Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey has written to the family of an 11-year-old autistic Māori girl requesting a meeting to personally apologise after she was mistakenly restrained and sedated at Waikato Hospital.
The girl was wrongly identified by police as a missing 20-year-old mental health patient subject to a compulsory treatment order in March 2025. Officers had brought her to the hospital after finding her walking in traffic and scaling a bridge.
Government response
Doocey stated that Health New Zealand had failed the girl and her family. He contacted them through their lawyer to arrange an apology meeting on their terms.
"I've made it very clear to Health New Zealand they need to ensure that they continue to provide wraparound support not only to the young girl, but their family as well," Doocey said.
The minister said that actions stemming from the case must extend nationwide. "This cannot happen again. I've made it very clear that the actions don't just stop with the Waikato region. The actions need to be rolled out across the whole of the country," he said.
Doocey confirmed the government was open to considering compensation for the girl and her family.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon apologised at his post-Cabinet press conference on Monday, saying "as a human being, as a dad, as prime minister" he was sorry. "We were all quite heartbroken about that story when we first heard about that," Luxon said.
Health Minister Simeon Brown echoed the prime minister's apology and called the circumstances absolutely horrific. "We're incredibly sorry for what's happened here - we expect the system to learn from that," he said. Brown stated that he understood Health NZ was treating the mistake with utmost seriousness.
Official reviews and actions
Director of mental health John Crawshaw made an apology on Friday and published a section 95 report with a list of actions. The Health and Disability Commission has conducted an inquiry with recommendations.
Family response
The family told RNZ the prime minister's apology held great significance for them. However, the girl is still experiencing traumatic flashbacks because she feels unsafe. The family described the whole process as both overwhelming and daunting.
The family is calling for formal apologies from the prime minister, Cabinet and five ministers overseeing health, mental health, disability issues, police and Crown relations, along with their respective agencies.
They want an independent inquiry examining how disabled people are treated throughout government agencies. The family is calling for substantial reform of protections for autistic people and minors, and wants increased awareness to stop similar incidents.
Political response
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he supported the government's response and expressed hope they would determine what occurred.
"It's an absolutely tragic situation and I don't want to politicise that, because I don't have access to all of the information that the government will have access to. I hope that they will get to the bottom of exactly what happened and they will make the right decision," Hipkins said.