"Lack of Care in the ED"

I am in my 60s and was admitted into the ED department of BRH recently one evening via the ambulance service. I had already been given a lot of pain medication via the paramedics before reaching the hospital and the pain in my stomach chest region was intense. Period of time elapsed reviewed by the doctor to ascertain my situation.

After number of consults and more medication the senior consultant came to review me. I was in intense pain, reserved and quiet and when I told them my pain was like a 12 out of 10, I felt they were rude and dismissed my situation and I recall they told me that I could only be a ten, virtually stop being silly. They suggested a CT scan with contrast that revealed a 1.7cm gall stone in the gall bladder. More pain medication was given, vomit depressants under the tongue to control my vomiting.

After a period of time my pain subsided to a level that they being the consultant decided that I should be okay to be discharged at 3.30am in the morning and see my own doctor in Perth and receive an ultrasound and take some Buscopan!.

I remained in a lot of pain and travelled back to Perth, still vomiting since discharge and continued to take Ondanzatron as prescribed on discharge, booked to see my doctor the following morning. I presented to my doctor in pain, high temp and high blood pressure. They immediately wrote a referral for the hospital and proceeded directly to another hospital where they had no space in the operating theatres so went to a third hospital.

Admitted with number of stones identified in the gall bladder via the ultra sound, severely inflamed and placed on the surgical list for the following day. Severely inflamed gall bladder was cut away from the liver and small intestines over a long period of time. The surgeon indicated that the gall bladder possibly should have been removed at least when presented in Bunbury.

In my experience some Bunbury emergency department staff (medical) I communicated with were rude and very careless when dealing with me (patient) in a vulnerable situation. In my opinion, management needs to take a look at their service delivery and amend practices. If a patient is quiet, complying and states the levels of pain being experienced then I believe the medical staff should hear the person and react responsibly and not be rude and dismiss the person who is vulnerable with massive pain. 

Very poor delivery of human compassion in my opinion.