Video Shows Man Crawling Out Of Hospital After Docs Dismissed His Leg Pain As Fake

A man has shared a video that showed him crawling out of a hospital in Canada after the doctors dismissed his intense leg pain as fake. Though the incident happened on April 18, 2018, David Pontone had to fight a lengthy battle to obtain the footage of the painful incident that happened at Toronto’s Humber River Hospital, said a report by CBC News.

Pontone said he had visited the emergency on that day after feeling excruciating pain in his legs. He informed the hospital staff that he took medication for bipolar disorder but that he'd been stable for seven years.

"That disclosure affected my treatment," said 45-year-old Pontone.

He was asked to see a doctor who ordered an MRI but also referred him to a psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist mentioned anxiety as his most dominant symptom, despite Pontone complaining about being in agonizing physical pain for almost a month, showed the medical records obtained by the media outlet.

It said the reason for Pontone's visit was "bipolar" and not his inability to walk. Since the MRI didn't find anything unusual, the psychiatrist discharged him.

"As soon as they got the results, they took off the blankets and asked me to get up, saying there was nothing wrong. They thought I was faking it because I was bipolar. There are no words to describe what I went through that night," said Pontone.

The disturbing footage has Pontone lying on the floor, struggling to get up. He took 20 minutes to crawl towards the exit. "The nurse kept saying, 'You’re strong! Come on, big boy, stand up. I was angry. I felt totally helpless,” he said.

He was later taken on an ambulance to Toronto Western Hospital where a neurologist diagnosed him with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a condition in which a person’s immune system attacks their nerves.

Five weeks later, Pontone's family met with the hospital authorities, who apologized for the incident. Though they initially promised to hand over the footage, the hospital retracted later, in case Pontone unblurred the faces of other people.

Pontone moved legally and after a two-year-long fight, he managed to get the footage.

Meanwhile, hospital spokesman Joe Gorman said the hospital is “deeply troubled” by the incident and that staffers involved “were dealt with accordingly.”

Lucia Pontone, the mother of David Pontone, said, "I want the hospital to change the way they look at mental health so that this doesn't happen again."