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.

There has been cases of people being injected maliciously in nightclubs. Whilst your dd genuinely needed them how can they guarantee that someone wouldn't use a medical device to sneak in an illegal substance? I can see the need for a balanced approach, having a fully staffed medical room is surprising to me, I'm impressed, I think that's a suitable compromise

What if the medical room is occupied by another person? Would they expect her to wait? Anaphylaxis doesn’t wait!

AAI training is part of the qualification to act as a first aider in schools - you are told about the laws, procedures and not to lock them away. The school policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions tells you, the laws that govern how you do it tell you, even the companies that provide access to headteachers ordering emergency AAI tell you in the catalogue, on the order form and on the despatch notes (or at least they did last time I ordered a set).

There is no excuse for a school locking the spares prescribed to a child away.

I'd go with the Disability Discrimination aspect, as this also affects diabetic students and a club's risk assessment should have this as a relatively rare but catastrophic outcome.

X post with pp. Don’t be nice about contacting licensing. There is absolutely nothing in the licensing act that gives the club the power to do this.

I’d ask for their risk assessment on this.

Where’s the procedure for ensuring that their trained person will be available to administer the epipen or release it for use at all times?

How can they be sure that they wouldn’t be dealing with someone who had passed out and banged their head?

How would they know that it was your DD’s epipen and not someone else who felt they needed one?

Is their paramedic qualified with up to date training on this? Are they from a CQC registered firm. Who else would be involved if your DD needed her medication, ask the same question of all staff involved.

etc., etc..

The Licensing Authority will want to know about this.

I’ve never worked in a school where the epipens were taken off the child. Lifesaving medications are with the child at all times. Spares kept in medical room.

My child has both inhalers and epipens and when he starts school he will need immediate access to them. I wouldn’t consider sending him anywhere that will take his medications and put them in a different room on site, where someone might have to find a key or person to open the door.

I’ve also worked as a bouncer and we never removed epipens.

There has been a rise in needle spiking in nightclubs. There was a detailed investigation on the radio a couple of weeks ago- clubs are putting covers on drinks, you can get them tested but it seems some clubbers are being pricked with something to spike them.

I'm guessing this is what they are trying to stop. I'm not saying the way they have gone about it is correctly but I'm assuming this is what they are thinking.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-59235121

This kind of things is disgusting, but sadly not uncommon. Ableist people treating a disability as some kind of 'hobby', rather than a very serious concern that some people have to live with 24/7.

This is the equivalent of them having a fire door that, instead of having a push-bar for easy instant egress, is kept locked - and 'all you have to do' if a fire breaks out is to go and find the authorised person and ask them if they could get the key from a cupboard. Nobody would ever sign that off as acceptable.

Definitely complain, go to the local media if necessary. As you say, it isn't 'just' your DD that this is about, but also others with similar needs who may not have the confidence or determination to stand up for themselves.

I'm so sick of essential disability needs being treated as fussing and optional extras by those who are privileged enough to be able to take that standpoint.

As children have died as a result of that policy I’m not sure it is the best example!

(Result from 3 seconds of googling.)

www.lung.ca/lung-health/lung-info/impact-lung-disease/asthma-can-be-fatal-remembering-ryan-gibbons

In my school we hold all medicines in a room including epipens.
This is to keep everyone safe as we have students that can cause harm to themselves or others.
However, we have a much higher staff to student ratio and quite a small unit.

I think it’s a difficult one because people will be sneaking in drugs in medication boxes and epipens and the club is obviously just trying to keep everyone safe.

If my DD was injected with a drug in a club I would be questioning why the club didn’t remove it when they spotted it.

It seems like they’ve tried to do the right thing by creating a medical room but I’m not sure if this was the right decision in this case.

I agree with this too . It’s for anyone who carries an epi pen . I know children that carry them for egg and milk allergies.

What if your daughter had a reaction and she didn't happen to be standing next to her friends at the time? Randoms wouldn't know that there was an epi pen waiting for her in another room and precious time would be lost.

This isn't acceptable.

Unfortunately as others have said I think your daughters health needs have become tied up in the spiking issue, which is a very real threat to young people nowadays….perhaps they have had men try and sneak epipens in for dodgy reasons?? Either way it really needs sorting out.

I would speak to them and if you are not happy take this further . I agree with others who are saying name and shame them … this could save someone else’s life !

Im surprised that any properly qualified paramedic agreed to this policy.
How on earth is someone in anaphylaxis expected to make their way across a huge nightclub to a medical room?.
I'm assuming it's a huge club to warrant a medical room in the first place.
Thanks for not letting this go OP.

Yanbu. I would be raising (polite) hell over this.
I dread the day my DS has to deal with idiots and his epi-pens.

Your school needs to review its policy, it is endangering children to lock an epipen or an inhaler away.

Definitely take this further. Mi utes count with anaphylaxis as you know.

When I was a teacher I had to keep any epipens immediately to hand rather than having to search from them in another room I had no control over leaving the class unsupervised. I never did actually have to use one though.

Name and shame

Risk of spiking versus risk of allergic reaction. They must have seen the media about Pret a Manger and BA when people have died from reactions.

Common sense needs to be followed. Prescribed medication that is life saving should be with the person.

I've had a quick Google to see if there's any guidance for nightclubs and couldn't find anything. What I did find was dozens of local news reports where women (usually university students actually) have been drugged via "epipen like" devices and the clubs have come in for lots of critism for that.

They might have got it wrong, but the policy is designed to keep people safe. Talk to them about it of course, but setting out to destroy them for it (as some have suggested with press and licencing) is ridiculous.

There has been cases of people being injected maliciously in nightclubs. Whilst your dd genuinely needed them how can they guarantee that someone wouldn't use a medical device to sneak in an illegal substance? I can see the need for a balanced approach, having a fully staffed medical room is surprising to me, I'm impressed, I think that's a suitable compromise

Taking away disabled people's essential needs is never an acceptable way to tackle crime. Their lives are just as important as everybody else's lives and are challenging enough already - it is not for able-bodied people to decide that parts of a disabled person's basic human needs are open to compromise.

Do night club security have epipens in their medical kits?

In my school we hold all medicines in a room including epipens.
This is to keep everyone safe as we have students that can cause harm to themselves or others

"Keeping everyone safe" apart from the students who have life-threatening allergies.

One of my DC is allergic to nuts and seafood. He always had an epipen with him at school. School had a back-up.

How do they know she had one?

And at 18 why on earth are you involved? If she has an issue she can deal with it

Your daughter needs to follow this up. If she’s old enough to go nightclubbing, she’s old enough to send an email of complaint without her mum.