A COOMERA man with acute appendicitis says he sat in agony for more than an hour in a Gold Coast University Hospital waiting room without being seen by a doctor, before seeking treatment at another hospital on Sunday.

Dallas Donnelly, 18, said he felt as though he was about to die while waiting at the Gold Coast University Hospital at 1am on Sunday, so decided to go to Pindara Private Hospital where he was put into a bed and given morphine within the hour.

media_camera A Coomera man says he had to wait in agony in the city hospital’s emergency department.

Mr Donnelly underwent surgery at 10am on Sunday after his surgeon told him his appendix was about to burst — which can be fatal.

“They said if I left it any longer it could have burst,” said Mr Donnelly.

“The surgeon said it was one of the worst ones he’d seen.”

A Gold Coast Health spokesman said Mr Donnelly was treated properly for his symptoms when he presented at the hospital.

“The patient was appropriately assessed and triaged, based on how he presented at Gold Coast University Hospital,” he said.

“He received treatment from nursing staff and would have been seen by a doctor but chose to leave.

“We are unable to comment on any treatment he received elsewhere.”

Dallas’s father, Sean, said he was shocked by the lack of attention his son was given at the Gold Coast University Hospital.

“We didn’t see a doctor,” he said.

“We waited in there for probably about an hour-and-a-half.

“We went up to the counter several times and other people looked like they were going through and he wasn’t going anywhere.

“We couldn’t wait any longer.

“He turned to me and said, ‘I think I’m going to die, dad — I feel like I’m going to die’.”

Mr Donnelly said he had nothing but praise for Pindara Private Hospital and Dallas’s surgeon, Michael von Papen.

media_camera Dr Michael von Papen.

“He was a champion. He came straight into the room and said, ‘Right, they’ve got to come out’,” he said.

“They had him in emergency and took him straight upstairs where they said they had to take them out.”

Robina general practitioner Dr Roger Halliwell said Mr Donnelly’s issue with Gold Coast University Hospital was probably a result of hospital staff prioritising cases in a busy emergency department.

“This is a patient presumably with a sore belly who needed to be assessed to work out what the diagnosis was before they go off and do the definitive treatment, in this case surgery,” he said.

“The first step in the process is to get that diagnosis and that’s the bit that’s perhaps missing.

“He would have been one of many patients in the emergency department at that time of day and for them it’s about juggling their limited resources.”

Dr Halliwell said he believed Mr Donnelly had done the right thing by going to Pindara but said had he stayed at Gold Coast University Hospital he may have even been operated on earlier due to the around-the-clock hours run by the operating theatre in the public system.

“There was a nine-hour gap (in the time he first arrived at the Gold Coast University Hospital and the time he was operated on),” he said.

“He almost certainly would have ended up with the same outcome at the Gold Coast University Hospital.

“He may have even ended up with his surgery earlier.”