'I was sent home with antibiotics – now I can't use my arm'

A MAN who went to his GP after feeling ill and was sent home with just antibiotics has now lost the use of his right arm.

- SHAURYA SHAURYA

Michael Gwyther, from Swansea, found himself at A&E at Morriston Hospital after he went to his GP on December 4 last year as he was feeling unwell.

Due to the nature of his infection, Michael asked to see a male GP but there was none available at his surgery, so he was referred to another in the network which had male doctors available.

Michael, who is diabetic, said: "That day, it felt a lot more rushed. They didn't do any checks that I would normally get for diabetes. He said it was an infection but it wasn't serious and asked me to come back in a week."

However, as the night fell, Michael started feeling worse and dialled 111. He says he spoke to a nurse practitioner who said he needed to go to hospital.

Michael was told there were no ambulances available for at least 10 hours, and a taxi was arranged to take him to Morriston.

"I don't remember anything from the hospital until about 10, 11 days later," he said. "At about 3am (on December 5), I went into respiratory arrest and they moved me to ICU."

Michael says he had about "10 different surgeries" to remove the infections and he was put in an induced coma.

"They brought me out of the coma on December 10 but I was still under heavy sedation for like a week after that," he said. "So, I started to come around, on around December 14 and after that they realised there was something wrong with the arm."

However, he claims even after he regained consciousness, no one "acknowledged" his arm injury.