February 23, 2026
Schrödinger’s Nana, but make it political
NZ health app breach: Alive patients marked dead, names changed to Charlie Kirk
NZ med app chaos: Living patients marked dead, 'Charlie Kirk' names ignite political food fight
TLDR: A NZ medication platform was hacked, marking living patients as dead and renaming some “Charlie Kirk,” forcing MediMap offline while officials investigate. Commenters swing between outrage over patient danger and memes about political trolling, with heated blame on weak security, underfunded systems, and risky reliance on the cloud.
New Zealand’s MediMap medication app went dark after an apparent hack flipped living patients to “deceased” and even renamed some to “Charlie Kirk,” per Stuff. And the internet? Absolutely melting down. Nurses say they found patients marked dead by their National Health Index (NHI, the country’s health ID), with ages and locations scrambled. MediMap says it’s “unauthorised activity,” brought in cyber experts, and put the platform in maintenance mode to protect care. But the community reaction is pure drama. The top mood: furious that a medication charting system—used in aged care and hospices—could be toyed with. “This could kill people,” one commenter rages, while another calls it “not a prank, a patient safety crisis.” Then came the political firestorm: the “Charlie Kirk” rename turned the thread into a left-vs-right blame cage match. Some see it as deliberate political bait—“maximum chaos with minimum effort”—others say it’s just dumb troll energy. Security folks and armchair analysts are brawling too: underfunded health tech vs. cloud mistakes vs. sloppy access controls. Meanwhile, jokesters are memeing it to the moon: “Schrödinger’s Nana,” “Weekend at Charlie’s,” and “Every chart says Charlie now.” With police and the privacy office looped in—and memories of the recent Manage My Health breach—commenters sum it up as: another week, another leak, but this time with terrifying real-world stakes.
Key Points
- •MediMap experienced unauthorised activity that incorrectly modified patient demographic records.
- •Some living patients were marked as deceased; some names were changed to “Charlie Kirk,” ages altered, and facility assignments changed.
- •MediMap placed its platform into maintenance mode and engaged external cybersecurity experts to protect patient safety.
- •Authorities including Police, Health NZ, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner were notified; forensic investigations are underway.
- •Dozens of providers may be affected, potentially impacting tens of thousands of patients; the platform remains unavailable.