DD punched a wall and is now in agony and can’t move her pinkie, will A&E see her?

[riannonmas]

Had a row with her BF on phone and unfortunately punched a concrete wall not considering consequences. Is now in agony, can’t move her pinky finger and her hand is visibly not right. Ordinarily would take her down straight away but the hospital is a major city university hospital and I imagine (Well, also know based on what I’ve heard through social media) swamped with CV. The walk-in minor injuries centre near us is also now focused on CV and telling people not to come in and only go to A&E if it is life threatening, which DD’s situation isn’t. Otherwise they seem to just want you to suck it up. Don’t want to unnecessarily risk exposing her or our family to CV, especially if A&E won’t see her for the hand injury. She is 17 so I’d only be dropping her off as I doubt they’d let me in. Really I want to take her but DH is against it as is terrified of CV and wants me to look up how to treat it at home.

I understand punching a wall is not a normal way to express anger, however, it is expected that during current times anger and intensity of emotion is at a level that is not ‘normal.’ If that makes sense.

She should be asked if she is okay, and if these feelings are regular. But if this is a one off and has never happened, apart from checking she is okay and coping, I’d leave it and just check in occasionally that she is coping.

When I broke a finger, I was first given a temporary metal splint, then a specially moulded plastic one, and it was splinted for around 7 weeks altogether. It was emphasised that, when changing the plaster that kept the splint firmly in place, I still had to keep the finger absolutely straight. I think the point is that often when you break a finger you also damage a ligament, and if that doesn't mend you risk losing the use of that finger.

If it was a pattern of behaviour you would have a point, for a one off with lesson learnt it is not, and shouldn't for the sake of the teen, be made into a big deal.

I have a point because even doing that once is not normal for some of us. My DH has never done this. I haven’t. Our teenagers haven’t. For us it isn’t normal and I can bet my parents wouldn’t have acted like it was ok if I had done that as a teen just as we’d be looking into why if our DC did this.

Maybe you wouldn’t and that’s fine but it’s also fine that we are different from you and that we are surprised that so many other parents think this is normal.

Quite. Also, we've really no idea if it is a one-off or not. You need to hit something pretty hard to smash the bones in your hand. This could be culmination of a pattern of behaviour that the OP wouldn't necessarily know about.

No-one's trying to suggest the DD is some kind of psycho, or diagnose her with a serious MH problem (okay, there may be one or two, but it's AIBU and there are always a few dicks). All a few posters are saying is that, if she's getting this angry and reacting in a way that causes her harm (and, let's be honest, if it escalates, possibly others), then that should be addressed not ignored.

Wow, some people are really desperate to have this poor girl pegged as having massive issues. I really hope the OP stuck to her word and stopped reading the thread.

Is punching a wall 'normal'? Not really. Does it mean that this girl has anger issues/mental health problems? Absolutely not. We're all allowed to fuck up sometimes, even the perfect princesses of mumsnet.

The problem with this type of injury is the knuckle being pulled out of line with the rest of the bone, healing rather wonky and reducing mobility in the little finger, long term.