An 86-year-old Royal Canadian Dragoons veteran is deriding the treatment he received at the emergency department of The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus this week.

Retired Maj. Peter Jarvis claims he repeatedly requested blankets to keep him warm while waiting close to six hours for treatment for what was apparently a severe case of food poisoning.

He says the treatment he experienced was simply unacceptable.

“This hospital needs to smarten up, astronomically, in terms of service to its clientele. The staff there were rude, vindictive and neglectful.”

A Vancouver resident, Jarvis was in town last weekend for a regimental reunion, and stayed over in Ottawa for other business when, on Wednesday night, he ate a burger that simultaneously went south and north. Unable to sleep afterward and having twice thrown up, he called for an ambulance to take him from the Radisson Hotel on Queen Street, where he was staying, to the hospital. Along the way, Jarvis says, paramedics inserted an IV needle in his right arm, applied EKG patches to his chest and, as he was wearing only a thin shirt and boxers, supplied him a blanket.

His version of what transpired at the hospital is as follows.

He says he was put in a wheelchair and his personal information taken. He says he informed hospital personnel that, as well as the suspected food poisoning, he suffered chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bilateral edema and was bipolar, and that he didn’t have his meds with him.

After about an hour, he says, unattended in a hallway, still suffering cramps and chilled to his bones, he crawled into an empty bed he had spied in an unoccupied cubicle. He was still freezing, however, and so called out for more blankets on four or five occasions over the next three or four hours — whenever he noticed someone pass by.

His calls, he claims, went unheeded beyond the occasional muttering, causing him more distress. “Eventually, I was so angry — being bipolar, I’m prone to anger when frustrated in my needs — so I started yelling, ‘Help! Help! Help!’ It seemed like the only sensible thing to do.”

That was around 4 a.m., prompting an attendant — possibly a nurse — to come and tell him to be quiet or he’d be thrown out. He says he replied that he wouldn’t be quiet until he got some blankets and some treatment, and that he’d be better off in a warm hotel than “sitting here interminably, waiting for treatment and a blanket.” The brinksmanship ended, he claims, when a pair of security guards escorted him outside, where a taxi was summoned to return him to his hotel.

Once there, he again threw up, and, at just after 5 a.m., called the police to lodge a complaint. Paramedics were again summoned, this time to remove the intravenous needle and EKG patches he was still sporting. He was told his blood pressure was low, and that perhaps he should go to the hospital. He declined, and paramedics stayed until his blood pressure stabilized.

When contacted Friday, hospital officials said, “The safety of our patients and staff is a top priority at The Ottawa Hospital.

“While we cannot speak to specific cases due to patient confidentiality, our patient advocacy department, whose mandate it is to address concerns and work with patients, families and providers is always available to our patients.”

Jarvis remains frustrated and says he wanted to go public to ensure no one else has a similar experience to his own.

“This was abuse of the mentally ill,” he says. “There was no mention of looking after my drugs. I was put in a wheelchair and abandoned.

“There’s something wrong with their method of dealing with any patient, let alone a patient who is 86 years old and a veteran. I’m not claiming special privileges as a veteran for myself, but I feel very strongly that all veterans need something more than the statement, ‘Thank you for your service.’ “