The Institution Too Big to Fail

Don't criticise it because that would be wicked, heathenish and American:

John Barnet received six hours of hospital care for a broken neck and sternum before being told he had to leave.

Now his family is demanding answers as to why the 41-year-old man was discharged from the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton hours after crashing his motorcycle, and with little in the way of followup care for injuries that could have long-term effects.

"It's unacceptable," Taylor Grandy, his wife, said in an interview Friday.

"He should still be in the hospital. He really should be, you know, at least for a week or more." ...

Paramedics took him to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital around 8 p.m., where he was treated for a broken C7 vertebra in his neck, a broken sternum, a broken nose, a split tongue and broken teeth. ...

(Sidebar: to wit.) 

Grandy said once the results of the CT scan confirmed the broken vertebra in his neck, staff started giving her instructions for maintaining the brace her husband had around his neck.

Then without explanation, they informed the couple Barnet would be discharged from the hospital later that evening.

"They wanted to sit him up in the bed … to kind of get him up moving, and they were like, 'You can go home tonight'.

"And even John couldn't believe it."

Grandy said she called Barnet's sister at around 1 a.m. to help get him up and out of the hospital. After a 90-minute struggle to move him without hurting him, they had him loaded into the family minivan with their five children and were on their way back to their home in Fredericton.

Staff sent Barnet home with a few Tylenol tablets, prescriptions for naproxen and morphine, and a referral to a neurosurgeon in Saint John, Grandy said.

It's a decision that, even two days later, still has her perplexed considering the severity of his injuries.

"And the doctor did tell me that if he moves a certain way or if he takes the [brace] off or anything like that, he could be paralyzed."

Grandy also said she's called the neurosurgeon Barnet was referred to the day after, only to find out he's away from work for the next week and a half.