FRAZIER PARK, Calif. -- A Kern County father is angry at how his daughter's fractured arm was treated. He took the child to Kaiser Permanente and San Joaquin Hospital but says they were sent home with no more than a bandage on her arm.

Both medical providers say they followed policies for cases like this.

Kalynn Kailey was playing on a wall near the family's Frazier Park home on July 18 when she fell. Father Gordon Kailey rushed the 6-year-old to the Kaiser clinic on Stockdale Highway in Bakersfield. He said they took X-rays, but the doctor decided Kalynn could not be treated at that urgent care facility.

Kailey said the doctor said Kalynn's arm would need to be set.

"He came back and said they couldn't do it, so he sent us to San Joaquin Community hospital," Kailey said.

The father has photos of the child's arm, bending at an angle. They were told it was a fracture.

Kailey said a doctor in the emergency room at San Joaquin looked at the X-rays they brought over from Kaiser, and then called the orthopedic specialist contracted by Kaiser.

"He came back and said, 'You guys have Kaiser. Go home and call your regular doctor and make an appointment," Kailey said, adding that the San Joaquin ER doctor sent them home.

Both Kaiser and San Joaquin Hospital said they can not discuss specific cases.

But, San Joaquin Vice President Jerrod McNaughton said emergency room physicians must follow strict guidelines, and they will consult with a specialist contracted by a patient's insurance.

"It's really up to the emergency room physician to make that call, in his or her mind, whether or not to call a specialist for a case."

Contacted by Eyewitness News, Kaiser Permanente said it's their policy that a specialist should be consulted.

"One-hundred percent of the time (they are) required to call the specialist on call," Dr. Pete Shaw said. "Even if it's the simplest of fractures. That happens all the time."

Shaw is the physician in charge of urgent care for Kaiser in the Bakersfield area.

But, Kailey said he was stunned at being told to take his daughter home.

"I couldn't believe they sent me home with my daughter's arm like this," Kailey said. "They acted like she just had a cold or a stubbed toe."

Both Kaiser and San Joaquin said it's also not unusual for a patient with a fracture to get more treatment several days later.

"It would totally be up to the discretion of the orthopedist on that case on-call, whether or not they felt the fracture was significant to cause major nerve damage or tissue damage, or if it was a slight fracture that really could wait until the patient could be seen the next day in the office," San Joaquin's McNaughton said.

Kaiser's Shaw also said a few days' wait is not unusual.

"Oftentimes there's a very simple splint, and they're referred in the next couple days to see a specialist for a cast," Shaw said.

But, the father disputes what kind of a splint his daughter got the night he took her to Kaiser and San Joaquin. He called it no more than "padding."

And overnight, Kailey became more dissatisfied, and the next day he called Kaiser again. That time he said he was referred to Memorial Hospital.

Kailey has a report from the emergency room at Memorial. It states that when the girl was brought in, "The child was placed in a very inadequate splint consisting of IV padding and an ace wrap and is complaining that her arm hurts when it moves, and it appears to move freely within the splint."

The report continues that Kalynn was treated at Memorial. She was sedated and the fracture was "reduced" with in-line traction and hyperextension.

"She was then placed in a sugar-tong splint and post-reduction X-rays show excellent realignment of the both-bone fracture," reads the report. "This will be definitive care for this fracture. Patient will not need to have any procedures performed. She will need orthopedic follow-up next week."

The report the father has from the previous night at San Joaquin Hospital's emergency room shows that doctor had checked with the Kaiser specialist.

"He simply stated to keep the splint and to send the patient home. She will followup with the ortho Kaiser on 7/20/09," it reads.

Kailey got the treatment at Memorial Hospital for his daughter on July 19. But said the experience before that was a nightmare.

"I felt like my daughter's arm was never going to be better, it was going to stay bent like this for the rest of her life, and she's going to lose function in her arm."

The father said his child is doing well now, but he thinks this was an experience he and the little girl shouldn't have had to go through.