Medical negligence: Do Parents need to be more educated?

The only person, we as a parent, trust other than us, is the kid’s pediatrician. Because, why won’t we? They are just a call away, whenever our kid faces any difficulty, even in the late night. We have a soft corner for the Pediatricians because we trust them completely for our infant’s health. 

A pediatrician manages the behavioral, mental, and physical care of children, and they have much knowledge of severe cases. They are trained to treat several childhood illnesses, from minor to severe. Just like others, we had our own pediatrician, who was just a call away. 

Last year, a day before Dussehra, on Navami, according to our ritual, we did Kanjak – Kanya puja, by offering little girls chana, halva, and poori. My daughter also ate a lot of Kala chana throughout the day as she was invited by our society members for kanya pujan!! She might have skipped chewing some of them I guess but there were no complaints. Everything went well through the day, except, in the evening, our daughter said that she is facing extreme stomach pain. Intially we tried home remedies thinking it might be indigestion. But then the pain became unbearable. We immediately rushed to our pediatrician. Everything after that got miserable, and it was totally avoidable at the start itself. 

Here is the list of events we went through, in two days. It’s not just eye-opening, but we got to learn a lot of things as well! 

Timeline of events happened just because of a false prescription:

My daughter got a stomach ache in the night, and it kept on increasing. We tried several home remedies, but nothing worked well. We rushed to our pediatrician, and he recommended a prestigious hospital. 

First Incidence: At 9:30 PM, we visited the hospital, and as recommended by our doctor, we chose the emergency ward. In the hospital, everyone mentioned us by that doctor’s specific name. Although my daughter had no symptoms of appendix like fever or vomiting, the doctors over there took a normal examination. 

After one hour, they asked us to go for an ultrasound. We were still confused, but at the moment, we needed to make a quick decision, so we said yes to the ultrasound. However, the one who was taking ultrasound questioned us; Is it an appendix? Because your daughter is showing no severe symptoms. 

Later, he got a call from higher officials, and to write something on the report. Things got more doubtful for us there. 

The lady who came up with the report told us that our daughter has an appendix, and we should admit her sooner. But when we had a conversation with her before the report was taken, she said no bed was available. But all of a sudden, there was a bed available. 

We asked her for some more time to make a decision, and also requested her to let us talk with a senior surgeon. Even the senior surgeon said, “If the pediatrician is telling, that it’s an appendix, then it will be.”  As she was not aware of the overall situation, she advised us to visit some other doctor and they clearly wrote on the reports that parents are not cooperating for surgery .We didn’t care and thought of consulting someone else.

Second Incidence: 

We went straight to best govt hospital of our city on recommendations of our family friend . The doctors over there acted casually, and didn’t recommend an ultrasound at first. 

But when we spoke to the doctor about the previous situation, they suddenly asked us to go for an ultrasound. The one who was taking it clearly said that it’s just a stomach infection or a UTI. As it was Gov hospital we thought lets take third opinion in the morning .

Third Incidence:

We went to another private clinic, and even there, they told us it’s not an appendix. It’s the day of Dussehra; not many doctors were available. But his statement changed totally when we told him about the previous night events and doctors’ prescriptions. He recommended us to go for operation without finding it in ultrasound .He wrote false reports just because he was scared to contradict the reports of that prestigious hospital .
I wish we had not told him about previous night events.

Fourth Incidence: Lastly, as we were sure that it’s not an appendix, we tried to contact our friend to get her pediatrician’s contact details. We visited him, and he declared it not an appendix, until we spoke to him about the past events. 
Later he asked us to get a CT scan for the kid as he want to clear all his doubts .The Ct scan was one of our most scariest experience . At that time, our daughter started feeling hungry, but as a CT scan needed to be done on an empty stomach, we didn’t allow her to eat anything. I cant describe how helpless we were feeling looking at her .
The CT scan report was out, and they noticed a big blurred circle, and even they were not able to tell what actually the circle was. Hence they asked us to retake the CT scan, and we were against it, because we didn’t want to give the same frustration to our daughter again. 
At that particular time, My instinct told me it’s not an appendix. Hence, on our apprehension and get this sorted they suggested to give her a gas or acidity tablet as my daughter didn’t eat anything for 24 hours. We gave her light food after that, and she felt relieved.

Fifth incidence: Finally, we visited the last private doctor for an ultrasound. She was sure that it was not appendix at all, because, in an appendix, an individual gets severe pain. Later the result was out; my daughter had a slight stomach infection. 

As mentioned previously, the whole event was avoidable, if the pediatrician would have taken the right step. One common factor in every case was that until we told about any past events, each one was saying it’s just a stomach infection.

It was the matter of a little kid, and just for the sake of money, risking lives is inequitable. Minor medical negligence can not only affect the parent’s mental state, but it adversely affects the kid’s physical health too. 

Blaming just a person in the whole event is unfair. As a parent, we have now become more aware of the kid’s illnesses, and everyone should be. There are lots of resources available out there for free; utilize it for the betterment of your family!  

Its been  two years since this incident happened but on every Dusshera My daughter always question me when i make this kala channa on Navami  should I eat this chana again? All these events not just affected my daughter physically, but also she got mentally affected too. Dussehra is about killing the demons, but is society doing any justice? Can I, as a parent, trust the same pediatrician again? Indeed, No, but now I am more conscious of my daughter’s issues than before.