When Peter Clarke was taken to the emergency department to receive stitches in his forehead, he never expected his heart to stop beating and to be placed in an induced coma.
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But even more frightening for him was the fact that as he lay on life support in the Intensive Care Unit, not even his wife of 20 years was aware he was fighting for life.
Mr Clarke, a proud Gunditjmara man who lives in Wendouree, was taken by ambulance to Ballarat Base Hospital in December last year after falling and hitting his head at a friend's house.
Inebriated by alcohol, Mr Clarke was admitted to the emergency department around midnight on December 28, believing he would need "maybe a stitch" above his eye.
However, after being administered what the hospital admits "may not have been the best medication", his heart stopped beating and he went into a coma.
He would not wake up for a number of days.
I just felt like a piece of lost property again.
- Peter Clarke
Now on the road to recovery, the employment services worker says he wants to know what happened to him at the hospital.
And more importantly to him, he wants to know why the hospital never contacted his wife to let her know of the potentially devastating situation.
His wife, Michelle, only found out her husband was in hospital the following day after hearing from a friend who had been with Mr Clarke the night before.
In a state of shock she rang the emergency department, only to find out her husband had in fact been transferred to ICU and was on life support.
At this point, he had been at the hospital for about 12 hours.
The fact nobody from the hospital ever contacted his next-of-kin, nor anybody who knew him, has left Mr Clarke shaken.
The hospital also employs two Aboriginal Health Liaison Officers; neither were contacted.
"I just felt like a piece of lost property again," said Mr Clarke, who is haunted from his childhood memories after growing up in the St Joseph's Orphanage in Sebastopol.
"How can nobody from the hospital have thought to call my wife of 20 years?"
"I was just lying there and nobody knew I was there. Imagine if I died."
Mr Clarke has since been trying to get answers from the hospital.
He is desperate to know what caused him to fall into a coma, but also what happened in the hours when nobody knew where he was.
He is also on a mission to ensure the same thing never happens to anybody else.
Ballarat Health Services has replied in writing to Mr Clarke, apologising for not contacting his wife.
A letter from BHS says Ambulance Victoria had incorrectly told hospital staff Mr Clarke had been at home with his family when he fell.
We cannot determine why your wife was not contacted during the time stated and would sincerely like to apologise for this.
- Ballarat Health Services letter
"We can ensure you that staff were ensuring you were medically stable and appropriate care was being delivered in the appropriate place. We apologise if not being informed earlier and learning of your admission from a friend caused your wife distress."
Mr Clarke has also been told by the hospital that the drug he was administered, Midazolam, "may not have been the best medication to use in this instance".
He was administered the sedative so he would remain still while brain scans were conducted to ensure there were no internal head injuries.
However, the hospital admitted in the letter the medication can "reduce your ability to breathe efficiently, which can also be affected by a variety of other factors like the; alcohol levels in the blood, evidence of a head injury and altered conscious state".
"We can assure you it is not the 'wrong drug', just that there are other factors that need to be considered when using it."
For now, Mr Clarke says he remains hesitant to return to the hospital for future treatments.
Although he says the hospital has shed some light on what happened, there are more questions that remain unanswered.
However, he is not holding out hope. He has since faced alcohol battles as he struggles to grapple with the reality of what occurred.
But despite his own issues, he just wants the system fixed so it never happens again.
"I don't want anyone to go through what I've been through."
The Courier approached Ballarat Health Services and asked a series of questions about the incident and what protocols are in place.
The questions were not directly addressed and instead the following statement was issued:
"Ballarat Health Services is committed to providing excellence in care for our patients, and reported incidents are investigated accordingly," it read.
"For privacy and confidentiality reasons, we are unable to comment about individual patient experiences.
"The investigation of consumer complaints and clinical incidents is a critical component of our continued commitment to deliver safe, effective, connected, person centred care. These processes ensure that a full understanding of the situation is gained for all patients, families, carers and health professionals involved."
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