A care home resident with Asperger’s Syndrome suffered permanent damage after staff left him with an erection for four days, a report has found. The unnamed man, identified as Y in the report, was taken to hospital and diagnosed with having a Priapism, a painful and long-lasting erection.
NHS guidance says if someone has an erection that lasts more than two hours to call 999 or got to A&E as prompt treatment is needed to avoid permanent tissue damage. The hospital told the man's mother he had to undergo surgery and has been left with permanent damage, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman was told.
A report published by the ombudsman states hospital staff told her that Y was left for 'far too long' and should not have been left for more than four hours. The man's mother claimed staff at the care home, run by Barnsley Council, did nothing about his erection for four days, the report stated.
She said he complained of pain in his penis during a visit to her house and reported it to the care home when he returned. Records show the care home noted this and contacted a GP the next day, suspecting a possible urine infection.
The following day, staff assisted the man into the shower and there is “no record” of him reporting further pain, the report states. The next day, records show the man had an erection at 10am and later told staff that he'd got an erection through the day but it 'kept going down'.
At 9pm that night, staff called 111 as the man was experiencing pain in his penis and they were told to take him to A&E, where he was treated. However the ombudsman didn't find fault in the way the home dealt with the incident.
The council's safeguarding team investigated the incident and found no evidence of neglect, the report added. Barnsley Council agreed to apologise to the man's mother and pay £200 to “recognise the distress caused".
