Bundaberg family claims hospital gave dad secret medication

The family of a former grazier is speaking out about the devastating month he spent in Bundaberg Hospital, claiming he was denied diabetes care and given antipsychotic drugs.

Rosedale grazier Lindsay McLean was found by family members to be cold and unable to move.

A Queensland family has released a confronting image showing the state they found their father in after they believe he was drugged with the antipsychotic Olanzapine at Bundaberg Hospital.

Fiona McLean said she came forward because she wanted other people to speak up following the loss of her dad, Lindsay.

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Ms McLean admitted her dad to hospital at the start of April after he started to suffer from fluid on the lungs and difficulty breathing.

The former Rosedale and Northern Territory grazier, aged 75, had a number of health issues including diabetes and vascular dementia.

Despite his ailments, Ms McLean says her dad was bright, upright and functioning and family would often visit in hospital.

However, on April 10, horrified family members found Mr McLean in his bed, unable to move and cold to the touch.

“You’d look at him and you’d think he was taking his last breath,” Ms McLean said.

Ms McLean said her father was “stone cold”, couldn’t move, open his eyes or talk, was huffing and had become extremely pale.

She claims a nurse told her that her father was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a claim which Ms McLean denies.

Queries around medication went unanswered, she says.

Family members have questioned the treatment Lindsay McLean received in Bundaberg Hospital. He is pictured not long before he was found in a cold and pale state and unable to move.

“They would never give us any feedback on what was happening,” Ms McLean said.

“They’d say ‘no, you have to speak to the doctor’.”

Ms McLean said they sat by her dad’s side, fearful of losing him and frustrated by a lack of information from staff.

“No one came near us,” Ms McLean said.

“We thought, what more can we do? So we just sat there with him.”

The family later discovered injuries on Mr McLean, including a graze over his coccyx and a swollen elbow.

Mr McLean was complaining of head pain.

She believed he had a fall, and the antipsychotic medication was administered to prevent him from moving about.

Rosedale grazier Lindsay McLean was found by family members to be cold and unable to move.

The signs of the medication were eerily similar, she says, to a time when Mr McLean was given Olanzapine by a GP and reacted adversely.

It wasn’t the only incident Ms McLean says her family encountered in the month her father was in hospital.

She claims his diabetes was not being adequately managed and that it took 10 days for him to be seen by a doctor who could approve his correct insulin schedule.

She said during a visit she found her dad eating fruit cake and jelly - not in line with a diabetic diet.

“We hated leaving him there,” she said.

The family later separately admitted Mr McLean to the Friendlies Hospital in May because they refused to have him in Bundaberg Hospital again.

His daughter often wonders how much of an impact the treatment he received at Bundaberg Hospital had on his life.

“We don’t know how much extra strain it put on his heart to go through that process,” she said.

“There’s something else going on and it involves antipsychotic medication.

“He nearly died. There will be people who have lost their lives who do not have people to advocate for them.”

A family has made stunning claims that their father was secretly given antipsychotic medication at Bundaberg Hospital.

Hospital review

Ms McLean likened the hospital’s recent review into medication misuse as “chucking a bone so you don’t find a corpse”.

On Tuesday, Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service CEO Debbie Carroll and board chair Peta Jamieson said findings revealed no evidence of patient harm.

The full report has not been released to the public.

Ms McLean said she made a complaint to the health service, and was told a nurse had been stood down in the wake of her concerns.

A hospital and health service spokesperson said the recent review had shown “appropriate measures” were in place for the administration of sedatives, including Olanzapine.

“We respect the privacy of our patients and cannot disclose specific patient information,” they said.

“WBHHS engaged with the McLean family in May and June 2022 to resolve any of their concerns, and they indicated at the time that they were satisfied.

“We offered to meet with the family to discuss the outcome of their complaint in person, and they declined.

“This offer to meet with the family remains open, and they can contact our Clinical Governance Support Unit on 07 4184 1824 or [e-mail].”

They did not respond to direct questions about Mr McLean’s treatment, including why he was not fed a diabetic diet, if he had been recorded as having a fall and if he was given Olanzapine or another antipsychotic.

They also did not respond to if any investigations into Mr McLean‘s treatment found misuse of medication.

Ms McLean urged anyone with concerns to make them known.

She said there were good nurses and good doctors at the hospital, but believed management issues needed to be addressed.

“People need to know,” she said.

“This has happened, not just to us.

“Hopefully more people will question what happened to their loved ones in hospital.”