A young woman involved in a head-on car crash was forced to walk across a state border unaided just hours after she was discharged from hospital and later suffered life-threatening complications.
Phoebe Kirk, 20, was involved in a head-on crash at Crabbes Creek, not far from her home in Burringbar, far northern NSW, on October 14.
After being rescued from her car by two passers-by, she was transported across the border in an ambulance to the Gold Coast University Hospital rather than the closer Tweed Hospital because it was feared her injuries were critical.
Attending emergency workers reportedly feared she may have had spinal damage and internal bleeding.
But after being discharged 24 hours later, Ms Kirk, 20, was put in a taxi and dropped off at a 7-Eleven on the Queensland side of the border and made to walk 100m back into NSW.
Within hours she became so ill she was rushed back to a NSW hospital and later stopped breathing during further surgery.
Phoebe Kirk, 20, was forced back into hospital in NSW after she was 'expelled' from Queensland when her abdominal injuries became infected, where she then underwent surgery
An image from Ms Kirk's Instagram shows the bruising she received in the accident
But her mother, Joanne Martin-Kirk claimed Covid exposure precautions meant Ms Kirk was isolated in a room and had minimal contact with nurses.
'She had been in the hospital for less than 24 hours... her words were she was being expelled back to NSW,' Ms Martin-Kirk told 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham on Thursday.
'She was told she would have patient transport so I presumed that was patient transport back to Tweed Hospital.
'They put her in a taxi, not even wheelchaired out of the hospital. She had to walk out of the hospital, get in the taxi herself, open and close the door with her broken wrist and ribs... and carry her bag.
Ms Kirk's car after the smash at Crabbe's Creek in far northern NSW - she was transported to Gold Coast University Hospital rather than Tweed Hospital due to the suspected seriousness of her injuries
'[She was] dropped off at a 7-Eleven at the border. She said [to the driver], "you're dropping me across the border?" He said there's no way I can cross the border because I won't be allowed back in.'
Ms Martin-Kirk said her daughter had been treated 'like a leper' in the Gold Coast hospital due to the fact she had come from a Covid hotspot in NSW, claiming nurses walked past her room and visitors were not permitted.
After returning to NSW, Ms Kirk was rushed back to Tweed Hospital with septicaemia due to the
