*X against the NZ Herald
Case Number: 3859
Council Meeting: 20 April 2026
Decision: Not Upheld
Publication: New Zealand Herald
Principle:
Privacy
Children and Young People
Headlines and Captions
Confidentiality
Photographs and Graphics
Ruling Categories:
Children and Young People
Confidentiality
Headlines and Captions
Photographs
Privacy
Overview
1. On 13 March 2026, the New Zealand Herald published an article headlined "Scurvy diagnosis: Autistic boy, aged 5, lived on diet of chicken and biscuits".
2. *X complained under Principles (2) Privacy; (3) Children and Young People; (6) Headlines and Captions; (8) Confidentiality; and (11) Photographs and Graphics.
3. The complaint is not upheld.
The Article
4. On 13 March 2026, The New Zealand Herald published an article headlined Scurvy diagnosis: Autistic boy, aged 5, lived on diet of chicken and biscuits. The article is based on a case study in the New Zealand Medical Journal (NZMJ).
5. The article details the case of a five-year-old boy with non-verbal autism spectrum disorder and avoidant/restricted food intake disorder. It describes how the child was brought to an orthopaedic clinic with significant discomfort and an inability to bear weight on his legs.
6. He was diagnosed with scurvy, a severe vitamin C deficiency, resulting from a diet consisting solely of chicken and biscuits.
7. The child’s symptoms included bleeding gums and a rash on his legs. He made a "marked clinical improvement" following vitamin supplementation and inpatient therapy, the NZMJ report said.
8. The article includes a photograph of the patient's lower legs, illustrating the rash, with the caption “A 5-year-old with autism, and whose diet consisted of just chicken and biscuits, was diagnosed with scurvy”.
9. The doctors who wrote the NZMJ report said scurvy is often viewed as a historical disease. A scurvy diagnosis is rare today, but the disease remains a risk for vulnerable populations with highly restricted diets, such as those with autism or the hospitalised elderly, they wrote.
The Complaint
10. The patient’s father, *X, complains under Principles (2) Privacy; (3) Children and Young People; (6) Headlines and Captions; (8) Confidentiality; and (11) Photographs and Graphics.
11. He says that while the patient’s face is not shown, taken together, the information disclosed in the article makes the child reasonably identifiable within his community. That information includes:
- the photograph of the child’s legs;
- the disclosure of his medical information;
- his age and gender;
- the hospital and city where he was treated.
12. The publication of this information exposes a vulnerable, disabled five-year-old to unnecessary public scrutiny, fails to protect the rights of a minor, and has caused severe mental distress to his family, *X says.
13. *X requested the NZ Herald remove the photograph and anonymise the hospital. The NZ Herald did remove references to the hospital but retained the image of the boy’s legs.
14. The NZ Herald was not reasonable in its refusal to change the image, *X says. Other media reported on the case without the image of the child’s legs, using stock imagery, showing the patient image was not necessary, *X says.
15. The boy was identified within his community, including by individuals at his school, demonstrating that the combination of details and image made him identifiable in practice, regardless of intent, *X says.
16. *X says he never consented to his child’s image or medical details being disseminated in national media coverage. He says his original consent was provided at a hospital with the understanding that the case would be used strictly for professional and academic purposes in the New Zealand Medical Journal.
17. Whether or not the details were in the public domain in the NZMJ report, the NZ Herald has a responsibility to assess the risk of harm from republication, particularly where a vulnerable child is involved, *X says.
18. *X says the NZ Herald failed to adequately consider the risk of identification and harm, and he now seeks full removal of the publication and a formal apology.
The Response
19. The NZ Herald says the article was based on a peer-reviewed case report published in the New Zealand Medical Journal.
20. The NZMJ has a long-standing practice of proactively providing articles to newsrooms under embargo to communicate issues of public health concern, the NZ Herald says.
21. The facts of the case were already in the public domain via the NZMJ. The story was considered a matter of public interest as it highlighted a rare diagnosis that is easily overlooked by clinicians and the public alike, the NZ Herald says.
22. The photograph of the child’s lower legs was supplied by the NZMJ and was highly relevant to the report. The image serves an instructive purpose by communicating the clinical reality of scurvy in a way words cannot, the NZ Herald says.
23. The photo has a tight focus on the lower legs only and does not identify the child to anyone who was not already aware of his specific medical situation, the NZ Herald says.
24. The NZ Herald says the complainant's contention that he was unaware NZMJ reports could lead to national media coverage is a matter for the complainant to raise with the NZMJ rather than the NZ Herald.
25. The hospital location was removed from the online story to address *X’s concerns and as a gesture of goodwill after his initial contact, but no rules were breached in the original publication, the NZ Herald says.
The Discussion
26. Principle (2) Privacy requires the NZ Herald to respect the privacy and personal information of the patient in this story; but the right to privacy must be balanced against public interest. Principle (3) Children and Young People states that there must be an exceptional degree of public interest to override the interests of a child or young person.
27. This article does serve a clear public interest: to communicate that scurvy, while rare today, remains a risk for some - including children with autism spectrum disorder and avoidant/restricted food intake disorder. The patient provides a compelling case study - but the privacy of a vulnerable child and his family, who had done nothing wrong, certainly needed protecting.
28. The primary concern *X raised was that the child was identifiable through the combination of his age, diagnosis, the location of the hospital where he was treated, and the photograph of his legs.
29. *X says the NZ Herald failed to adequately consider the risk of identification and harm. While the Council accepts the complainant’s contention that the child was recognised from the report, we disagree that it could have reasonably been anticipated by the NZ Herald.
30. It is conventional to use non-identifying images to illustrate medical conditions. This image was supplied to the NZ Herald for that purpose. The NZ Herald's contention that the image demonstrates the symptoms of scurvy more effectively than text, and serves a valuable purpose, is reasonable.
31. Unless a person already had intimate knowledge of the child’s specific medical circumstances, the image of the legs alone would not lead to his identification.
32. After being contacted by *X, the NZ Herald did remove the location of the hospital where he was treated, addressing the concern that a combination of factors including the image collectively made the boy identifiable.
33. Principle (6) Headlines and Captions require headlines and captions to accurately and fairly convey the substance or a key element of the report they are designed to cover. The Media Council can find no breach of this Principle.
34. Principle (8) Confidentiality covers care that must be taken around the identity of confidential sources. This principle is not relevant to this case - the source for the article is the report published by the NZMJ. The issue of informed consent in this case is not for the Media Council to adjudicate, and *X says he has raised a separate complaint with Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora.
35. Principle (11) Photographs and Graphics says editors should take care in photographic and image selection and treatment. As earlier discussed, the image used in this article serves a clear purpose in illustrating the symptoms of scurvy. The NZMJ included the image in its report, and the NZ Herald is within its rights to reproduce it. The NZ Herald published the material provided by the NZMJ in good faith and could not have been aware of *X’s understanding of the basis on which he was sharing his son’s medical information.
36. The complainant is correct to say that, whether or not the details of the case were in the public domain, the NZ Herald has the responsibility under Principle (3) Children and Young People to assess the risk of harm from publication. Other media reporting this case did so with fewer details and this option was available to the NZ Herald. However, ultimately, this comes down to the editor’s discretion – and in publishing details that were already public and could help other children, the NZ Herald did not breach Principle (3).
37. The Council acknowledges that matters involving the medical treatment of children are deeply personal and sensitive and has sympathy for *X and his family. It also notes that, while the family did not anticipate publication in mainstream media and is understandably distressed, their decision to allow the NZ Medical Journal to report on this case was undoubtedly in the public interest and may save other children from the same illness.
Decision: The complaint is not upheld
*Name withheld to protect the privacy of the child.
Council members considering the complaint were Hon Raynor Asher (Chair), Hank Schouten, Bernadette Courtney, Tim Watkin, Guy MacGibbon, Scott Inglis, Deborah Morris, Ben France-Hudson, Jo Cribb, Judi Jones, Marie Shroff, Alison Thom
Scott Inglis declared a conflict of interest and did not vote