Sister been given 4 day wait to see doctor for dislocated shoulder and fractured collarbone

[Joffmognum]

My tween sister got thrown too hard at martial arts practise on Friday, and was screaming afterwards. Taken to A&E, she was hyperventilating and crying from pain, couldn't move EITHER of her arms.

She had an xray which showed a big crack through her collarbone, other small fractures other than that, and her right arm is way out of socket. Left arm is still in place but collarbone is damaged near that joint too and she can't use that shoulder/arm joint without a lot of pain. She can still use her left elbow, but other than that is useless from the chest up.

She was given a bandage sling but no painkillers despite asking for them and was told she couldn't see a doctor til Tuesday. Again, this happened on Friday.

On Saturday she slipped out of a chair and waited for 2 hours until someone found her and helped her because she couldn't move and couldn't reach a phone. She has to be spoonfed and cannot go to the toilet unassisted. Someone has to pull her trousers up and down and wipe her. She's 14 and this mortifies her. Showering is standing in the bath and mum runs her with a flannel. We've scribed her homework.

We thought this was ridiculous and that it must just have been the hospital or the supervisor and that we'd have better luck with another hospital. Again, got turned away from a&e, offered a fresh bandage for the sling but no painkillers and told we still have to wait.

Is this normal?????!

I have no idea why she hasn't been considered a priority. One shoulderblade looks about 4 inches lower than the other. Why can't we see a doctor for 4 days??? They didn't even let her have gas and air in the emergency room. It's cheap, non addictive and has few negative side effects.

If anyone with an M.D. could shed some light on this I'd love to hear it

My dh recently had shoulder surgery and his operated shoulder was ridiculously high compared to the other. He was 'guarding' it apparently and it was a good 6 inches higher
Nothing could make him relax into his sling

No knowledge of dislocation but I broke my collarbone and waited 10 days before they decided on surgery (external fixator) after a couple of trips to see the consultant following initial a&e visit. My shoulder blade was way down my back and I just had a cuff for those ten days before the lack of alignment was clear enough. All fine now, just four little tiny scars where the screws were.

Is it definitely the shoulder joint that is dislocated and not the actual shoulder blade?

Both my sister and I have had dislocated shoulder blades (scapula) and they couldn't do anything either time, just had to wait for the muscles to relocate the scapula itself. Mine is still slightly lower on the right shoulder than the left. I don't know if that is the usual or recommended treatment, but neither or my sister had any kind of treatment beyond painkillers.

Sorry, tell a lie, my sister dislocated the acromioclavicular joint which is in fact between the shoulder blade and the shoulder joint. Again, no real treatment given, other than allowing the shoulder muscles to pull itself back together.

I think this is an apallingly low level of care, but sadly not uncommon.

During an inpatient stay once we were opposite a man in a lot of pain with a severe shoulder dislocation with his arm up in traction, who was given a hospital meal but no assitance to eat it. He couldn't stop the food moving around on the tray to scoop it up. And giving the man a yoghurt... well.

The care assistants and nurses just left him with the food (and stood aorund chatting) and I ended up helping. Ditto with all his other needs like toilet and water.

He didn't speak up as he didn't want to be a burden - that was the impression given - patients were too much trouble. It was shocking neglect of basic human helpfulness and just one of many horrible stories we have from that hospital :(

Hope your sister gets well soon and that you get some clarification on what is going on.

Think most delays come down to lack of budget and senior staff not working at weekends.

It's terrible they haven't sorted the shoulders yet I'd complain. However they'd just give you paracetamol at a and e which costs them about £7 a box when you can just get some for like 60p at Tesco/co op that do the same thing so I'd get them and not bother asking for pain relief!

I fractured my collarbone, none of the rest of it - the very first thing the A&E Dr did, before even sending me to xray, was give me some strong painkillers. My break wasn't even visible as it had realigned by itself. Still couldn't do a thing for a couple of months.
I reacted badly to all of the painkillers they tried and ended up taking lots of paracetamol.
I remember researching ibuprofen and finding that studies showed it actually slowed the healing of broken bones.
Your poor sister.
The only thing I can think of is that the trauma from popping the shoulder back in would be too much for the fractures...??? They have to use a lot of force don't they? But if that was the case, I'd have thought they'd shoot her full of painkillers, then pop it back in as it needs to be done.
Sorry that she's going through this, but don't give up until you find a sympathetic Dr who will do right by her