"Lack of care in ED"

I was brought to ED by ambulance with a leg wound from a road accident. Initially I was sent for X-rays and put on a fast (no food or drink). I recall I was told that I would need surgery hence the reason to fast. I believe this was all within the first two hours of my admission.

I remember for the next six hours I laid on a wet sheet on a vinyl bed, cold, very thirsty, and bleeding. I believe the sheet had gone completely red. It seemed to me that occasionally the nurse would come and take my vitals, comment that I was still bleeding and leave. I recall no doctor came to see me in that time. What felt like several hours after admission, I got off the bed and told them I was going home as there was no point in staying. I believe there was some discussion until an orderly came and said they would take me to X-ray for my hand.

Side story, I had complained of a sore and swollen hand since admission but I felt that had been ignored and not included in the initial X-rays. It was eventually X-rayed about eight hours later. An hour or two after that I was told that as I understand it, there were no fractures. The following week, six days later, I was phoned by the hospital and told that there is a break in the second proximal metacarpal, and that they could fit me in for a splint the following week. I felt if only it was a joke!

Back to the night in ED, after I believe eleven hours of fasting, I was in dire need of some water and basically begged the nurse for a drink. I recall a doctor came and said there is no need for me to have been fasting, Joondalup does not do surgery of the type I need on the weekends. I remember they said that I should go home and come back for surgery on a Monday. My leg continued to bleed from the time of the accident until the time of the surgery- 48 hours.