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Conference moira::parenting

Title:	Parenting
Notice:	Previous PARENTING version at MOIRA::PARENTING_V3
Moderator:	GEMEVN::FAIMANY

Created:	Thu Apr 09 1992
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1292
Total number of notes:	34837

751.0. "12 Year Old refused treatment" by ELIS::PEGG () Thu Jun 02 1994 09:02

    
    Dear Fellow Parents,
    
    I would like to tell you all about a situation I was in last night
    which I find incredulous to say the least.
    
    My 12 year old son has been complaining of stomach problems for the
    last month or so. The symptoms are not that serious, occasional
    vomitting and indigestion. We have been to our GP and she has not done
    anything about it. Anyway, yesterday, he went off on school camp. Just
    as we were sitting down to a BBQ, the phone rang and we had a pretty
    upset teacher telling us that Bram had been throwing up all day, was
    pretty weak from it all and his stomach was very hard and he was having
    cramps. Of course, we wolfed down dinner and dashed off to pick him up.
    We took him to the Casualty Department at the Hospital. (By the way,
    this is in Nijmegen, The Netherlands) Now comes the incredulous part.
    The doctors refused to examine or treat him, based on 'so-called'
    procedures. You first have to visit your GP who must then refer you to
    Casualty. Obviously, finding a GP in the middle of nowhere (school
    camp) and at 20:00 is impossible. Nevertheless, they insisted so we
    had to go home, call out a GP at our own cost who reckoned there was
    nothing wrong with the boy. 
    
    We are now left in a situation of 'What the heck do we do?' My wife and
    I are furious with the total lack of medical attention Bram received
    and the fact that procedure takes priority over actually performing
    medicine. 
    
    Any comment, similar stories or suggestions on what to do what be
    appreciated.
    
    A very frustrated father.....
    
    P.S. Bram's 'attack' has subdued and he is now back at the camp. We
    have another GP visit booked for Monday where I hope we can get him
    refered to a Doctor who actually knows what he/she is doing!

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
751.1		BARSTR::PCLX31::satow	gavel::satow, dtn 223-2584	`Thu Jun 02 1994 09:47`	6
	Unfortunately, about all I can do is share your outrage. These things are so dependent on the local medical delivery system, and I hesitate to comment about even similar situations in other nearby communities in the U.S. I'm not at all familiar with the Dutch medical delivery system. Clay
751.2	I have been through this with a previous HMO	FMAJOR::WALTER	used to be Aquilia	`Thu Jun 02 1994 17:04`	23
	I can't imagine any doctor doing something like this. Was your child physically suffering when you brought him in or did they think that it could wait until you got referral? Unfortunately, this is the case with HMO's (not sure if you said you have this type of plan or not, but HMO's need GH referrel to go anywhere) and, if you were to get treatment you would of probably had to pay a thousand or so dollars because they would not have covered. I know that you probably would of sold your wedding ring (as I quoted to the vet who had to come to our house over the weekend) to get your son help, but they don't have compassion these doctors. Something I'm sure has taken alot of time to overcome. I would definately talk to your GH about this and make sure that they know the situation in case it happens again you won't have to go through them again and can get him the immediate attention that he requires/required. On another note, did you know that children can now suffer from ulcers? Seems like you might want to check into that and his diet. Good luck and please let us know how things went. cj
751.3	Clarification	ELIS::PEGG		`Fri Jun 03 1994 04:27`	30
	To try and clariify a few points from reply -1. By the time we got Bram to the hospital, he did not really appear to be in a great deal of distress (although the upper part of his lower admomen did appear to be swollen to me). The fact that the doctor wandered away half way through my wife explaining what had happened indicates to me that they were not even bothered if he could wait for referral. The procedure was all important. With respect to the Insurance cover. This is fully taken care of at admission. All us Deccies plus families have full cover for hospitalization, no questions asked. In fact, we have received attention in the past at the same hospital without going to a GP. In the past however, the case has been more physical, suspected broken foot (wife), sport injuries etc. I suspect that it was the particular doctor combined with the fact that Bram did not appear to be in much distress at the time which resulted in this madness. I'm still angry, two days after the event and I'm thinking of formulating a rather nasty letter to the management of the hospital. Good point about the ulcer. It has crossed our minds. The only pattern we seem to have found is it gets worse when he gets excited (like going on school camp!) Will keep you posted. Dave
751.4	How is he?	SALEM::GILMAN		`Fri Aug 12 1994 11:08`	4
	So what happened? Its now August. How is Bram now? Did you discover what the problem was? Maybe appendicitis? Jeff