Only 22% blame Mercury

The NZ Herald has polled on who should take responsibility for the death of Folole Muliaga and only 22.3% say it is Mercury Energy, with around double that saying the family.

While I think it is good that few NZers have gone along with the PM’s campaign of retribution against Mercury, the poll is somewhat simplistic by asking for a sole source of responsibility, and even before we know what killed Mrs Muliaga.

On the basis of what we do know to date, I could probably list around 40 things which if done differently might have stopped her death. Around half a dozen are actions Mercury could have done, around 20 are things the family could have done, and around half a dozen are things the hospital or health system could have done. When there are around 40 contributing factors, just picking one is somewhat simplistic. Of course as the PM has done that, one can’t really blame the Herald for doing likewise.