An electrician was told to put a heat pack on a life-threatening broken neck and sent home from a Western Australian emergency department.
Jordan Daly was one sneeze away from becoming a quadriplegic after doctors at a country hospital failed to identify his broken neck.
The 26-year-old was celebrating his birthday when he dove head-first in to a shallow pool.
A doctor said Jordan Daly, 26, was a cough or sneeze away from becoming a quadriplegic after he was told to put a heat pack on his broken neck
A day later he went to the emergency department in excruciating pain and looking for medication.
‘They just said “go home” It’s going to be a bit sore when you’re driving, turning your head, but just keep putting a heat pack on it,’ Mr Daly told the ABC.
After an hour wait he was sent home and told to slap a heat pack on the neck break.
The physiotherapist ordered an X-ray that didn’t show a the immediate fracture and then booked in a CT scan that identified the life-threatening break
Two days later he booked himself in to see a physiotherapist after experiencing severe pain.
‘A doctor said to me that if I had of sneezed or fallen over, I could have set that fracture off and could have been a quadriplegic or, even worse, it could have killed me,’ the electrician said.
The physiotherapist ordered an X-ray that didn’t show a the immediate fracture and then booked in a CT scan that identified the life-threatening break.
He was put in a protective collar to stabilise his neck and was later airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital
The electrician was told to put a heat pack on his broken neck and that it would be ‘a bit sore’
Mr Daly was told to book himself in to the hospital urgently and to remain in bed until he could be admitted.
He was put in a protective collar to stabilise his neck and was later airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital.
The electrician is set to make a full-recovery after three months in a brace that is surgically screwed to his skull but is shocked that the break wasn’t noticed from the start.
‘Is it going to take someone being a quadriplegic before something actually happens?’ Mr Daly said.
An investigation have been launched in to the country hospital triage for negligence.
The electrician was air-lifted to Royal Perth Hospital and had a brace surgically screwed to his skull