Nathalia woman unable to see husband with life-threatening brain injury in Queensland

And after almost two weeks in a coma, Mr Butler regained consciousness on the same day as his and his wife's 33rd wedding anniversary.

Since the accident, Mrs Butler has been permitted to see her husband twice in intensive care at Princess Alexandra Hospital after arriving in Brisbane to begin hotel quarantine, but was recently advised by the hospital there was a "lack of staff" to allow her to see him again.

Mrs Butler said she had tried calling the hospital nine times in the 24 hours to Friday morning, but only managed to make contact once.

“All I want is the best for my husband, and from all the research I’ve been doing and the information occupational therapists have sent me, they all tell me the facts show brain trauma patients do better with their family's support,” she said.

Mrs Butler's son Anthony also arrived from Adelaide to Brisbane two days after the accident, but has been unable to see his dad because of COVID-19 restrictions.

After about 10 days in ICU, Mr Butler was moved to an acute ward in a stable condition.

Mrs Butler said although his physical condition had improved, allowing him to get out of bed and talk, he was still in a severe state of confusion, prompting her to put pictures of his family around him to keep him company.

“He doesn’t know what they're (hospital staff) doing, why he’s in hospital, why they’re putting a line in his arm, why I can’t be with him,” she said.

“He doesn't remember the COVID-19 restrictions, and half the time, he doesn’t remember his family.

“He said ‘you were here before, why can’t you be here now?’ He thinks I don’t care enough.”

Mrs Butler said she received the exemption to see her husband from Queensland's chief medical officer, as well as permission from the hospital, which she said had the authority to make executive decisions on visitations.

“The hospital said they don’t have the resources, referring to nurses or staff, to escort me from the main entrance to his room and back again, which I’m finding hard to swallow,” she said.

Mrs Butler said doctors had told her it was still too early to see how severe the damage was, with swelling and bleeding still evident on his brain.

“We can’t tell if his current state is due to pressure from the swelling or severed neural pathways — we can’t tell if there’s another blood vessel that’s about to blow,” she said.

Mrs Butler and her husband, Wayne, who many know as "Harry", have four sons: Anthony, 33, Phillip, 31, Nathan, 30, and Tom, 15.

Mrs Butler said Phillip spoke to his father for the first time on Thursday night.

“He (Phillip) was so distraught that he was talking to me until 3 am in the morning,” she said.

“It reduced a grown man to something like a little boy because this is his father.”

At the time of the accident, Mr Butler was working as an interstate truck driver for a Brisbane freight company.

Mrs Butler said he had just finished loading two prime movers onto his vehicle and was talking to some friends on the phone who said he sounded perfectly healthy, and that he even sent a photo of the finished job to confirm it was done.

After that, Mrs Butler said "something" caused trauma to Mr Butler's head.

“We don’t know if he tripped, was clipped by a car, someone approached him and hurt him, if he fell off the deck or had a stroke, even though he’s fit and healthy and recently had a check up with the doctor,” she said.

Mrs Butler said about 10 minutes after the accident, another truck driver saw Mr Butler lying on the ground and initially thought he was a kangaroo.

After being unable to revive him, the truck driver called an ambulance and Mr Butler was rushed to hospital.

Princess Alexandra Hospital declined to make a comment, but The News understands Mrs Butler was permitted to break her hotel quarantine to see her husband while he was in ICU under Queensland Health directives.

Under the directives, exemptions may be granted for people to visit dying relatives, or an immediate family member to support a child receiving essential care, but if exemptions are granted, people still have to complete quarantine.

The News understands it is ultimately up to the hospital to make the final call on who can visit.

Mrs Butler said she had been in contact with federal and state politicians about her situation.

“For the patients who have the ability to understand no visitation, that’s fine, but for the ones who can’t understand what’s going on and why they’re getting kept there, and why their family aren’t there, that’s a whole different ball game,” she said.

“It puts stress on them and they’re worried — they don’t heal properly.

“There needs to be more compassion towards individual patients while still protecting the greater number.”