A mother is raising serious questions about the care her disabled son has been receiving at the Small Options Home in New Victoria, N.S.
Diane MacLean alleges her son’s broken leg was left untreated for two to three days.
He’s now being treated in hospital for an infection
“I’m stressed right to the max. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat,” says MacLean.
She says the injury happened sometime last week at the Small Options Home where her 43-year-old son lives, but she didn’t find out about it until her daughter visited him Friday.
He was taken to hospital in New Waterford, where she says X-rays taken by his doctor suggested he had been hurt for a while.
“The injury was 48 to 72 hours old,” she says. “Where were they? What happened? Why is my son in all this pain?”
MacLean says the doctor told her that because the break had been left untreated for so long, it can no longer be fixed with plates and screws.
It will take four to six months to heal on its own.
“He cannot be operated on. He’s full of infection. He needs blood transfusions,” says MacLean.
Her son cannot speak or walk, so she says someone must have picked him up after he fell. But when she asked staff what had happened, she says no one seemed to have any answers.
“I cannot even believe the pain my boy went through for 48 or 72 hours,” says MacLean. “No painkillers, not even taken to the hospital right away. That, to me, was neglect.”
The executive director of the home declined to comment on the matter, because it is currently under investigation by the Department of Community Services.
Community Services says it can’t provide specifics about an ongoing investigation, but that complaints are dealt with through a legislated process called “Protection of Persons in Care.”
“Gathering more information, meeting with staff, the individuals and families, and they may reach a decision based on their findings,” says spokesperson Lorna MacPherson.
MacLean says, if she doesn’t get answers soon, she will consider taking the matter to the police.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald
Update: The special care facility has been cleared of any wrongdoing following an investigation into the complaint. A Community Services spokesperson tells CTV News the investigation is complete and the complaint was unfounded.