Moncton man says mother sent home from hospital in only a gown, needle in arm
A New Brunswick man is demanding answers after he says his 94-year old mother was sent home in an ambulance from the Moncton Hospital wearing only a hospital gown and a needle stuck in her arm.
Morris Tingley, 69, sent his mother Josephine Hall to the hospital on Tuesday in an ambulance. He had packed her a night dress, a house coat, socks and boots for when it was time to leave.
On Wednesday, Hall was dropped off at home around 1:30 a.m.
"All she had on was a Johnny shirt and one of those flannelette sheets over her," Tingley said.
He was handed a bag by one of the paramedics driving the ambulance that escorted her home. In the bag were the clothes Tingley had sent with her.
After getting his mother inside, he noticed a trail of blood following them.
"I said, 'Mom, where's the blood coming from?' And I looked and the blood was right straight from the front door, up the stairs, into the kitchen on the floor and it was pouring out of her arm," Tingley said.
"So, I got the Johnny shirt open and the blood was all over it, all over the floor. I looked and the needle was halfway out of her arm that they used to take blood out of in the hospital. They never removed it … the blood was pouring right out around it."
Tingley said he spent more than an hour trying to stop the bleeding, finally covering it with a Band-Aid.
He said his mother has to be on an oxygen tank constantly, which is why she had to be transported home by an ambulance. Tingley is her sole caregiver, and she cannot be left alone. The only chance he gets to run errands is when a nurse comes by three times a week.
During the ordeal, he said Hall didn't understand what was happening.
"For a senior citizen to come out of the Moncton Hospital, send her home with nothing on but a Johnny shirt when all the other stuff was with her, and leave that needle in her arm? Do you think that's right?"
Tingley said he phoned the head nurse at the hospital, but no one has phoned him back to offer an explanation.
CBC spoke to Sandy Vigneau, environmental services manager at the hospital, and the on-call spokesperson for Horizon Health. Vigneau said she had no knowledge of the matter. She could not comment on the case, but said she would launch an investigation into the matter.
When asked if it hurt, Hall said, "Yes, it did. Darn right it did."
Hall said she was neglected for hours and would appreciate an apology.
"I would like to have an apology from the hospital. I sure would."
