Prominent and respected Krauatungalang Gunai Elder John Gorrie PSM has been left with a black eye, stitches and other injuries after a night at Sale Hospital.
His daughter, a former Victorian police officer and award-winning author, Veronica Gorrie believes it was a case of negligence.
Her father was admitted to Sale Hospital on Wednesday afternoon, after experiencing a seizure and stroke.
"Due to the stroke, he couldn't move his legs. He has no mobility, he can't stand or walk," she said.
Ms Gorrie noted that her father has dementia and was incoherent after his stroke.
John Gorrie PSM was admitted to Sale Hospital after experiencing a stroke on Wednesday afternoon. Credit: Ronnie Gorrie
'It doesn't make sense'
At 12.14 am on Friday, Ms Gorrie missed a call from the hospital, she said she had not received a voicemail and no other attempts were made to contact her.
She returned the call around two hours later when she woke up.
"They said he had a 'slip'. I asked what they meant, and they said he slipped over," she told NITV.
Ms Gorrie drove to the hospital immediately. On arrival, she was told by staff that they had found her father in the bathroom with "no idea" how he had gotten there.
Ms Gorrie questioned staff as to whether the railings of her father's hospital bed had been put up.
"They said both of them were up. I asked how he had gotten over the rails, they told me he must have climbed over them," she said.
Ms Gorrie said she failed to believe her father, who had no mobility in his legs and before the hospital walked with a walking stick, could have climbed over the railing and made his way independently to the bathroom.
She also believes his injuries are inconsistent with the hospital's version of events.
"He has a black eye, a cut on his right eyebrow, egg-shaped lump on his forehead and bruising. He is complaining every time he moves his ribs are in pain," she said.
"Their version doesn't align with Dad's injuries and with his inability to move and stand, he needs assistance in every aspect, it doesn't make sense he slipped on his own.
"As a former cop, I did my investigation . . . I find it really unbelievable their version of events. I've told them I don't believe them. They aren't being honest about what happened."
A photo of John Gorrie in hospital after the incident, which left him with a laceration above his eye, a black eye, a lump on his head and sore ribs. Credit: Ronnie Gorrie
Witness recount contests hospital's version of events
Mr Gorrie was in a shared room, where he and another patient shared a bathroom.
"I spoke to them man in the same room as Dad, just a curtain divides them. He told me my father, fell out of bed and that the railing wasn't up," Ms Gorrie said.
"He said Dad fell out of bed, and that he knocked his head on the corner of the side table and he saw four nurses come running in assisting Dad."
Ms Gorrie said he told her about her father's cries for help, and that it took hospital staff around six minutes to respond.
After the hospital had made her aware of her father's condition, the doctor on duty said they'd requested a CT scan and x-rays on his ribs. Ms Gorrie said while the CT scan was done early, her father was still waiting for x-rays 15 hours after the injury.
No clarity on the placement of bed railings
Ms Gorrie said her family have concerns as to whether the railings of their father's bed were put up on the night of his injury.
When she arrived at the hospital, Ms Gorrie was told the railings on her father's bed were put up. But said that there were times when her and her siblings had "witnessed nurses who have changed sheets and cleaned dad up and not put the rail back up after".
"We've had to remind them to do it," she said.
Despite this, Ms Gorrie said she was told by the "nurse manager" of the hospital that it isn't hospital protocol to put up bed railings.
"When I spoke to the nurse manager, she said that they don't put rails up in the hospitals anymore because it is a form or restraint. But Dad presented as a stroke patient so they should have put it up," she said.
"I feel like it's negligence on their part . . . I understand that they're under a lot of pressure, nurses. They have a lot of patients to tend to."
When speaking to hospital management, Ms Gorrie made clear her intention to file a formal complaint against the hospital.
She said she was asked to delay the complaint.
"They've told me to hold off until they speak to the nurses on duty, I am assuming they want to get their ducks in a row and their versions aligned," she said.
'I don't trust this hospital'
Mr Gorrie is a respected and beloved Elder and a member of the Stolen Generations. Born in Melbourne in the 1950s, he was taken and raised on Lake Tyers Mission.
In 2005, he made history as the first Aboriginal person awarded the Public Service Medal for his commitment to the Aboriginal community.
The series of events with the hospital has left Ms Gorrie and her family with a serious sense of distrust in the hospital and concerns for their father's safety.
"My Dad is a prominent and well-respected Elder in this state, everybody who knows him loves him," she said.
She told NITV she is making arrangements to have her father moved to a different hospital, and in the meantime has created a "roster" with her siblings to ensure their father is supervised every hour of the day.
"I feel that because he is a Blak man, the proper care hasn't been provided to him. I've set up a roster so that all his kids, my siblings, are with him there at all times.
"I don't trust this hospital.
"Any family should be able to have their loved one in care in a hospital and feel safe, and feel able to go home and rest."
NITV has contacted Sale Hospital via Central Gippsland Health for comment.
Ms Gorrie at her father's beside at Sale Hospital. Credit: Ronnie Gorrie
