Abuse and mistreatment at Children's Hospital, Aurora CO

December 6, 2011

To Whom It May Concern:

On Wednesday, November 30th at approximately 5:35pm I arrived at the Children’s Hospital with a blood sugar level of around 400. I collapsed on the floor of the emergency room due to being in diabetic ketoacidosis and severe dehydration. I immediately informed the security officer that I was in possession of a concealed weapons permit and an unloaded handgun on my right side. The security officer properly took possession of both.

Immediately thereafter the doctors and nurses arrived and picked me up off the floor and put me on a stretcher. I then informed the doctors and staff that I was a Type I diabetic, that my glucose level was at about 400 and that I needed insulin immediately. I informed them of this information as I was going in and out of consciousness. In the emergency room I also informed them that I have Thoracic Outlet Syndrome which causes severe pain. The severe dehydration was further causing excruciating pain due to the compression of my brachial plexus nerves. As I was screaming in pain laying on the bed and begging for help, the medical staff was mocking me by making moaning sounds and making fun of me. Multiple times I repeated to the medical staff attending to me the conditions that I have and that I needed insulin. At which point a female doctor looked at me and said, “I am not giving you insulin.” However, they had already had me on an IV which was providing fluids and morphine medication for the pain.

Following this, I was transported to the Medical Center of Aurora in an ambulance, where I was also denied insulin, and arrived sometime around 6:45pm – 7:00pm. When I arrived, I was met by a security officer and doctors and was taken to room 9 in their emergency room. I informed their staff that I was in need of insulin due to my blood glucose level being over 400, which they also verified with a finger prick test. The male nurse that was attending to me was rude, yelling at me and told me, “You need to chill out, dude.” all because I kept begging for a shot of insulin. I was left in the room for approximately forty minutes to an hour before the attending physician in the emergency room, arrived. Upon entering my room he asked, “What is it we can do for you?” Again, I informed him that my blood sugar level was critically high and that I was in dire need of insulin at which point he left the room. Another forty-five minutes or so had passed and I had still not received any insulin. At this point, I began to yell for help. I overheard the nurses at the nursing station mocking my cries for help. It was approximately 9 p.m. when I used my cell phone to call my wife to ask her to wake up the children and bring a syringe, my insulin and prescription to the emergency room so that I could self medicate due to the lack of care given to me at the hospital. The male nurse entered the room while I was on the phone with my wife and he overhead my pleas for my wife to bring me my medicine. Four or five minutes later, the nurse arrived with syringes in hand.

Expecting to be given insulin at that time, I called my wife back and informed her to stay home with the children because they were now going to give me insulin. Although I thought I was given the medication, another forty minutes to an hour passed before the nurse injected the insulin into my IV. At this point I was in extremely critical condition and was then transported to the intensive care unit.

Upon arrival in the ICU, the attending nurse informed me that there was a false rumor among all the medical staff previously attending to me that I had entered the Children’s Hospital waving my handgun in the air. The nurse continued to tell me that this false claim had very recently been corrected. It was finally at this point in time that I started to receive humane, respectful and proper care for my critical medical condition. My critical health forced me to stay in the intensive care unit for two and a half days. Due to the lack of immediate proper medical attention that I needed, more specifically, the lack of insulin I requested, my health quickly deteriorated and unnecessarily forced me to be admitted into the intensive care unit. Up to that point, I experienced undue mockery and improper care by the medical staff at both the Children’s Hospital and the Medical Center of Aurora emergency rooms, based on the false claim that had been made against me. The escalating severity of my health conditions could have been completely avoided if I had been properly treated.

Since reporting this abuse to both hospitals I have been made to feel that Aurora South is taking these allegations seriously and have been in close contact with me. The staff at Children's Hospital however has been less than concerned. They also had the nerve to admit that their security staff was rude and making smirks to my wife and me because they searched my vehicle and found a small bag of my medical marijuana. I believe that this was also an illegal search since I did nothing wrong and did not give anyone permission to search my vehicle. If I committed a crime the police should have been notified. I was also informed by the staff at the Children's Hospital that they do not have to administer insulin to a diabetic entering diabetic ketoacidosis; apparently, they can choose whether or not they want to administer it. This sounds like a way to discriminate and cause unnecessary pain, permanent damage, and possible death to whomever they want for whatever reason they choose. They should be held accountable for their actions.

I can say I have experienced how a hero is treated and how they treat someone they suspect is a criminal. I was treated like royalty when I had my hand slammed in a car door and dragged down the ally while trying to stop a robbery in progress. I had a possible broken hand and the doctors and staff said they heard what I did and was going to the front of the line ahead of everyone else. It is amazing how differently you are treated based on how the medical staff perceives your character.....