Max McKenzie death: Family fear issues in son’s death are still being ignored

A grieving family spoke out about their son’s death. The Premier and Health Minister’s response on Wednesday devastated them.

Grieving parents say the Allan Government is “hiding” behind a powerless healthcare body and have slammed their response to their son’s tragic death after delays at a Melbourne hospital.

Ben and Tamara McKenzie’s 15-year-old son Max died from an allergic reaction in August 2021 after Box Hill Hospital took 20 minutes to intubate him.

They revealed their story in the Herald Sun on Wednesday after they spent more than two years fighting for answers, and said they were concerned by Eastern Health’s treatment of them and Safer Care Victoria’s reliance on hospital co-operation.

But Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas pointed to this same body, SCV, as an example of the government’s commitment to patient safety on Wednesday and thanked Max’s parents for their work to improve the healthcare system.

Max died from an allergic reaction in August 2021 after Box Hill Hospital took 20 minutes to intubate him.

Premier Jacinta Allan said Max’s death was “devastating” and it was “really hard to read their experience today”, but the government would wait for the coroner’s findings before commenting further.

“It absolutely needs to be thoroughly investigated, and it is,” she said.

Ms McKenzie and Dr McKenzie, an emergency doctor, were dismayed by their response and said in a statement they “don’t seem to understand that Box Hill hospital did not report Max’s death” until forced to do so.

“How can we be sure this isn’t a common thing,” they said.

Max McKenzie’s family – parents Tamara and Ben McKenzie and sisters Ella and Lucy – are dismayed by the government’s response. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Max’s parents said, since sharing their story, they have been contacted by other families who say they were also treated poorly after their child’s death at other Victorian hospitals.

“They have had no voice though and feel unheard,” they said.

“We are doing this for Max and for them too.”

Minister Thomas said Max’s death was a tragedy but we have one of the world’s “best, safest, highest quality healthcare systems”.

Dr Ben McKenzie, an emergency specialist doctor, said his son Max should still be here, but Box Hill Hospital made critical errors.

“We are working to ensure that we have an environment (that when) mistakes are made … people disclose those mistakes and seek to learn from them,” she said.

But Ms McKenzie and Dr McKenzie said the government hides behind SCV and called on them show more leadership or expand SCV’s powers.

“Safer Care Victoria do a fabulous job but have no ability to force change within hospitals or to look into issues if hospitals aren’t forthcoming,” they said.

“No one is checking that hospitals are reporting all of their serious incidents.”

They said Eastern Health – who had said they could not comment further but were “co-operating” with the coronial process – was also hiding behind the courts system.

“That shouldn’t have stopped them being able to publicly recognise how terribly [we] have been treated since Max’s death, and acknowledging that they should have reported Max’s death to Safer Care Victoria,” they said.