"Inappropriate comments"

This happened in ED at Armadale Hospital recently in the AM. I went in via ambulance in severe pain and I felt was treated really well and given adequate pain relief by the ambulance officers.

I found the Dr treating me was not only rude and would not allow me to even finish giving them my medical history. Trying to tell them that I have been in hospital multiple times for chronic dehydration and malnutrition due a complex history of gastric issue over the past 3yrs. This means that small, wobbly vains combined with chronic dehydration makes it very difficult to cannulate and the vains that were used regularly are now pretty scared. If you want to get it the first try Dr’s usual is U/S guidance otherwise it takes 2-3 attempts.

Due to this I also suffer from hypoglycaemia, I feel when my sugar is dropping and usual test and have a sweet treat accordingly or when I’m in hospital they would give me dextrose solution if I am nil by mouth. When I asked the nurse to please test my sugar and explained this to them, they agreed but came back. By the time I tested my sugar at home after leaving hospital my sugar was 4 and i was shaking. The only reason it didn’t drop lower is because I always carry chocolate and I was having small bites of a little snack size chocolate to try and help. 

I also have endo so I carry the stigma attached with that and the use of regular pain relief. After failing the cannula the first time, this Dr has a second attempt and proceeds to integrate me as to whether or not i am IV drug user and how me being difficult to cannula must be because of that. I started crying because with all the pain I was in, I felt angry and overwhelmed that they would even ask that. I’ve had 100’s of hospital visits with the highest number of cannulation attempts being 7 and never once was I ever treated like that before.

When the Dr saw I was upset, they said they were just joking and tried to say they didn’t really mean it. On their way out I recall they said sorry under their breath in what I felt was an attempt to get me to be less upset. But it was clear to me they seemingly didn’t care about what they just said or the consequences of it. From this point all I was offered was panadol by this Dr even though I was in 7-8/10 pain and when I requested pain relief before I had imagining done, it never came and they never came back in the room.

I saw I arrived at Armadale at a certain time and left around 8 hours later. I only saw that Dr once and my nurse twice to performed OBS. I thank god that a new shift started because that Dr actually listened and the first thing they did was give me pain relief and lay out their plan for me so I was informed about the progress of my care. They only came to see me twice but they were absolutely straight about the care I needed and had very good bedside manner. They sent me home with pain relief and I feel if it wasn’t for them I would have discharge myself against medical advice and gone to suffer because I wasn’t receiving any sort of symptom management until this new Dr arrived.

The PCA I had take me to my U/S scan was on their personal phone whenever I saw them and when they came to get me. They were still talking on their phone, never introduced themself, I recall they just said, ultrasound scan, and started wheeling me away. 

This isn’t my first negative encounter with Armadale hospital ED. I was hoping that things would have change but I’m struggling to see how.