A woman claims she was “turfed out of A&E” and told to visit the dentist instead – only to discover she had a “life-threatening” infection that caused her entire face to balloon “like Elephant Man”.
Amy Hemsworth says doctors sent her home with a dentist appointment, saying they “don't treat issues with faces”. She woke up with a toothache and a mouth full of ulcers that persisted despite painkillers and antibiotics.
In just two days, the right side of her face swelled until she was unable to see out of that eye or eat and was forced to go to A&E. The 28-year-old, from Doncaster, says that after her A&E visit the swelling continued to worsen over the next few hours.
She was left worrying that something more sinister was going on and rushed to Rotherham General Hospital that night. There, doctors admitted her immediately and revealed she had a serious infection that had travelled from her tooth up to her eye and was close to spreading to her brain – where it could have killed her. Amy said: "A few more hours and it could have killed me – all from a toothache!
"I just started with a toothache that just wouldn't go. I thought I probably needed a filling or something like that but it was a nightmare trying to get through to the dentist.
"I woke up on the Friday and my face was like a balloon, it was absolutely huge and was just rising by the hour. I felt like the Elephant Man and there were abscesses everywhere in my mouth.
"I went to Doncaster Hospital and they basically just turfed me out and said they don't deal with faces – the doctor got in touch with my dentist and made me an appointment for that afternoon. The dentist gave me antibiotics but when I went home my face just kept swelling and swelling and swelling.
"It got to 6:30pm and that's when I drove to Rotherham Hospital with my mum – they admitted me straight away. A doctor saw me in the waiting room and pulled me into a room straight away and did a blood test.
“The infection was getting bigger and the doctor said she’d just dealt with another case like me and the lady ended up in a coma in intensive care because it went straight to her brain. The doctor said I was very lucky and if I had left it another six to 12 hours, it could have travelled to my brain and I could have been in the same condition as that other lady.”
Amy Hemsworth, whose face swelled up and may have been hours away from death (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
Amy is unhappy about what happened. "I think the way they treated me at Doncaster Hospital was disgusting – you could see how my face was," she said.
Amy spent two nights as an in-patient at Rotherham General Hospital and was given intravenous antibiotics to keep the infection at bay. On the second day of her stay, Saturday May 28, she underwent surgery to release the infection building in her gums and allow her swelling to go down.
Amy added: "I had to go under general anaesthetic and they had to cut my gums and drain all of the infection out and stitch it back up. It was sore when I woke up but I could touch my tooth whereas before it was a no go – it was such a relief.
"As soon as I had the surgery you could see how much the swelling had gone down and my eye was open – that was the first time my eye was open in 24 hours. I was so glad when I got to go home."
Amy Hemsworth says she could have died if she was not treated urgently in hospital (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
Amy has now made a complaint to Doncaster Royal Infirmary about allegedly sending her away when she was suffering from the “life-threatening” infection. She is also due to undergo a root canal treatment at her dentist in the upcoming weeks to remove the part of her tooth that the infection stemmed from, to prevent any further issues.
She now hopes to warn people to go to A&E as soon as possible if they experience any swelling or persistent pain, particularly on their face, after discovering first-hand how serious it can be.
The Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said that Amy had been seen at the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC), which is a service commissioned from Fylde Coast Medical Services (FCMS) by the Doncaster CCG. A spokesperson for the FCMS said: "FCMS can confirm that a complaint was received in relation to this on 7.06.22. It will be thoroughly investigated in line with the NHS guidance for complaints and a response will be sent to the patient."
