HOSPITAL GIVING POOR TREATMENT, CARE FOR ELDERLY WOMAN

Hospital giving poor treatment, care for elderly woman

KOTA KINABALU 9/10/2012: The family of an elderly woman admitted to the Lotong Hospital in Kota Marudu last month, have lodged a police report against the hospital for alleged inferior treatment and care.

Her nephew, John Voo, claimed that his aunt, whom he did not wish to identify, received poor treatment and care which resulted in her state of coma due to water retention in the brain.

“I do not want to make wild accusations but the poor service my aunt received at Lotong Hospital is a fact that was confirmed by doctors in Queen Elizabeth Hospital after she was transferred there,”

he said when talking to New Sabah Times yesterday.

Voo explained that his aunt was first admitted to Lotong Hospital on 25 September after obtaining a letter from the Tandek Klinik Kesihatan that stated she needed to be admitted in the hospital to treat her high blood pressure and diabetes.

However, he said that when she got to the hospital, she was “tossed around like a ping-pong ball from counter to counter.” After being moved to and fro the registration counter and emergency ward counter, her letter of admission was finally read by one of the staff she was then placed into a ward.

“For the next three days, her blood pressure did not improve at all and on the third day, she started complaining about difficulty in breathing, hearing and she was experiencing bad back pain.

“But for the next seven days nothing much was done by the doctors and nurses other than administering medication which clearly did not improve her condition and on the 10th day, she fell into a coma,” said Voo.

He said that it was only when she fell into a coma did the doctors rush to her and decided to transfer her to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The journey which would normally take one and a half hours was delayed for four hours because the hospital could not find an ambulance driver.

“We were shocked to know that there was no ambulance driver on standby and we had to wait four hours before my aunt could be transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

“While waiting, my aunt even stopped breathing for five minutes and the doctors performed CPR on her. When we arrived at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the doctors told us that the person who performed the CPR was too rough and caused water retention in her brain.

Voo also claimed that en route to the hospital, the doctors only used a hand-operated pump to assist her breathing which offered irregular oxygen supply.

“Doctors in Queen Elizabeth said that they should have used the oxygen machine,” he added.

The family have decided to write a formal complaint to the director of the Lotong Hospital and request an explanation over the incident.

“We hope that this will not happen to other patients in Lotong Hospital because it is very devastating to see a family member suffering,” said Voo who urged his aunt’s son to lodge the police report in Kota Marudu yesterday. As of press time, Voo’s aunt is still in a coma at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.