i took my son to the ER with a high fever. they looked at him and did a blood test which came back that he had a high white blood cell count. she told me that she believes he is dehydrated and that is why his blood count his high, so she said she will retest after he gets IV fluids. well they drew more blood and did the test, but never told us the results so i figured they came back fine. they told me to give him Tylenol and Motrin and plenty of fluids. we went on are way believing them.
then the next day my son has diarrhea really bad and had to where pull ups and being that he is 5 he did not like that. his lower stomach hurt so bad that he would scream every time i moved him or when he tried to get up and it was swollen. i called the hospital and told them that he still had fever and about his pain etc: they told me to bring him back if i felt he needed to be seen again, so i did.
we get there and they touch his tummy and ask him where it hurts and turns around and tells me that it is normal after dehydration to have diarrhea and stomach pain. i told him that it is not just a pain it is a stabbing unbearable pain for him. he can't even walk and doesn't want to sit down because of the pain how is this normal. he said just give him a few days. so we take him home and take care of him and try to keep his fever down and get him to get fluids.
then here comes sunday. i cant keep his fever down anymore and i had to put him in a cool bath to get it to drop. then he wanted to eat, so i made him some food and he ain't pretty good. then 5 minutes later he starts screaming and crying and says his tummy hurts, so i put ice on his tummy and he stops crying and goes to sleep. 30mins later he wakes up screaming and crying again and just throws up all his food every where. i had it then that was the last straw. i get him up and get him to a different hospital. i give them the same symptoms that i gave to the other hospital twice and right away he says i think it is appendicitis. he did the blood test and cat scan and sure enough it was. but now they is problems because it had already erupted and they could see fluids around it. so 30mins later the ambulance takes my son to a childrens hospital. they tired to do a small surgery threw the belly button, but there was to much pus and other stuff that they had to go in. now he is still in ICU and it has been 8 days here at the children's hospital and we are not going home any time soon. he has had so many ex rays since monday of last week. i think about 15 of them and 2 cat scans. he has so much medicane and breathing treatments. he has tubes in almost every part of his body. i can't stand seeing him in pain and crying. i have been asking many times why him. we almost lost our only baby and our whole world, because of one hospitals negligence.
this would have never happened if the first hospital had diagnosed him right and actually cared. no mater what it would have been a surgery, but it would have been a little one threw the belly button and he would go home the next day. he would not have to stay in the hospital for so long going threw all these treatments. now they have found more abcest and might have to do another surgery. still waiting to see what they want to do about them.
if you have any knowledge in this area or know anyone or anything i can read to find out how i can sue that county hospital please let me know.
thank you and god bless
any prayers welcomed
his white blood cell count was high and that is a head up that there is a infection setting in. after the fluids when they retested they were still high. it is very common for young kids to get appendicitis and with his symptoms it should have been ruled out no matter what. they just blew him off. and i did tell them the same symptoms. the fact that no matter what he still would have had to have surgery is not the case. the fact of the matter is that his healing time would have been very short and a lot less painful and not life threatening. he was almost taking away because a doctor decided that he was not worth her time to figure out. any child that comes in with those symptom should have appendicitis ruled out. instead they say well he is dehydrated he will be fine when actually he had poison flowing threw his body and was dehydrated from the illness he is suffering from. by the time he was diagnosed it had already ruptured for a week. i am worrying about him. i am here with him and
~*Mama-of-Two*~
I'm sorry your son is going through this and I wish him a speedy recovery. The problem is, it's very hard to sue a hospital. The doctors were going by his symptoms and the fact he was just seen for dehydration. It will be hard to prove that they were negligent. I know as a parent you feel like they should have done more but if they can't run every test for every sick child. You can talk with a lawyer about it but I really don't think you have a case. I'm sorry.
Cliff
First, you have to understand that nothing in your story is clearly negligent on the hospital's part...The only way that it would be negligent is if the hospital had not followed standard procedure...They make no guarantee that they're going to get it right every time...
In addition, as you pointed out, the surgery would have happened anyway...whether it could have been done through the belly button or not is speculation at this point...
If you wanted to pursue a malpractice suit, you have to find an expert that will testify that:
1. The hospital did not follow standard acceptable practices in diagnosing your son, and
2. As a result of the hospital's failure to follow standards, the surgery was more damaging to your son.
You may or may not have a case...only an expert can tell.
Quizzard
If my son was in ICU I would be concerned with HIM not seeking a lawyer.
Yes, you can sue, but misdiagnosis is almost impossible to prove...You SAY you told them the same thing at the second hospital, but did you really? Just the added time makes a huge difference. The fact that the second hospital made a diagnosis NOW does not mean that they would have made it THEN.
Worry about your son in the ICU, worry about lawyers when he is healthy again.
This digital document is an article from Hospital Law's Regan Report, published by Medica Press, Inc. on July 1, 2002. The length of the article is 898 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Dr.-pt. relationship is sine qua non for hospital liability. (Hospital Law Case of the Month).(Brief Article)
Author: A. David Tammelleo
Publication: Hospital Law's Regan Report (Newsletter)
Date: July 1, 2002
Publisher: Medica Press, Inc.
Volume: 43 Issue: 2 Page: 2(2)
Article Type: Brief Article
Distributed by Thomson Gale
List Price: $ 5.95
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Dr.-pt. relationship is sine qua non for hospital liability. (Hospital Law Case of the Month).(Brief Article): An article from: Hospital Law's Regan Report
Orignal From: can i sue a county hospital and if i can what type of lawyer should i look for?
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