Nightclub took DDs epipens

[anaphyl4xis]

My DD - 18 and a 1st year uni student - went to a nightclub last night and they refused to let her keep her epipens on her. They said if she needed them
She had to go to the medical room.

She was with a group of friends and had all paid to get in and the venue also refused to refund if they decided not to go in.

AIBU to be absolutely livid and to follow this up with the company.

For context my daughter has a life threatening allergy to nuts - but not peanuts.

It’s not epipens that are responsible for people being spiked and raped - and if that gets out, it will cause more confusion. And if you use an epipen it should be obvious that they’re not to blame. It should also be obvious that this is disability discrimination and illegal. The club refused entry to someone with a life threatening condition unless they gave up their medication. Familiarise yourself with the Equality Act 2010 and you’ll realise why your comments are offensive to many.

You can take Epipens onto planes - where they are very worried about security and the potential of using such a device for malicious purposes.

Someone using an Epipen type device for spiking would have to get an Epipen, a doctor's prescription, a pharmacy label and it would have to be well designed as the Epipen's needle is kept hidden until needed. It then needs to be thrust on to the leg and - as people have said - you know that you have been injected.

I think some education of people such as bouncers is needed as to what an Epipen looks like and why people need it with them.

f you are treated promptly and correctly for anaphylaxis, it doesn't take long to mentally or physically recover from

You know how quickly you need to take an Epipen if you have had an allergic reaction. I guess you also know that it just buys time whilst an ambulance is called.

Anaphylaxis kills. We all know the stories in the paper.

Doesn't take long to get over physically or mentally? For you maybe. You obviously don't know much about allergy anxiety and PTSD from Anaphylaxis reactions

I’m so angry by this comment. My daughter has a life threatening milk allergy and the only times she’s had to use her epipens is when restaurants have made mistakes. We have no problem explaining the allergy but we cannot control what happens in the kitchen. She is 13 and absolutely will not eat in restaurants anymore.

This is the comment I am angry with.

Exactly. And some of the BTL comments in the Daily Mail when someone dies from anaphylaxis say that people shouldn't eat out if they have allergies.

Luckily, we know things when we eat out that we know from the past are safe. But you never know if things have changed, so there is always a worry.

I just take hope in the fact that such things are rare.

Now I’ve read the whole thread I hope the OP follows this up. My daughter is 13 and I start to panic when I think about what could happen as she gets older. I had to use her epipen after a restaurant mistake last year and she looked as if she was drunk. Stumbling, husky voice, projectile vomit and then collapsed. Happened very quickly and she would have looked as if she was drunk. She would not have had time to walk through a club and what if her friends are too drunk to help? This sort of thing fills me with complete dread and it must be very hard to let go. My daughter’s life threatening allergy is to milk and it’s in so many things. There’s going to be a real balance between her living an independent life as a young adult/older teenager and being sensible and not doing things like getting really drunk. I try not to think about it or I think I’d have a breakdown. So please, everyone stop minimising this. Anaphylaxis kills very quickly and people with allergies absolutely cannot be separated from their epipens.

Also just to raise awareness, the pen must be in the muscle part of the thigh for 10-15 long seconds and an ambulance must always be called immediately.

and to the restaurant owner who has staff who roll their eyes - it’s a shame people pretend to have allergies, but for the sake of people like my daughter with a milk allergy, please explain to them that for the one genuine person, please don’t

Sue them.

After seeing me have anaphylaxis my child is suffering from PTSD. have you ever had your airway swell that much you can't breathe or even swallow your own saliva, have drs talk to you about being intubated and going to icu because believe me it is not something you get over easily, it haunts you.
It's not something you can get over easily.

I have spontaneous anaphylaxis it doesn't even need me to eat anything it just happens would you be separated from your epi pens when you have no idea when it could happen but know that you could need your pens before you actually die because worse case that is what happens

If you are treated promptly and correctly for anaphylaxis, it doesn't take long to mentally or physically recover from.

What makes you so certain of this?

Also with the state of A&E nowadays timely treatment for anaphylaxis is not as likely as it used to be. People are waiting longer than ever for ambulances to arrive and those minutes will make all the difference in some cases. It's scary.

It's also absolutely terrifying having an anaphylactic reaction and it's terrifying for the people you're with. I don't agree that everyone recovers quickly from this. Nearly dying is widely accepted as being traumatic.

But why are OP's daughter's wishes the last word on this? This isn't an issue of, say, a parent staying out of a dispute with the university about the daughter's work. This is a safety issue with ramifications that go way beyond OP's daughter. If OP's daughter does nothing, and OP decides she can't get involved, this club will carry on with its policy and there is unfortunately a good chance that someone could be made very ill or even die. Why should OP allow that to happen just because her 18 year old daughter says so?

You'd be happy to leave your epipen to be kept in another room in a crowded nightclub? You do realise, surely, that they get really crowded and that making your way across the room isn't a quick 10 second stroll? If you collapsed, would you really want to risk your friends having to struggle through the crowd to fetch the epipen, then struggle back to find you when that might well take 10 minutes or more?

FFS. She has a disability. It's against the law to prevent someone with a disability from accessing a public venue, which is what this club is effectively doing if it is telling them the only basis on which they will be allowed to come in is to put their lives in danger.

How hard can that be to understand?

Epi pens are to be administered in an emergency.
If you've handed them in to security and you've to get yourself to a medical room, that's going to use valuable time.
Absolutely the wrong procedure, as someone who suffers from allergies know how serious they can be.
Nightclubs are busy, you'd have to work your way through crowds before you got to your pen
Absolutely complain, that's disgusting and potentially lethal.

@Xol In a nightclub? The odds of me consuming an allergen would be low.
Nuts are a common serious allergy food, lots of pubs and clubs sell packets of peanuts behind the bar.
Love me a packet of dry roasted if I'm out

for my daughter with a milk allergy when milk is in some drinks? Did you know it’s can even be found in wine or Prosecco as they use casein to make it clear? What if she was given the wrong drink? What if someone changed her drink?

It takes a very long time to recover mentally - physically i would agree (if the epipen is administered and works). My daughter’s last reaction required 2 ambulances and it was over an hour before they could stabilise her. I didn’t see her for that hour so I was stood outside not knowing if she was alive (we were in France). She hasn’t eaten anything not made by me since and I couldn’t talk about it for at least 6 months after without crying. Even now it’s making my heart race. Mentally allergies are very hard. Her paediatrician said counselling for allergies is sadly lacking in this country as the mental health effect is not given enough understanding. My daughter has had some on the NHS through the oncology department.

I'm shocked that your dd's epi pens were taken away from her. Perhaps the chemists could label the plastic pen holder. Absolutely I would contact the club in your position as would my grandmother. My mum wouldn't like 'to make a fuss'. But your dd will learn how to query issues by seeing how you make a positive criticism of the club. Also encourage your dd to write to both her MP, University authorities, and NHS. We often have rubber wrist bands these days and your dd's condition is one that calls for something like this.

Report the club to police.
Call club. Talk to the owner. This is not legal.

100% follow this up!! This is discrimination and she needs to carry these on her.
the only thing you can do in the future is get a doctors note or have her carry her repeat prescription on her as proof.
I would go as high up as possible and also tag them on Twitter / Facebook etc.
My daughter has a medical condition and needs to carry certain things on her person at all times and I would ballistic if someone.. ANYONE confiscated her medical supplies.

I really hope you get some where with this complaint op, you could potentially save someone’s life. As for the posters suggesting you stay out of it as your dd is 18, just because they are adults doesn’t mean we wash our hands of them and drop all of our protective parenting instincts. You’re absolutely doing the right thing taking this further.

Did they give them back afterwards? I would definitely push her to complain and I would also take this to the media because I think other people need to be made aware so they can choose not to avoid there. I would kick up the biggest stink about this possible. It needs to be escalated so that they learn how serious mistake this is

For all those people asking her to make her way to a medical room to retrieve her EpiPen to counteract anaphylaxis. You are not understanding how fast this can come on . How disoriented you can become . How weak you can be and once you go into shock you can explain or get help . You need the pen with you to use ASAP.
Last time I was bad I was lying on o the floor unable to hardly breath or move my system shut down with a minute. How long does it take to work out where a medical room is to get the EpiPen back and make yourself heard about nightclub noise to get it back.

I say this with love but if your daughter is old enough to go to a nightclub, maybe let her follow up with them?