An email from the wrong Stephen King was sent to journalists. This is the human impact of the bungle.

When a loved one is facing a terminal illness, most people hope for the basics.

Adequate health care, dignity and comfort.

That's all Bronwen Paterson wanted too.

But instead, her partner Stephen (Steve) King, affectionately known as "Kingy", had to wait for an ambulance for almost two hours and then sit ramped in one for more than an hour outside the Royal Adelaide Hospital before cancer finally claimed his life.

Ms Paterson knew her partner was going to die.

But she said Steve, who was once the "life of the party" and a beloved father, deserved to be treated with dignity and not suffer in his final moments.

Bron shared her story last week after she reached out to the SA Liberal Party via email, on the day ramping stats were released.

The stats showed ambulances had spent 3,616 hours ramped in the past month. In the month that Labor entered government in March 2022 with a promise to "fix the ramping crisis", ramping hours sat at 2,711.

On the day the ramping stats were released Health Minister Chris Picton was flooded with questions during a press conference about whether he was the right person for the job.

Before Bron reached out to the opposition she said she had not seen much coverage of ramping and wanted to share her story.

She was not only concerned about ramping, but the process of palliative care and how she felt the system had failed Steve in the final weeks of his life.

It meant by the time she realised how close he was to the end, there was no room for him in a hospice and their then 11-year-old son had to watch his father in excruciating pain.

So, on the anniversary of his death she made the choice to share her story and spoke to the ABC as part of a pool arrangement between other news networks.

As the interview wound up, Health Minister Chris Picton's office contacted me before I had left Bron's home, wanting to respond to the allegations made by the grieving family.

First, we were provided with information on what time constituted as ramping.

We were then told another news outlet had chosen not to publish the story.

It is somewhat of a common practice for journalists to be told the story they are chasing "is not a story".

After all, they don't call political media advisors "spin doctors" for nothing.

But on a human level it felt incredibly dismissive for Bron, who told ABC News that she shared her story in the hope it would improve health options for others going through what her late partner had.

What followed has been the subject of genuine calls for investigation and for Health Minister Chris Picton to resign.

On Friday, an email arrived in the inboxes of several journalists from Mr Picton's office. It was not "on background" but marked with an "OFFICIAL" stamp that it was for us to "consider in your reporting".

"It's an email we received from Stephen King in November 2023 — positive feedback about his treatment," the email read.

The email chain revealed a note sent by a Stephen King to the premier's email address on November 10, 2023, praising his treatment in the South Australian healthcare system.

But after receiving that email, I had more questions. Bron's Steve died in 2025.

Would a letter written two years prior really cancel out all her grievances? What did it have to do with being ramped in the final moments of his life? Did Bron consent to its release, considering it included personal details and when and where he received treatment?

We felt it was important to ask Bron these questions directly, and while she was meant to be having a drink with friends of her late partner to celebrate his life, she sat down for a second interview with us to respond to the email and claims from the state government.

Bron told me Steve's anniversary felt "bittersweet".

"Trying to remember the good times is a lot easier 12 months on than the horrible times before he died," she said.

She was upset that she didn't have a family photo of them all with Steve as he took his final breath.

With tears flooding her eyes, she said Steve was coherent before pain relief and the journey in the ambulance was "agonising for him".

"His body was riddled with cancer, given he was 40 kilos he could feel every bump," she said.

I began to ask Bron questions about the time differences with Steve's cancer treatment and that mentioned in the email. As I shared more detail, including the email address it was sent from.

There was a chilling pause.

"No … no," she said.

Bron was devastated. She knew almost immediately that her Steve did not write that glowing endorsement.

"That's not Steve. I can guarantee you in [year listed] he did not have terminal cancer," she said.

"He has never been to [several hospitals] and he definitely wasn't a [profession listed].

"I'm really not sure what that email is supposed to achieve because that's not Steve."

She said Steve "was not an email person" and "if he gave feedback, it would mostly be via the phone".

"I just feel like I've been let down by the health system again, they don't even know who I'm talking about," she told ABC News.

"The purpose of all of this was just to raise awareness to Steve's case and palliative care and no-one even bothered to find out who Steve was.

"I was very traumatised when I read that email in response."

We left Bron's house and rang Mr Picton's office.

I asked them if they could walk me through how they verified it was the right Stephen King.

They couldn't. I waited for a written response, and it missed our deadline.

In that time, Bron said Mr Picton called her but didn't apologise. She said he then sent a text apologising.

A written statement apologising and acknowledging it was the wrong man was sent to the ABC at 6:57pm that night, three minutes before our 7pm bulletin went to air.

It said it provided the letter to the ABC in "good faith" and that Mr Picton had arranged to visit Bron and hear her concerns.

In the days that followed questions came thick and fast for the health minister about his role in the releasing of the email, and whether he should step down from the role.

He said he took "full responsibility" for the email.

Mr Malinauskas said Mr Picton did something that was an "absolute mistake" and said it was unacceptable.

So far, Mr Picton's job seems to be safe.

But for those caring and advocating for the state's most vulnerable in their dying hours the word "safety" is one that might not come to mind.

Bron told the ABC the ordeal had left her exhausted and "completely broken" and said she was "scared" to raise complaints given the government's tactic seems to be to try to shut people down publicly.