Paralyzed Charlotte man left with no care for almost 24 hours at Atrium Emergency Room

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Malik McEachin claims he was left in the Atrium Main ER for 18 hours with little to no care over the weekend.

“I feel like it was some form of neglect,” McEachin said.

McEachin has lived in Sardis Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Clinic for several years after a car crash left him paralyzed.

McEachin said he receives amazing care at the clinic, but his issues with Atrium started this weekend when he went to the ER for a catheter issue.

“I wasn’t being attended to like I needed to,” McEachin said.

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McEachin’s mother, Sonya Pervis tells WBTV she got a detailed list of times from the charge nurse; here’s how Pervis said it played out.

Pervis said McEachin was admitted to the ER around 4 a.m. Saturday and was discharged around 7 a.m. later that morning. Because McEachin is a quadriplegic, he needs to be transported in an ambulance but hours later, a ride still hadn’t arrived.

McEachin said his mother and a friend all tried to help get him a ride, but Pervis claims her son wasn’t taken back to Sardis Oaks until 1:30 am Sunday morning. That’s more than 16 hours after he was discharged.

“I feel he wouldn’t have been treated that way if I was there and was able to facilitate how ridiculous this was,” Pervis said.

After being discharged and left without a ride, McEachin said he went for hours without important pain medication. He tells WBTV he ask for help managing his pain but was told he had been discharged and there was nothing the hospital could do. McEachin said he was only offered one meal and had to mask multiple times to be repositioned to avoid bed sores.

“They come in, I let them know I want to try and turn again because I’ve been on my back probably more than ten hours at this point,” McEachin said.

WBTV reached out to Atrium, and their spokesperson said they cannot comment on a patient due to HIPPA guidelines but did say there is no standard wait time for transportation. Atrium also shared wait times depend on the transportation available which can be impacted by the number of ambulances responding to emergencies.

Parvis said she filed a complaint with Atrium on Sunday. She was told she would get a call back the same day but is still waiting for that call. Tuesday afternoon she filed a complaint with the state.

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