said.
The army's alcohol awareness programme was not in direct response to the incident, but as a "responsible employer" it had been looking at the problem for some time, the spokeswoman said. .
At Burnham, troops were spoken to by medical officers and senior staff, including the chief commander and formation sergeant major.
Their regular tasks in theatre include carrying out patrols, liaising with locals and providing assistance to UN police.
New Zealand troops recently left for the sixth, six-month rotation of about 150 Kiwi troops to serve in East Timor.