Health authorities have launched an inquiry into how an intellectually disabled Nowra man was left with a stingray barb in his knee for a week, despite attending the emergency department of Shoalhaven District Hospital on three occasions.
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A fun day skiing on the Shoalhaven River for 25-year-old Nicholas Boyd earlier this month ended in emergency surgery in Wollongong this week.
His family has questioned why, despite attending Shoalhaven Hospital emergency department twice in two days with a badly swollen and sore knee, he was not X-rayed.
They say there was the possibility he may have lost his leg or his life as poison from the barb spread through his body.
Mr Boyd endured having the three-centimetre barb embedded in his knee for a week, causing massive infection and slowly poisoning the rest of his system.
Mr Boyd was being towed behind a boat on a boogie board by his stepfather Mick Blattner near Greys Beach on February 4 when he came off the board and hit something in the water.
"We thought he must have hit a rock or something," Mr Blattner said.
"We pulled him into the boat. He was shaking violently and had puncture marks in his knee, which was starting to swell."
Mr Blattner took him to Shoalhaven Hospital where doctors glued the puncture wounds in his knee, instead of stitching them.
"To me it looked bad, I thought he might have ruptured something in his knee and suggested an X-ray, but was told it wasn't necessary and we were sent home," Mr Blattner said.
In the next 24 hours Mr Boyd's knee continued to swell and he was in considerable pain when he presented again to the hospital's emergency department the next day.
"We were given antibiotics and again sent home without the offer of an X-ray, despite his knee being badly swollen," Mr Blattner said.
Mr Boyd battled with the injury over the weekend, returning to work at Flagstaff only to be sent home by his boss, suggesting he return to the hospital, due to the condition of his knee.
His family took him to a local GP, who sent him back to the hospital, insisting on an X-ray and a blood test.
That X-ray showed a number of fragments, possibly believed to be rocks, in his knee and he was referred to Wollongong Hospital for surgery, which was carried out.
"The doctors were astounded when they opened the knee to find the stingray barb in there," Mr Blattner said.
"He could have lost his leg. It could have killed him, it was slowly poisoning his system.
"We were told it would just be day surgery.
"But now he will be in at least a week and may have to undergo more surgery to further clean out the infection in his knee.
"It's just not good enough.
"Being turned away once is bad, twice is unacceptable.
"I've had lots of dealings with the hospital over the years and despite sometimes being slow, they are usually pretty good.
"We are really disappointed with the treatment."
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District acting director of clinical operations Suzanne Harris said Shoalhaven Hospital management had contacted the family to directly discuss their concerns.
"We have extended our apologies and acknowledge that, on initial review, further diagnostic work should have occurred during the patient's second presentation to the emergency department," she said.
"We have assured the family that a detailed review into the circumstances is being undertaken in an effort to prevent a similar occurrence."
