Hospital Horror Stories

giveth

Don't know if this has been done, but I thought it would be interesting to hear peoples experiences in the shambles that is our helath care system.


Here's mine:

Last Wednesday, 3pm-ish:
Drop blade onto big toe of left foot leaving a very deep cut and an unmovable toe.
Went straight to A&E and left only 1 and a half hours later, thinking that our health system wasnt too bad. Doctor said there were no tendons broken and stitched up my cut.

Friday evening:
Noticed my toe was bleeding. Took off bandages. Noticed that I couldnt move toe still.
Back to A&E and after 5 hours of waiting (until 2am), I was told to come back at 8 the following morning to see someone else.

Saturday:
Arrived at A&E at 8am. 12 frustrating hours later, a doctor eventaully agreed that my tendon was broken. Wanted me to stay overnight but there were no beds so told me to come back in morning for surgery and not to eat from midnight.
If I had been diagnosed properly on the day it happened, it would have been simple surgery, but now the tendon had retracted a way back up my foot. In fact i will probably never have full mobililty in my foot again

Sunday:
Arrived at 830am. Placed on trolley in A&E in VERY cramped conditions.
8 hours later, I was prepared for surgery. Shortly after I almost fell unconscious as I had not eated or drunk all day. They hooked up an IV thing.

The guy and the trolley next to me was waiting for surgery since the day before, but was told that his operation was cancelled again until the day after. Also he was moved out in to the corridor to allow space for people with more serious injuries even though his fingers were hanging off and he was in severe pain.

4 hours later, I was brought to theatre, and when the anethistist about to put me to sleep the operation was cancelled until the following morning. Brought to a ward to sleep. I was very thankful that I actually had a bed to sleep and not placed on a trolley back in A&E.

Monday:
Surgery in morning. Told I could go home following moring.

Tuesday:
Waited for doctors to come to discharge me, but they didnt arrive until about 6pm.


So all in all, that was almost 5 days in hospital for simple surgery that should require just one overnight stay. I should point out that I believe most nurses/doctors work very hard and do a very good job.

impr0v

Friend of mine admitted on advice of GP for unexplainable and fairly severe back pain. Examined in Nenagh, sent home with a vague diagnosis of 'hyper mobility syndrome' (aka double jointed-ness).

Pains persist, readmitted after a few weeks to Limerick, examined and a blood test done. Small anomoly present in blood test (only came out afterwards), still no diagnosis made. Doctor hints strongly at the pains being in her head. Looks over glasses asking about personal problems/boyfriends etc. Discharged.

Returns for out-patients visit, no follow-up done on blood tests.

Weeks later, with pains still persisting and generally feeling awful she notices some blood in spittle. Readmitted to Limerick after pressure exerted on GP to advise admission. Another blood test carried out, Leukemia diagnosed over two months after the pains were initally investigated. Sent straght to the bone marrow transplant unit in St. James.

This was about a month and a half ago. She texted me this morning to say tests have indicated the cancer is in remission. Those two months could have been crucial.

Tommy Vercetti

My aunt had a stroke in our house a few years ago, my parents knew exactly what was happening (as did the ambulance driver) because it wasn't the first time, yet the doctor in Beaumont Hospital insisted that it was just migrane and sent her home in a wheelchair and ambulance. We took her to the Mater where they correctly diagnosed what was happening. She's been in the wheelchair ever since. Another relative was in Beaumont, and my mother (the next-of-kin) was phoned by a doctor there one evening who asked her if she consented to turning off her life support machine, which is obviously upsetting enough without it coming out of the blue over the phone. She recovered.

Waltons

Few years ago had stomach pains. Called out a doctor who decided that I had appendicitis. Rushed off to hospital where a doctor fondled my balls while deciding that they weren't the problem. Went up and down health wise for a few days in which diagnostic tests included jumping :dunno:
They decided that I was ok and then serious pain occured. I was brought to surgery, but the appendix burst on the way. Took it out. Spent the next few weeks in a hospital bed with regular occurances of large syringes being stabbed into me under local anaesthetic so I could watch. Got better.
Stupid doctors. I mean, jumping?!?!

l3rian

they are all terrible stories, im never getting sick

Seraphina

just be glad that you dont live in america, where your chances of seeing a decent doctor if you dont have health insurance are slim to none

beer enigma

I'm not totally sure that I'm in agreement with this thread, albeit Boards.ie is a democracy....

I recently had a Severe Allergic Reaction that had me in Cork Regional A & E - I spent 14 hours on a trolley because of a bed shortage, but the staff were BRILLIANT. I was cared for , constantly monitored and made very comfortable.

There's a lot wrong with the health service in Ireland, but its not gonna change overnight and I don't blame Micheal Martin...I think he's making the very best of an inherited bad job.

Kastro

was in a car crash on the ballyogan rd in leapordstown.. i was movin house, all my possessions in the car.
swerved to miss a fox..
car flipped 3 times into a field..
got out laughing.. asked where i pay..
cause it was the best funderland experiance ever.
ambulance guy poked at my neck.. i collapsed
woke up on backboard.. scared them all tellin them i thought i was into bondage
asked for the sierans to be put on.. lol
waited in hospital for a few hours strapped into a bed.
there is tiles on the roof, each containing 1603 holes. bored.. yawn
xrays.. more waiting.
doc comes over to me with a big needle in hand.
i have no problems with needles.. but i freaked for some reason and
told him id knock him out if he didnt get it away from me.
he laughed.. and said your still strapped in the backboard.
eventually they said i have a concussion and mild whiplash.. it got worse.
and they kicked me out.
my ma is still upset that my stuff was destroyed..
sometimes i think she wants my stuff there and me to still be sitting in the car.

Waltons

I wouldn't think to blame my experience solely on one person's ineptitude. It's true that our health system is better than a lot of others, but stories like these do still happen. Mine actually happened during the nurse strike, so there was an excuse I guess. Still, it doesn't change what happened

giveth

Yeah, I want to point out again that the nurses and doctors do a brilliant job and I also think Michael Martin is doing a good job. I don't want this to get into a nurse/doctor bashing thread.
There's so much money being thrown at the health service now, I think it will just take a few years for it to make an improvement.

Töpher

Injured my knee before. Unbeknown to myself I'd been spending about 2 weeks walking about on a fractured kneecap, it was very painful, but put it down to strain, the kneecap eventually broke. So I spent time in a cast and stuff, and then spent nearly 18 months visiting the hospital 3 and 4 times a week for physiotherapy because my knee wasn't healing or responding and I couldn't walk or even bend my leg properly. They eventually took my other aside and told her it was all in my head, that I was imagining the pain/injury because I wanted attention! Anywho, I went for a second opinion, turned out I'd snapped 3 of the 4 ligaments in my knee too! After 6 weeks of the proper treatment I was improving. Can't believe the hospital never picked up on that! :mad:

Also, I used to have severe trouble with toenails (had them removed 13 times between the 2 big toes! Ew!), once when I was in hospital for it I was being treated by some cocky young know-it-all, who didn't believe anything was wrong with me. So he just tore the fúcking thing off! No anasthetic or anything, just tore it. He was greeted with an actual explosion of puss and goo! Must have been under some pressure! Turned out the bone in the toe underneath the nail had got infected, not a pretty sight! I'll never forget the look on his face tho, absolutely priceless! Don't understand why this guy wasn't being supervised, he clearly wasn't much cop, and to just tear off a young childs toenail without warning or anasthetic seems a bit barbaric! [Also it's the worst possible thing that could have been done there! Led to huge infections afterwards and a greatly delayed healing time! :mad:]

So yeah, me no likey the hospitals! Thankfully I've not had to visit them in a while!

Kêrmêttê

A few years ago, I was knocked off my bicycle and pulled under a 40 ft container truck and dragged about 30 foot down the road under the truck. Miraculously, the truck did not squish me even though it travelled right over me.
I was taken to casualty in an ambulance only to be told 1 hour after I had arrived and had some xrays, that I only had cuts and bruises and I could go home.
I never had a tetenus shot even though half of my ass was left behind on the road and I was cut to bits, and I only received a prescription for painkillers when I tried to get up off the examination trolley and nearly passed out.
I was recalled nearly 1 month later and told that, "Oops, we made a mistake. You really have a fractured vertebra and really you should be strapped into a spinal brace"
LIKE FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was back at work and walking about for nearly a month before the casualty Department realised the error of their ways... and in the meantime I could have quietly passed away from blood-poisoning from lack of tetnus injection or even worse have become paralysed from my broken back. :eek:
I've never trusted a medical person since.

monkeyfudge

I got stabbed last year. And they forgot to give me stitches, they didn't realise this until they were discharging me, and by then it was too late. Well the Doctor felt it was too late, the nurse thought it could still be stiched. So they used a sort of surgical selotape to hold the wound together.

The wound continued bleeding for 2 more weeks, I had to change the dressing every couple of hours.

Again, all the nurses were fine... but my case was handled by 4 different doctors and a surgeon... communication seems to be poor among them.

This was Beaumont Hospital by the way....

Lump

Got VHI Cover, no horror stories here.


John

monkeyfudge

I've got VHI...

if you don't have VHI, you just have to wait longer to get a bad service from the hospital...

Nightshiftguy

Einst&#252 wrote: »

Injured my knee before. Unbeknown to myself I'd been spending about 2 weeks walking about on a fractured kneecap, it was very painful, but put it down to strain, the kneecap eventually broke. So I spent time in a cast and stuff, and then spent nearly 18 months visiting the hospital 3 and 4 times a week for physiotherapy because my knee wasn't healing or responding and I couldn't walk or even bend my leg properly. !

Been there and done that

Lump

GO to a private hospital with your VHI. Maybe it's different in the sticks, but I hardly ever go to the general hospital.


John

giveth

I've got Bupa, but I dont believe there are any A&E's in private hospitals in the country. Whether you have helath insurance or not, you are treated the same, at least until you are admitted into the hospital as an in-patient (which took 3 days in my case).

UnrealQueen

giveth wrote:

I dont believe there are any A&E's in private hospitals in the country.

There isn't.

Kêrmêttê

Lump wrote:

GO to a private hospital with your VHI. Maybe it's different in the sticks, but I hardly ever go to the general hospital.

When you're carted into an A&E dept from an ambulance, VHI or Bupa doesnt make a blind bit of difference. You'll still probably get examined by 3 interns who haven't slept properly in 4 days and still be sent home without the proper medical attention.
Hospitals in this country are bloody useless for emergency cases.

Mac daddy

About two years agoi had to go into louglinstown in cabinteely i dropped a beer keg on my right middlle finger the whole thingwas spit open - went in a the woman behind the desk was typing away behind her pc two minutes later she turned around and seen me covered in blood and the towel was soaked in blood she says " whats the matter with you" i turned around and said what the hell do you think is wrong my finger is split open- i had to wait almost 45 minutes before i was seen.
Finally a doctor came in removed the towel that was covering my finger and had a look at it called a nurse in and asked her to cut the ring of my finger she was trying to do it but could not manage she gave me the pliers and the told me to remove it myself??????
Never ever going back to that place again- a few days later when i got out of the hospital i was as sick as a dog i picked up some kind of bug when i was in the hospital.

Agent Smith

last new year's eve i was hit by a speeding car on the dual caraigeway in cabinteely,

spent 16 hour's on a trolley in louglinstown hospital,
then got a x-ray, and told i would be fine, it was just a broken arm,
and i would be discharged the next day,

grand so i thought,
then they desided that they wanted to do more x-ray's,
my arm was broke in 2 places and my leg's were in bits,

and they desided to send me to vincents to see a "specialist"

in vincents they discover 5 piece's of glass lodged into my head and deside to operate on my arm

i now have a metel pin in my arm and 2 plates holding it together,
scar's on my leg's and arms,
scars on my face where they took skin for skingraph's.

i spent 4 weeks in hospital, 8 month's in phisio and i was told i'd be out after 1 night,

for **** sake,

i dont blame the doctor's or nurses, imo nurse's deserve atleast a 200% payrise, the amount of ****e they put up with

now if i had vhi, i'd been seen sooner then 16 hour's after the amberlance got me

Kêrmêttê

agent smith wrote:

now if i had vhi, i'd been seen sooner then 16 hour's after the amberlance got me

VHI or Bupa means nothing in an A&E situation. Believe me... I've had experience of this. You get treated just as shoite as the rest of the mortally wounded

Paddy20

Anyone who really would like to read the true reality. Should visit the non-profit www.irishhealth.com

A highly respected well established independent organisation with 65,550 members, and countless health issue horror stories. Which at least Irishhealth regularly highlights in the media. :eek: