My brother had his finger smashed in a work accident. Urgent care sent him to this ER because they didn’t have an X-ray. When we arrived, he received an X-ray and his finger was wrapped. He also informed them that he is a Type 1 diabetic , but no one asked about his levels or showed concern about how the injury and blood loss might be affecting him.
I repeatedly asked the staff to check his blood sugar because he was extremely drowsy. When they finally did, it was 425, which is severely high. Despite this, the staff seemed very relaxed which I assume is because they didn’t want to worry him at the time, but later I think they may have simply not been educated on just how severe this is. Afterwards he was placed in a room it took 35 minutes before anyone took action to bring his blood sugar down. During this time, I stepped out multiple times asking for help, including asking if he could receive an insulin injection because he clearly needed to get his levels down.
I had to make some edits due to too many words but here are some timestamps including when his blood sugar was checked during the visit:
9:44 PM: Blood sugar was 425. He was brought to a room afterward.
10:07 PM: Blood sugar was 410.
10:28 PM: IV fluids were started (0.9% sodium chloride). This can help lower blood sugar through rehydration, but for severe hyperglycemia in a Type 1 diabetic, it was extremely concerning that insulin was not given immediately, despite my suggestion. The doctor (I believe her name was Dr. Yorick, with red hair) insisted the IV fluids would lower his blood sugar by at least 100 points, and seemed frustrated that I even suggested insulin.
10:45 PM: I noticed the bag was empty. I requested three times for his blood sugar to be checked before anyone did so.
11:27 PM: Blood sugar was 394.
11:37 PM: He received 4 units of fast-acting insulin.
After this, he was left alone for about 3 hours with no sugar checks. During this period, I asked multiple staff members to have his blood sugar checked. Each person said yes but did not follow through. It wasn’t until a new staff member came to check his vitals that I asked again. She immediately went to get a meter and checked his sugar within a minute.
2:18 AM: Blood sugar was 361.
It is very concerning that after 2 hours and 51 minutes, his blood sugar dropped only 33 points despite fast-acting insulin. It’s also possible that his sugar may have dropped lower and risen again—but I could not know because no one came to check him. He remained in severe hyperglycemia throughout most of his emergency room stay with very little monitoring.
2:53 AM: Blood sugar was 369. At this point, it was hard to tell whether his sugar had lowered more earlier and then climbed again. The nurse wanted to give more insulin, but my brother refused because he was unsure whether the insulin he received earlier had even been effective. Our mother, who is a pharmacist, agreed with his decision to wait and use his own insulin at home.
Afterwards, the nurse placed a bandage and splint on his finger and gave us discharge papers. Once we left, I noticed his finger was still bleeding through the bandage. I called to ask whether we were allowed to change it, and the nurse confirmed we could. That was fine, but his finger had been left exposed in the ER and became dirty. Now, 24 hours later, his finger is still bleeding. I don’t know why it wasn’t properly wrapped. My mother now has to take him to the orthopedic clinic to have it cleaned, wrapped, and evaluated again.
