Teen skier waited six hours in ‘agony’ with broken leg
A 14-year-old boy who developed a high tolerance for painkillers after four open-heart surgeries was in ‘‘constant pain’’ for six hours as he waited to be taken to hospital after breaking his leg skiing.
David Dirks’ mother Rebecca says the ordeal was ‘‘horrifying’’ and wants to know why a helicopter was not called to take her son to hospital, instead of taking three ambulances.
The teen was skiing at Mt Hutt in Canterbury on July 23 when he broke his leg about noon on a trail he had completed five times that day.
‘‘It was a freak accident. David went one way and his leg went the other,’’ said Dirks, who was on the chairlift when the incident occurred.
The rescue crew quickly took David to the medic room where he was given painkillers and emergency services were called about 12.30pm.
David, who had a heart transplant last year and has had four open-heart surgeries, had a ‘‘pretty high’’ tolerance for painkillers and was in ‘‘constant pain’’ despite fentanyl, ketamine and laughing gas. ‘‘He was pretty distraught,’’ Dirks said.
An ambulance was leaving the skifield about the time David suffered his injury. Dirks assumed another ambulance would arrive shortly after or that a helicopter would be called. However, it was not until about 3pm the ambulance returned.
The first ambulance took David from the skifield to Methven. He was then transferred to another ambulance which took him towards Rakaia where a third ambulance took him to Christchurch Hospital.
‘‘None of those transfers were fun ... going from one stretcher to another was just agony,’’ Dirks said. ‘‘He kept asking to get knocked out, ‘can’t you just knock me out?’ he said. He was in a lot of pain.’’
David arrived at hospital about 6pm and was given more pain relief as they began working on his leg.
‘‘We’ve seen David go through the most horrendous things in the world, watched him get sicker and sicker and watched him get through four open-heart surgeries, numerous other surgeries, a full heart transplant, I’ve never seen him in so much pain,’’ Dirks said.
‘‘It was fairly horrifying for us.’’ Dirks said she was not upset with anyone involved in David’s care, but wanted to know why a helicopter was not called. ‘‘There’s no way between breaking a leg and getting to hospital should take six hours.’’
David remained in hospital for several days before being sent home with a 6kg cast on his leg and a wheelchair. He’s also getting around the house with a zimmer frame.
St John acting Canterbury district operations manager Darryn Grigsby confirmed it received a call to an incident at Mt Hutt at 12.37pm. ‘‘At the time of the call the doctor assessing the patient at Mt Hutt was told to expect a delay, due to the St John AWD vehicle already being committed to another incident, which they indicated they were comfortable with based on the patient’s condition.’’ The doctor did not request a helicopter, Grigsby said.
St John sent an ambulance from Ashburton, but due to the road conditions, swapped to an AWD vehicle at Methven. The crew continued up the skifield road in the AWD ambulance, and arrived at 2.53pm. The patient was driven to Methven in the AWD ambulance, then put into the Ashburton ambulance, which then met another ambulance from Christchurch near Rakaia, which took him to hospital. The transfer was due to demand in Ashburton district.
‘‘We acknowledge any delay in treatment can cause additional distress to someone who is already facing a worrying or traumatic situation. We are sorry if, in this instance, we did not meet the family’s expectations at this time.’’
Mt Hutt Ski Area general manager James Urquhart said its medical professionals followed the correct procedure supplied to it when arranging patient transfers.
Mt Hutt had asked for a copy of St John’s recordings to see if there were lessons to be learnt.
Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust’s chairperson Murray Willocks was unable to comment on the incident, but said ‘‘patient outcomes’’ were key.
Asked if six hours was too long, he said: ‘‘If I was a 14-year-old I would say yes, that’s too long.’’