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A woman said she was sent home from her local emergency room after complaining of pain, only to later require surgery for a bone spur in her spine.
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“I feel like now, because I wasn’t essential, and they didn’t act fast enough, that I was left with permanent nerve damage and constant cramps every night,” Amanda Young told local news outlets.
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A hospital spokeswoman, however, hit back at Young’s claims, stating that her case had been “thoroughly reviewed” and that she had received appropriate treatment at the time.
A woman said she was sent home from her local emergency room in pain – only to later need surgery for a bone spur in her spine.
Amanda Young of Queensland, Australia, called an ambulance in 2023 due to escalating back pain and was taken to Townsville University Hospital, where she said she received pain medication and was sent home shortly after, local outlet 7 News reported.
Four hours later, Young told 7 News she returned to the hospital screaming in agony. There, she claimed she was met with opposition from the medical facility staff, explaining, “The doctor there told me to ‘shut up,’ [but] because of my symptoms and the fact that I’m suffering, I couldn’t control it.”
“They told me that they had already done everything they could for me, that my medication was appropriate, that they increased the doses of a nerve blocker that was already not working, so I ended up back in the hospital,” Young added to the outlet.
Young told 7 News she eventually ended up in a hospital bed after her pleas.
“I couldn’t even get up and go to the bathroom. I asked them for a bedpan. They wouldn’t even give me a bedpan,” she claimed to the shop. “I was forced to go from the side of the bed. It was very embarrassing.”
Young also claimed to 7 News that when she asked for more medication to help ease her immediate pain, she felt like she was treated like a “drug seeker.”
“She told me there was nothing wrong with me,” she told the outlet.
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According to Young, she was eventually sent home in a taxi. She said she “crawled” to her front door and into bed.
The next day, Young told 7 News she returned to the hospital and invoked Ryan’s Rule, which allows patients in Queensland to initiate an urgent review of their care if they believe treatment has not been escalated appropriately. (The rule is named after Ryan Saunders, a young man who died in 2007 after failing to receive proper medical care.)
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Townsville University Hospital in Queensland, Australia
Young said she was then taken to the hospital’s surgery department for a consultation.
“They medicated me right away, they gave me appropriate medication to resolve my symptoms. They told me that they believed me and that eventually they would operate on me, but they would not talk about it at that time because of the pain and what I went through in the last 38 hours,” said 7 News.
When Young finally received surgery the following year, she told News 7 that surgeons removed a number of large bone spurs in her back that had previously been invisible through an MRI.
Young claimed to 7 News that the operation took “an extra four hours longer than it should have, due to the severity of the condition,” and she believes that her delay in treatment and surgery ultimately led to permanent damage.
“I feel like now, because I wasn’t essential, and they didn’t act fast enough, that I was left with permanent nerve damage and constant cramps every night,” she explained to 7 News.
Google Maps
Townsville University Hospital in Queensland, Australia
In a statement to PEOPLE, Townsville Hospital and Health Service chief executive Kieran Keyes said, “While I recognize this patient’s experience and understand the distress associated with complex and chronic pain conditions, investigations into these claims have found that the patient’s concerns were not ignored and the care provided by our staff was appropriate.”
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“The patient previously raised a number of concerns with Townsville Hospital and Health Service about emergency department presentations, the use of the Ryan Rule and the timing of follow-up treatment,” she continued. “These issues were reviewed through our established patient feedback processes and were also referred to the independent Office of the Health Ombudsman, which concluded in January 2025 that the complaint had been handled appropriately.”
“In connection with the patient’s presentations to the emergency department in March 2023, on each occasion, the patient was clinically evaluated, provided pain relief, and managed appropriately based on symptoms and clinical examination,” Keyes added. “In relation to Ryan’s Rule claims, our senior clinical staff thoroughly reviewed the patient following concerns raised during one of her presentations to the emergency department. This included a senior medical officer, a clinical nurse consultant and an after-hours nurse manager. Hospital records indicate that no further Ryan’s Rule escalations were triggered following these reviews.”
Keyes also said that “Townsville Hospital and Health Service remains committed to providing safe, respectful and patient-centred care, and encourages any patient with concerns about their treatment to contact our patient feedback service.”
The Office of the Health Ombudsman did not immediately respond to People’s request for comment.
Young told 7 News she is speaking out now because, while she has the privilege of advocating for herself, she worries about others who may not be able to do the same.
“I have a voice,” she said. “I can speak and stand up for myself, but it leaves me worried about the more vulnerable people who don’t know their rights, who are too afraid to speak.”
Read the original article on People