‘Man with possible brain illness spent five days in A&E’

A YOUNG man with a suspected brain illness, who spent five days in A&E waiting for a scan, eventually fled the hospital fearing conditions there were making him feel worse.

Delegates at the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) annual conference were told the 22-year-old chose instead to sleep for five nights at a relative’s house near the Dublin hospital as he believed exhaustion was exacerbating his illness.

“This man needed proper medical attention immediately. His speech was slurred, he was dragging his feet. It clearly wasn’t drug or drink related. It was clearly a potential brain illness,” nurse Kay Garvey, an INO executive council member told the 340 nursing delegates.