KEY POINTS:
Christchurch hospital will investigate the death of a 25-year-old man who died less than 12 hours after being sent home from the emergency department with severe back pain.
Dean Carroll died last Saturday from an infection that spread to his spine, The Press reported.
General manager of medical and surgical services at Christchurch Hospital, Mark Leggett, said there would be an investigation into Mr Carroll's death but he would not comment on the man's treatment at the emergency department.
An off-duty nurse who works at another hospital saw Mr Carroll in the emergency department while she was there with another patient. She said he was walking "like Frankenstein", with stiff legs, making groaning noises.
It was easy to see he was in real agony and the medical staff treated him appallingly, she said.
"Any fool could see this wasn't just a sore back and he needed to be rushed straight through."
She said Mr Carroll was initially told he would have to sit or stand, as there was no bed available for him while he was waiting to be seen.
He had injured his back on April 5 lifting a sheep while working.
Nearly a week later his mother Sheree Carroll took him to a doctor who gave him morphine.
His pain worsened and his mother and girlfriend took him to the hospital on April 13.
His mother's partner Ivan Hopkins said the autopsy report had cited a "gross misdiagnosis" and an infection that had gone into the spine.
- NZPA
