Bundaberg father furious with hospital for breaching ‘duty of care’

A Bundaberg man who absconded from hospital too soon after being in an induced coma wound up with a fractured eye socket and under arrest after police found him and tried to return him to the ED. His family is furious.

Josh Healy was allowed to walk out of Bundaberg Hospital soon after being brought out of a medically induced coma. He was brought back to the hospital later that day in police custody with a fractured eye socket.

A furious Bundaberg family is lodging complaints with Wide Bay Health Service and Bundaberg police after a man was readmitted to hospital with a fractured eye socket after walking out soon after being brought out of a coma.

The horrific episode began when Josh Healy, a 37-year-old Bundaberg man, became overheated while working with his father, a mining machinery painter, on Friday, December 1.

With Josh diagnosed with epilepsy in childhood, his father, Brad Healy, became concerned for his son’s wellbeing.

Josh Healy (right, with brother Nick) began having epileptic seizures while out working with his father.

“He was out here with us in the heat, and it got a bit much for him so I said, ‘we got to take you home’,” Brad said.

While on the way back to their Bargara home, Josh began having a seizure that lasted more than 30 minutes, leading Brad to call an ambulance which rushed Josh to Bundaberg Hospital.

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Upon observing his overheated body temperature and significant dehydration, medical staff in the emergency department decided to transfer him to the Intensive Care Unit where he could be put into a medically induced coma to halt the seizures that showed no signs of abating.

Brad said the medical staff told him they would bring him out of the coma slowly due to the hallucinogenic effects of the medication, which they proceeded to do in the evening of the following Tuesday, with Josh still under observation in the ICU.

Hospital staff put Josh Healy into a medically-induced coma to stop him from overheating due to the constant epileptic seizures he was experiencing.

The medical plans went awry when Brad received a call from hospital staff on Wednesday morning, telling him Josh had left the hospital without being medically discharged.

‘They said Josh had absconded from the hospital, they couldn’t find him (and) they were trying to find him, so if he shows up at home, bring him back,’ Brad said.

After rushing to the hospital, Brad was informed Josh had been found at the nearby Caltex service station on Takalvan St, following which he went to the service station to find Josh in police custody.

Police told Brad that Josh was in the “dog box”, a colloquial term for the prisoner transport enclosure in the back of police vehicles.

“The coppers said ‘we’ve got him in the dog box, don’t f--king go near it, we’ll drop him back to the emergency department’,” Brad said.

When Brad was reunited with Josh at ED, he found his son had sustained a fractured eye socket in the process of being arrested.

Brad said the police informed him Josh had locked himself in a storeroom at the service station, and had tried to headbutt one of the officers when they tried to get him out.

Police initially told Brad they would charge Josh for assault, but after Brad told them Josh had recently been brought out of a coma they said he should take Josh home and then bring him to the police station in a few days.

Josh's father, Brad Healy, said his son sustained a fractured eye socket when struggling with police at the Caltex service station near the hospital.

Brad said Josh has been traumatised by the episode, which he said was “out of character” for his son.

He is furious with the hospital for letting Josh leave while still under the influence of the coma medication.

“It’s just so out of character because of what they’ve had to pump into him at the hospital to keep him alive,’ Brad said.

‘The hospital has let him down so badly; where is the duty of care when someone can walk out of ICU of all places, and to get that far that police become involved.”

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A Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service spokesperson declined to provide information about Josh, but said they did not have the authority to detain patients.

“Hospital and Health Services are unable to detain a patient unless they fall under very specific legislative criteria,” the spokesperson said.

“HHSs do not have authority to detain anyone off hospital grounds.”

Queensland Police Service did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

Originally published as Bundaberg father furious with hospital for breaching ‘duty of care’