"Frustrated with missed bone fracture"

We recently took our teenager to Collie Hospital Emergency Department (ED) after they were involved in an accident during sport at school. We told the staff our teenager had fallen after marking a ball and the teacher had heard a loud cracking noise and as a result our teenager was unable to weight- bear on their leg and couldn't bend their knee.

The staff were very busy but polite. Our teenager was pushed into the hospital in a wheelchair and given Panadol. We then waited 2 hours to see a doctor.

The doctors ordered an X-ray which was performed straight away. We then saw the doctor again who couldn't see anything on X-ray. They sent us home and told our teenager to use the knee as much as possible. After the weekend they were still unable to weight- bear and the knee was very swollen.

We saw a doctor at Collie River Valley Medical who organized an MRI. This showed a fractured patella. We are now trying to find an orthopedic surgeon to assess our teenager's case. I feel so frustrated and angry that the ED staff missed our teenager's fracture and gave us harmful advice regarding their care. It has now been two weeks since the misdiagnosis and we are still unable to get an appointment at the fracture clinic!