A care home resident with Asperger’s Syndrome suffered permanent damage after staff left him with an erection for four days, a report has found. The unnamed man, identified as Y in the report, was taken to hospital and diagnosed with having a Priapism, a painful and long-lasting erection.
NHS guidance says if someone has an erection that lasts more than two hours to call 999 or got to A&E as prompt treatment is needed to avoid permanent tissue damage. The hospital told the man's mother he had to undergo surgery and has been left with permanent damage, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman was told.
A report published by the ombudsman states hospital staff told her that Y was left for 'far too long' and should not have been left for more than four hours. The man's mother claimed staff at the care home, run by Barnsley Council, did nothing about his erection for four days, the report stated.
