Hospital patient crawls through own faeces

A woman, who allegedly crawled through her own faeces and blood during her stay at a prominent Queensland hospital has sparked a major investigation into patient neglect.

The state’s health watchdog is assessing claims from the family of Erica Middleton, 71, who said she “progressively got worse” after being admitted to Mackay hospital for Covid in early April.

The 71-year-old’s daughter, Cheryl Middleton, told NCA NewsWire that her mother’s stay was “inhumane” and contributed to her lifelong disability after suffering a stroke.

“She fainted in the toilet and pulled her cannula out and had woke up to a pool of blood and had to crawl on her own hands and knees through her own faeces to call for help,” she said.

“It just goes on from there, you know she was discharged and on her way back from the hospital she was pushing a 39.3 degree temperature.”

Cheryl alleged her mother lost more than five kilos after being admitted to hospital due to a lack of food and water.

“There was not enough food and water on the ward – I had to call the emergency department to get her food and water because she wasn‘t given any.” she said.

“I rang her and she’ crying that her lips are stuck together because she can’t get water.”

Following a more than 24-hour period without being given food, Cheryl began documenting her mother’s stay in hospital during the first three weeks of April.

After invoking Ryan’s rule – which enables family to review a patient’s care – Mrs Middleton was transported to Townsville hospital where she later suffered a stroke, which has left her with lifelong disabilities.

“This treatment has added unwanted stress on her heart and she has then suffered atrial fibrillation resulting in a blood clot to the brain (stroke),” Cheryl said.

“There is a serious issue at the Mackay Base Hospital and it needs investigating as soon as possible before more people have ever lasting disability or death.”

Following Mrs Middleton’s traumatic experience, she is now “too scared” to return to Mackay hospital for rehabilitation.

Mackay Hospital and Health Services chief executive Lisa Jones told NCA NewsWire the hospital had apologised to the Middleton family for “any distress her care at Mackay Base Hospital has caused”.

“We have offered explanations to some of their concerns and shared leanings we have taken from Mrs Middleton’s experience.” she said.

“I can assure the community that patient safety is the No.1 priority in our health service and that we have incident reporting systems and investigative processes which includes reviews of clinical care.

“We have established internal processes to investigate any concerns relating to patient care and also work closely with the Office of the Health Ombudsman as they also conduct an assessment of the care as part of the usual process when a person makes a complaint to their office.”

The review into Mrs Middleton‘s care will be assessed by the first week of July.