Sent in By Ronald Smit from Brisbane - Australia….

A Redland Bay man is suing two Brisbane hospitals which failed to diagnose a rare illness that left him permanently wheelchair bound.

Ronald Smit, 43, is seeking $900,000 from the Brisbane South Health Authority, which is responsible for the QEII and Redland hospitals where he sought treatment, from August 5, 1992.

Mr Smit began the civil proceedings in the Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday.

In his opening address Tony Morris, QC, told the court her would call an expert witness to give evidence that if Mr Smit’s condition, Guillain-Barré syndrome, had been diagnosed earlier he may have made a complete recovery.

“They treated his condition extremely off-handed. They regarded him as something of a burden, criticising him as having a low pain threshold, a whinger and a complainer, someone with psychological problems,” he said.

Mr Smit visited several doctors at the hospitals and a medical centre trying to find the cause of his illness.

He said he was treated as though he was “putting it on”.

“It felt like I had something crawling in my skin and stinging in my legs, like wasps stinging repeatedly,” he said.

Mr Smit said he had previously been active doing karate, lifting weights and working outdoors at a flower farm.

He said he had begun to feel a general weakness and had swollen glands when he first sought medical attention.

By August 12, he was feeling extremely tired and found it difficult to sleep.

“I was beginning to lose balance if I tried to get up. I was feeling weak in the legs, I was cramping quite a bit.

“The crawling sensation had sort of numbed a bit,” he said.

Mr Smit said he was also having trouble breathing and fell short of breath all the time.

Mr Smit said it was not until he was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital that his condition was diagnosed.

He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, before being transferred to the rehabilitation unit, where he stayed for seven months.

During cross examination by Jean Dalton for the Health Authority, Mr Smit said he was unsure if he was treated by a male or female doctor during some of his hospital visits, but he said he was certain his memory of the types of tests the doctors had carried out and what he told them was accurate.

“I told every doctor along the way that I was having general weakness,” he said.

He said a doctor at the Redland Hospital told him “it seems to be getting better, go home”.

The hearing continues.