Teen's death: Call for answers

A west Auckland woman is demanding answers after her teenage daughter escaped from a mental health unit at Starship Children's Hospital and fell to her death on a nearby motorway.

Kalah Steenstra had earlier begged her mother to take her home. The 17-year-old had been held as a compulsory patient under the Mental Health Act at Starship's child and family unit for about six weeks, but had become upset and frustrated at her ongoing incarceration.

On the day of her death, August 20, her mother, Myrtle Steenstra of Glen Eden, had visited the hospital to discuss Kalah's care with her doctors, nurses and social workers. Kalah had been given day leave, but her mother was trying to get her night leave as well.

Myrtle Steenstra, 36, told the Sunday Star-Times she and Kalah took a cigarette break during the meeting and went outside through the open unit, accompanied by Kalah's full-time nurse. Kalah bolted, running through an unlocked gate towards Grafton Gully, with the nurse in pursuit. Kalah headed to the Northwestern Motorway on-ramp and Steenstra believes her daughter was just trying to get home.

She clambered over a barrier and fell on to a passing ute, dying instantly. There was nothing staff who gave chase could do to save her and it is understood they are devastated by her death.

The Sunday Star-Times has viewed a heartfelt letter Kalah wrote to Child, Youth and Family about a week before her death, in which she explained how she was making good progress.

"I am currently back on my medication which puts me in a better state of mind, and I am just looking for the chance to go back home," she wrote.

Kalah first showed signs of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder while she and her family were living in Australia, and she was committed to hospital in Queensland. She returned to Auckland in January to live with her mother. She was committed to hospital earlier in the year and was on powerful anti-psychotic medication.

Steenstra said the medication worked well but her daughter did not like the side effects and stopped taking it. After an incident in which she poured petrol over herself, she was again committed to hospital in July.

Steenstra said her daughter was always happy and loved life, especially music. She is laying a complaint with the health and disability commissioner over Kalah's care, as she believes staff at the unit were insensitive to her daughter's needs, not looking at the deeper picture or taking into account spiritual or Maori concerns.

"When they ask to go home, please give them that chance. Home is where they heal, it's where they belong."

Steenstra said the unit Kalah was in was like a prison. "That place made her sad, it makes all the children sad, all they want to do is be at home with their parents. A lot of kids run off from that unit."

An internal review into Kalah's care is under way and will examine events leading to her death.

The death will also be investigated by a coroner.

- © Fairfax NZ News