Son in ‘agonising pain’ as hospital staff fumble

A Dunedin father says his 6-year-old son suffered agonising pain while Dunedin Hospital emergency department staff figured out how to remove a cast from his broken leg.

Greg Wilson has written to Southern District Health Board complaining about his son, Brock, having to undergo an excruciatingly painful procedure without anaesthetic while staff tried to edge his broken leg out of a fibreglass cast that had been fitted too tightly.

The procedure was the final straw in what Mr Wilson believed had been an unacceptable series of errors by the hospital since the boy broke his leg on the family trampoline on January 20.

He said Brock was on to his fifth cast in three weeks, and some had had to be removed and replaced because they were fitted wrongly.

However, the final straw came on February 8. He said he had rushed Brock to the Dunedin Hospital emergency depart- ment because of the pain the cast was causing. It was too tightly fitted, Mr Wilson said.

He said Brock screamed in ‘‘absolute agony’’ as staff at the emergency department tried to extract his broken leg from the fibreglass cast.

Mr Wilson was appalled at the lack of compassion shown by staff during the procedure, and that although his son was in obvious pain, no anaesthetic was administered.

Brock had not been able to start school for the year.

His leg was now swollen and the skin on his foot had been broken during the procedure. The leg also had at least one pressure sore because of previous illfitting casts.

Mr Wilson said there appeared to be a lack of knowledge and training around the fitting of casts. Staff openly discussed their lack of skills at fitting casts, he said.

D Scene put Mr Wilson’s concerns to the Southern District Health Board, but it did not respond by deadline.