My very active, 92-1/2 year old father was in a ca...

My very active, 92-1/2 year old father was in a car accident at approximately 9:00 am on Saturday. The air bag deployed, and the car was totaled. He was brought to Lovelace ER, given a CT scan of his neck. The doctors told his 84 year old wife he had broken his neck (C-2 fracture) and gave him a neck brace and told her he should be better in 3 weeks. While discharging him, she expressed concern about his level of pain for the ride home. They told her they had already discharged him and couldn't give him any pain meds. He stood up and nearly passed out. She pointed out that there was obviously a problem. They decided that his circulation was cut off from being strapped in the wheelchair, gave him some oxygen, and released him into the care of his 84 year old wife.

She got him home about 1:00 pm, 4 hours after the accident, and couldn't get him out of the car because of the excruciating pain. She had to leave him in the car for about 30 minutes until she could find help. They had to use an office chair with wheels to get him in the house and down the hall to bed.

I live out of state, and was so appalled that they released him in such a short time rather than keeping him for observation at least 24 hours that I placed a call to the Patient Care Advocate. NEVER GOT A RETURN CALL! Tried another one on Tuesday, Never got a return call.

By Tuesday evening, he was in such agony they called 911 to get an ambulance to take him to Lovelace Westside. He was brought in at 5:30 and didn't see a doctor until after midnight. The doctors at Lovelace downtown hadn't even done a back x-ray, despite the force of the airbag on a 135 lb 92 year old. Today is Thursday, still haven't heard results of x-ray from the "ghost doctors."