"I AM NOT REFUSING TREATMENT I AM REFUSING DRUGS!!!!"

And with the lights a flashing the ambulance arrives, very very quickly...well done Queensland Ambulance Service!

I explain to the paramedic, Hayden, that I had just got back from Thailand, I had swollen feet and legs and had developed a stabbing pain under my shoulder blade. I also explained to him I was prone to panic attacks and anxiety and that my husband had had a pulmonary embolism, so maybe I was freaking out, I also told him truthfully Id had a Jim Beam and Coke...

I said to him over and over I do not want to go to hospital, if you think I'm over reacting just say and Ill go to my GP. He said that my vital signs and risk factors meant that he felt I needed to go to hospital so I agreed.

Normally if someone offers me hospital grade, medical practitioner prescribed pain relief I'm in, but I have had enough needles, enough pain killers enough yucky jabs that I would rather the pain. I refused all offers of drugs by Hayden, I also refused a finger prick blood test to check my sugar level. I insisted NO NEEDLES, NO PAIN DRUGS.

We arrived at the hospital and this is where the insanity began.....

I must preface this by saying this is my side of the story, I have made a formal complaint for answers about the events at Logan Hospital in Brisbane Queensland last night, I will be sure to provide you with their explanation once I have received it......

"Bitch Nurse from Hell", who will hence forth be referred to as BNFH, came to me and asked me my name, so I told her, the ambulance must have called ahead and given my details as she then said, do you go by any other names, I have not changed my name with Medicare to my married name so I provided my maiden name details, along with my date of birth, address and phone number....BNFH left, only to return moments later and said, "What other names do you use?",

"None, that's my name, I'm sorry I don't have my Medicare card I haven't put all that stuff back in my wallet since returning from Thailand"..

They wheeled me out of a corridor and into a bay....

BNFH returns "Could you please tell me your real name"

"THAT IS MY REAL NAME!!! OMG!!! What are you talking about???"

Then I could NOT believe my ears....

"Stop lying to me, I nursed you here 3 or 4 days ago, you were asking for pain medication?", proclaimed BNFH.....

"I beg your PARDON????" I was yelling, "I WAS IN THAILAND THEN! I GOT OFF A PLANE YESTERDAY MORNING AT 8AM!!!!! YOU HAVE NEVER NURSED ME! I WAS IN THAILAND LOOK AT MY MOUTH!!!!

The horrid cow rolled her eyes at me , and sent in another nurse, a male one and again I was questioned about my identity - I had seen and heard BNFH talking to him...

I had luckily not removed my passport or boarding pass from the handbag I had, I showed the new nurse that...he said nothing...but did tell me I had been admitted to the hospital in December, which I HAD NOT, and that made me even more crazy!!!! I even called my husband to check I wasn't deluded, no I had not been admitted to Logan Hospital in December! The male nurse rolled his eyes!!!

I said why are you treating me like a drug addict? He responded with "No one said that, why would you get that idea?" my response "Because you are treating me like one, I have swollen feet a pain in my chest and I just got through 11 hours flying, I NEED AN XRAY AND A DR!"

BNFH then returns with needles and the such and I say to her, "No pain medication  no needles, I do not want medical intervention unless I NEED it" The stupid woman walks away and tells someone at the nurses station I am REFUSING TREATMENT!!!! I SCREAM AS LOUD AS I CAN "I AM NOT REFUSING TREATMENT I AM REFUSING DRUGS!!!!" WHY ARE YOU TREATING ME LIKE THIS? WHY ARE YOU QUESTIONING MY IDENTITY? WHEN WILL SOMEONE ACTUALLY LOOK AT MY SYMPTOMS!!!!!"

They just ignored me...Hayden the paramedic appeared, I asked him, have you heard what they are saying to me, he said he had and that he had already told them he felt it was inappropriate.

I told him to go and tell them I was leaving, to give me back my clothes and Ill go to a different hospital.....

He took too long, the sounds of the machines screaming when I disconnected myself drew one nurses attention, she found my clothes, I dressed and walked out, got a taxi and came home.....

I was brought to the hospital IN AN AMBULANCE, presenting with all the signs of DVT and a potential blood clot, I sat there for over an hour being questioned about my identity, being told I was there when I was in another country, having offensive insinuations thrown at me and I did not even have  a stethoscope put to my chest, let alone an x-ray, a blood test, or see a doctor, then they let me get up and walk out.....they didn't even try to stop me....

By the time I got home I was wild....The government wont help me with my dental and they sure as shit wont help me when I'm taken to a hospital in an emergency services vehicle....because that's how all druggo's get to hospital not people in a potentially life threatening situations....far out....I mean if I was seeking drugs they should have applauded me for the realistic immigration stamps and fake boarding pass in someone else's name with matching passport!!!....

Anyway.....

I was stubborn, but educated in by stubbornness  My husband had had a blood clot in his lung, in fact he has had three. The nature of the pain was NOT the same and no where near as bad. I went to my GP...it was a trapped nerve....so nothing to panic about....

BUT! That does not excuse for one millisecond the treatment I received at the hands of the Queensland Health as a result of the employees at Logan Hospital Emergency Department.

Hopefully you have been reading my blog and you would have read about the wonderful medical services I experienced in Bangkok. Now, people love to talk about how crappy and dirty and whatever they think it is like over there, but those people are wrong. The medical treatment I had over there was world class, not bullshit bogan class, wait like a cow to the slaughter and if you don't die before we believe who you are, its your lucky day so go buy a lottery ticket...

I am hurt, I am angry, I have lost all confidence in health care in this country.

It either costs so much it is an impossible dream ie dentistry, or so utterly crap if you are actually sick you will die in a corridor before they even take your temperature ie an emergency department.

In all fairness I will share their response to me when the investigation is complete.

In the mean time, watch out for me in the media....if I wasn't compelled to share my VERY positive experience with overseas medical treatment before I am now.