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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to be mad at my GP and put in a complaint.

37 replies

MaMattoo · 19/04/2011 13:25

10 mo DS had high fever all of sunday, reaching 38.5+, rushed him to GP first thing on Monday morning. He has been coughing and wheezing. Chest was clear, ears apparently were red. was given amoxycillin, paracetamol and neurofen for baby. Was told by the GP - NDG (name) to watch his fever and when it comes down his breathing should be ok. 3 hours later, he is struggling to breathe. I call GP - speak to NDG and she says go to hospital and get him seen by a Paedat. If too bad, I should call 999. Things not looking good and i called 999. Ambulance on its way. GP surgery calls and the head of the surgery - Dr TS, tells me...'ha ha you have called emergency, call them and cancel, little children fall ill all the time, his fever is making his breathing high, he shall be fine. Paramedics will laugh at you and tell you off for wasting their time. Dont panic his breathing should be ok..count 30-40 bps' at this point other GP - Dr NDG says she counted his breaths and they were past 40 in the morning, then TS says - ' its ok, in fever kids do that'. I cut the phone, answer door, go to A&E. Parameds and Docs tell me good job I went - he has bronchiolitis. Low oxygen levels and high temp. Nebulizer + oxyegn given - 7 hours later, told to go home, give him inhaler and paracetamol - ears are ok, no amox neede. and watch closely. He is looking better now.
Tell me, am I being unreasonable to be mad at Dr TS for calling me and telling me to basically take a chill-pill and relax. Baby would have gone downhill rapidly if i had listened to her. Is it not my prerogative to call 999 if i wish to. I want to put in a written complaint about her, AIBU to want to do this?
Had I been an indecisive type of person, or one who hates hospitals I would have listened to her and risked my babies health.

OP posts:
Lizcat · 19/04/2011 13:32

Personally I would go the other way and write Thanking Dr NDG for her support and good advice. Doctors get a pretty large numbers of letters of complaint and very few letters of Thanks. So a letter of thanks will be more noted in the surgery than the letter of complaint.
I have done this when DD was a tiny baby I saw a GP registrar who asked advice from a locum who dismissed my concerns. The Registrar felt uncomfortable with this and asked me to go to Paeds assessment unit and he was sorry if he ended up wasting my time. He saved my DD's life another 24 hours and she probably would have died. I wrote and Thanked the GP registrar who phoned me to express his gratitude - the Locum was never employed by the practice again.

eugenefitzherbert · 19/04/2011 13:35

I understand how you are feeling. I had a similar experience and didn't complain and I wish I had done so at the time.

When dd1 was a toddler she had a history of chest infections and wheezing. She was unwell and we took her to emergency doctor in the middle of the night. We explained her history etc, he barely examined her and said she had a cold and did the whole 'babies get ill but it's nothing to panic about' routine.

By the time we got her home(about 10 mins later) she was really struggling to breathe. I rang back the OOH service, the nurse could hear her breathing and told us to hang up and ring 999 immediately which we did. DD was rushed to hospital with oxygen at 80% and was kept in for a week.

I think the doctor was wrong as she wasn't the one who had seen your ds. Also the paramedics will never laugh at you if you have a small child struggling to breathe.

going · 19/04/2011 13:37

I would tell Dr TS the outcome, he needs to know he has made a mistake.

TheOriginalFAB · 19/04/2011 13:39

YANBU to be mad. I would write a letter to thank the doctor who gave you the right advice and maybe one to mention how distressed you were to receive a call from the other doctor and what might have happened should you have listened to them.

meditrina · 19/04/2011 13:46

I agree that a letter of thanks to your GP, who got it right, would be welcome and memorable.

Could you clarify why TS was involved in this at all? It seems really weird to me that HofP is checking up on the detail of consultations of another partner in real time.

Rhinestone · 19/04/2011 13:48

I would write three letters - one thanking NDG, one to TS re the outcome and one to the GMC (whatever it is) re Dr TS.

bemybebe · 19/04/2011 13:48

I so WISH I complained about my GP's out of hours surgery for dismissing my grave concerns about my dh 5 years ago... he was in agonizing pain and ended up in a wheelchair for 8 months due to their lack of attention. We were really struggling to adjust to that and I just did not feel that that particular battle with the surgery would help us going forward. We were waiting for them to arrive for over 12 hours over the weekend and when I suggested I call A&E since they still could not guarantee their attendance, they basically laughed at me and called me irresponsible for wasting valuable emergency resources. I was right though, it was a serious internal bleeding, not just a stupid leg cramp they tried to convince me dh had (over the phone!!)

I wish I complained so nobody would suffer from their terrible care again.

naturalbaby · 19/04/2011 14:14

Complain. my 8 week old had bronchiolitis and we had to stay in hospital overnight for monitoring. One of the criteria for phoning 999 is trouble breathing - no ifs or buts or stop to count bps.

I complained to my practice manager about the way I was treated, spoken to and results were dealt with because I was so unhappy with an experience, and have since changed GP surgery.

DamnItJanet · 19/04/2011 14:24

A gp once told me "Don't worry you won't lose your little babe" in a very patronising and dismissive tone, we were very young and had already been into the gp's 5 times since she was born.
Exactly a week later we were planning her funeral, :(.
She died from complications due to bronchiolitis which should have been picked up before, if the gp had not dismissed me as an over anxious monther (in the notes) then she would have admitted her to hospital that morning instead of her being rushed in later that day collapsed.
I also think more parents should be aware of it everyone knows about meningitis and sids but bronchiolitis is just as devastating yet dosen't seem to get any press or poster campaigns, lots of parents think their Lo has a cold until they get very ill.
OP, glad your ds is on the mend.

Onetoomanycornettos · 19/04/2011 14:35

DamnItJanet, I'm so sorry to hear about your LO. I don't know anything about bronchiolitis, but reading this thread has made me utterly determined that if I am unsure about breathing, call 999 and don't take any crap off GP's (i agree with the advice to thank the GP who was correct though).

Feenie · 19/04/2011 14:41

DamnItJanet - God, that's awful, I am so sorry to hear about your dd. Sad

llareggub · 19/04/2011 14:42

So sorry about your baby, damnitjanet.

Our GP tells parents never to hesitate about bringing in babies in young children and that she would rather see the needlessly than miss something. She is a wonderful, caring and calming person and I am very grateful we have her. So I never complain when he surgery overruns because I know it is because she had prioritised a young child.

Complain. They need to reassess their policy or reflect on the advice given to you.

carney · 19/04/2011 14:44

I would certainly let the doc know the outcome as it may make her/him think twice next time. You don't have to 'complain' as such - just let them know and you'll have made your point and may help someone else in the future.

DamnItJanet · 19/04/2011 14:44

This was almost 12 years ago now but I am still shocked at how little people know about it, I know that not much can be done to prevent it but at least if more new parents were aware of the symptons more babies would recover quickly by getting the treatment they need quicker.

millie30 · 19/04/2011 14:52

I had never heard of bronchiolitis, but my DS got it when he was 4 months old. Luckily my GP was on the ball, suspected it and arranged for him to be admitted to hospital where he recovered well, although he is quite suseptible to chest infections now and sometimes needs to use an inhaler.

OP you need to complain about Dr TS, not only for giving you wrong advice, but for chosing to override his colleague and interfere to give wrong advice about a child he hadn't even seen! He sounds arrogant and dangerous.

Insomnia11 · 19/04/2011 15:01

DamnitJanet, very sorry to hear of your loss and very informative post as I didn't know bronchiolitis could be life-threatening. It seems so common - though mine didn't get it - I would have thought it was about as serious as a cold before reading this.

I agree that OP should write a letter of thanks to NDG, but perhaps mention the other doc in your letter "I'm so glad I listened to you and not Dr TS..."

Letter of thanks and one that will make them think Hmm about the other doc.

Megatron · 19/04/2011 15:10

DamnitJanet, so sorry. Sad

OP I would most definitely raise concerns about this, it may help the doctor recognise another case in the future.

I took my DD to the doctor twice in two days as I so sure she was unwell and the doctor told me 'stop fussing, it's viral'. I asked him to do a urine test (which I had brought with me) and he refused as it was 'a waste of time'. I came out of the docs and went straight to A & E who immediately took my concerns seriously and diagnosed DD with Type 1 diabetes within half an hour. The glucose levels in her blood were 28.6 (normal levels between 4-7). We all make mistakes and if it's an important one, it needs to be acknowledged.

MsToni · 19/04/2011 15:17

So sorry for your loss, DamnitJanet

My 6mo niece has been feeling unwell and my sis is petrified. She has difficulty breathing too. The GP told her this morning that it will pass...babies feel poorly. I'll call her now and ask her to go to A&E if she is still poorly.

I second Insomnia's point.

dribbleface · 19/04/2011 15:17

Damitjanet, i'm so sorry.

Op - i would complain about doctor NDS and a letter of thanks ot the other one, my ds had bronchiolitis at 5mths, our GP was very dismissive and i was noted as an anxious mum too, in the end we ended up at A & E and i'm so grateful he was ok after various treatment. I changed surgeries afterwards and i was the best thing i have ever done.

I agree much more info should be out to new mums about bronchiolitis.

dribbleface · 19/04/2011 15:19

NDG not NDS sorry

MsToni - please do DS went down hill very quickly when he was ill. If i had listened to the GP i dread to think what might have happened.

diddl · 19/04/2011 15:21

Dr TS sounds like an absolute twat for diagnosing a child that she hadn´t seen & couldn´t see at that point.

As for telling you that the paramedics would laugh at you.

Words fail me.

Does she think that because he´s a twat, they would be als

MaMattoo · 19/04/2011 16:32

Thank you for all your posts. I WILL complain. And I WILL say thanks to NDG.

DamnitJanet - I am sorry to hear about your loss..time passes, but memory does not fade.

Such GPs should not get away with doing this dismissive, patronizing..and really speaking dangerous behaviour.

To clarify Dr TS is senior to Dr NDG who has only just joined this practice. She is quite thorough and I have seen her before. NDG takes the time a patient needs to resolve things, and does not always stick to a 10min thing.

Since posting this NDG called to ask about the baby and she also apologised on behalf of TS saying 'she had not seen the baby and so did not know what she was advising you'..all the more reason not to open her damn mouth, no?

Thanks. I shall complain. Bronchiolitis is scary if left untreated, I reckon a thread about it should be elaborated upon here. What say.

update on DS - breathing heavy, but better, fever gone, appetite returning slowly..and the chatting is back! Phew! I think I lost a couple years of my life yesterday.

OP posts:
springbokdoc · 19/04/2011 17:11

Sorry to hear about what happened. Even if someone is junior it is pretty unusual to comment on a doctor's assessment of a child, especially if it is conservative advice, e.g. if she had told you to do something that the senior felt was dangerous like don't go to hospital no matter what, I could understand her phoning you up. But the advice to go to A&E/call 999 if there is problems with breathing is pretty sound and at least no harm will come to the child.

FWIW I would be pretty hacked off if a another GP felt it ok to ring up a parent and basically slag off my assessment and management of a child, given that they hadn't even seen the child.

Anyhoo, definitely write to thank Dr NDG (who can put the letter in for the appraisal folder) and perhaps a letter expressing your dissatisfaction with Dr TS.

DamnItJanet · 19/04/2011 17:14

MrsMattoo, your thread has convinced me that more needs to be done to make parents more aware of this awful virus.
I have emailed mnhq with some ideas and am waiting to hear back to see if they can help.
Even a leaflet in with the new baby pack parents recieve would be useful.

CinnabarRed · 19/04/2011 17:15

NHS website says call 999 if your child has severe difficulties breathing. Which yours did, from your descripion in the OP.

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Bronchiolitis/Pages/Symptoms.aspx