To be seriously annoyed with this A+E doctor?

[toesandbt]

DD is 15, she was in a lot of pain, had been for a few days but it was getting worse and she was generally just feeling crap, took her to A+E, due to the abdominal pain. Gave her IV pain relief and other meds, doctor came back (bloods were clear) he asked her how she was feeling now and she said worse and he laughed, yes laughed! He then looked at me and said she's fine to go home DD was crying in my arms saying how she really can't be sent home, I didn't know what to say to her? Doctor said she was fine to and the meds would kick in properly at home, so I took that advice. A couple of days later she was getting bad spells of pain still and was still feeling crappy, I admit I told her that it would get better ( she got some oral meds too and he said up to a week to work) so she needs to persevere. She then began fainting and vomiting some odd stuff. I took her back to A+E in which they were seriously concerned about her (had developed sepsis) from a bad gallbladder/liver infection from a blocked gallstone! She was admitted and needed an ultrasound and IV antibiotics for the week. She has been discharged this morning with lots of meds and an MRI soon.

AIBU to think that initial doctor was awful? To be honest, it's my fault too I kept telling her to persevere. She must have felt so unwell.

His attitude was totally out of order, so yes please do complain about that.

But Gallstones in a 15 year old, that has to be so rare, though I'd be a bit if she was still showing clinical signs of pain after IV analgesia.
(Has she recently lost a lot of weight/ been dieting?)

Saying that as someone who also had Gallstones, my first set of bloods were clear and despite been a mouthy ex-HCP I allowed them to discharge me from A&E after my first episode despite still been in pain.
Well because the bloods were clear. . .

Ultrasounds are a simple, cheap, non-invasive procedure but you need some serious training to do them correctly and Doc's are not trained in that, they can see the big obvious things, but depending on how many stones your daughter has, where they were in the bladder at the time and the amount of bile in the Gallbladder they can be easy to missed unless you're trained and experienced.

I hope your daughter feels better soon

I had a badly infected gallbladder caused by a blocked duct one Christmas a few years ago. I was 24, healthy weight and not at all the typical gallstone patient. DH took me to A&E where they gave me codeine, took blood and a history. Junior doctor went to check symptoms with his senior who marched into my bay, told me I had indigestion and sent me home along with a speech about wasting hospital time which left me in tears.

6 hours later I was returned back to A&E by ambulance after collapsing at home. When we explained what happened the new senior A&E doctor who was on the ward realised the earlier doctor had discharged me without checking my bloods (which showed severely deranged LFT levels) and he was furious on our behalf and spoke to one of the nurses about this being noted and encouraged us to make the hospital aware. I never saw the first doctor again but was told he had been spoken to.

I'm really sorry your daughter is going through this, it really is awful. If you'd have gone a few hours later or seen a different doctor things might have been more positive, definitely make the hospital aware, it may be a vital learning opportunity and hopefully your daughter may receive an apology.

The ultrasound took place after she was admitted on the 3rd day! So not sure if a and e can do them? But further tests should have been done, she was still crying after the IV meds should have worked and he definitely thought she was exaggerating, why else laugh??

She is overweight, so I assume that's why she has them so young.

Op, I'd want to know what bloods were done! It's all well and good the dr saying all bloods clear but it depends on the bloods that have been tested in the first place.

What were other obersations like? Heart rate, respiratory rate and temp? Did he examine her as in press on abdo etc? Could your dd pinpoint the pain?

I'd gather as much info as possible first before putting a complaint in about the discharge but if you feel his attitude was uncalled for the certainly complain about that too.

Heart rate and BP, etc. was all high. Temp was okay the first time though

This seems to happen a lot with gallbladder problems. 3 nights in a row I visited a &e in agony each time to be sent home as "nothing was wrong". This also has happened to a few friends. I only realised I ha gallbladder issues by googling the symptoms an finding that lots of other women had been dismissed from a&e, when in fact they had severe gallbladder issues. Hope your daughter is ok, and is on the mend soon.

in these circumstances I always feel its a duty to complain but more than that - simply give feedback let that doc know he made a mistake, rather than punish the man - ( although who knows he may already have several complaints against him which will then flag up serious issues) but to let him know he made a mistake, perhaps he will be more thorough next time, will do more checks and not be so cavalier!!

Its a duty in something like this, let them know otherwise how on earth would that doc improve?

Depending on where you live, these people may be able to help with a complaint, providing advocacy etc.

Pain tells us something is wrong

This is what I don't understand.

Many years ago my dd had a week of very severe headaches to the point that she couldn't go to school. I took her to the GP who examined her and told me not to worry as she didn't meningitis or a brain tumour and sent us home for her to continue with the headaches until I took her to an acupuncturist who cured her.

I frankly don't understand doctors who think it is ok for someone to be in pain and are not interested in getting to the bottom of it.

Sorry you've both been through so much pain and stress, from what sounds like an unavoidable illness, but what exactly is the complaint for? You objected to his approach in what sounds like just a few seconds of a process which probably took a few hours, and you're going to complain to his employer?

Maybe the fact that he dismissed severe pain lasting for days which didn't respond to pain meds plus high heart rate and blood pressure as something to laugh about and "fine to go home"?

I was sent away twice for gallstones when I first started getting attacks at 23 due to being under 30. It's very, very rare in someone of your daughter's age and so that's why it probably wasn't caught. As for the laughter - having been through a gallstone attack how on earth could he laugh at her pain? It's agonising. He should have been able to tell instantly that she was in a lot of pain and investigated accordingly.

My daughter had a similar dick, who tried to send her home with meningitis, saying it was gastroenteritis. Despite her not having the correct symptoms. Go for malpractice. Luckily I'm a bitch and wldnt accept the bollox, she was treated and her life saved, she was left deaf on one side.

I meant to say, sepsis and pancreatitis which is what a gall stone blockage is called are two life threatening conditions. YANBU at all !!!!!