A 14-year-old girl with Down syndrome died last year after choking on a piece of meat in Gloriavale while locked in an isolation room, it has been revealed.
Prayer Ready was in a room that had the pins from the door handles removed so she could not get out when she choked on her dinner, Fairfax Media reports.
Her mother, Sharon Ready, and four other children and their father were in the room with her when the incident occurred, according to her aunts, Polly Withington and Ruth Green.
The other adult in the room tried to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre but failed. He then crawled through a window to call for help.
But by time others arrived, including the girl's father, Clem, it was too late.
Members of the small West Coast community told Fairfax the isolation room was used to prevent illnesses from spreading when people were sick. It was not unusual for the doors to be disabled.
A coroner ruled the fact people could not enter or exit the room did not contribute to the girl's death, which was deemed a tragic accident.
Gloriavale claimed to have changed its policy after the death and stopped taking out the pins to the door handles in the isolation room.
It argued people could still get out because there was an open window in the room.
Newshub.
