Employees pile on, and a patient's leg is shattered

Joseph Keyes walked into a nurse's station at Cherry Hospital in 2006 and failed to follow orders to leave.

When a nurse called for "male help," at least 13 employees responded, according to a state review.

"I was pushed over by the computer, and they piled on him," the nurse who called for help later told investigators, according to the report.

Keyes' medical records pertaining to the incident indicate he was soon "calm" and "cooperative" and that he was uninjured. In fact, Keyes' shin bone was shattered at the knee joint, making it highly improbable that he could walk. He says he was on the floor, howling in pain and unable to stand.

"I told them my leg was broke," said Keyes, 49, a Beaufort County resident with schizoaffective disorder. "They told me I was just putting on, there was nothing wrong with me."

More than two hours later, a nurse noted in Keyes' medical file that he showed signs of "tenderness" in his leg and that he couldn't walk. Still, he was not taken to a local emergency room for treatment until the following day.

Jesse Moore, Keyes' sister and legal guardian, was first informed of his injury by the staff at Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro. When she arrived at the hospital, she says, a Cherry Hospital administrator and lawyer were at her brother's bedside and told the family they couldn't enter the room until they were done questioning Keyes in private.

Keyes, who still takes pain medication daily, has undergone three surgeries in which doctors have tried to repair his shattered leg with metal rods, screws and plates. He will likely have to use a walker the rest of his life.

An investigation of Keyes' treatment triggered after Moore filed a complaint found that the staff at Cherry "failed to use safe and appropriate restraint techniques," resulting in his injury.

No Cherry employees were punished over Keyes' broken leg, according to the investigative report.