GP visit for cough. Looked for bruises

[Ashwood]

Hi everyone,
I just wanted people's opinions on whether my experience this morning at the GPs was a normal thing?
My partner and I took our 2 year old daughter to the GPs office this morning as she's had a persistent cough for the best part of a week that wasn't improving. She doesn't visit the doctor very often as she's generally very healthy and only goes for the development checkups, vaccinations and a couple of previous persistent coughs.
This time, when the doctor was listening to her chest she noticed a small bruise on my daughters back and asked about it. My daughter is obviously only 2 so is still quite clumsy and does trip occasionally and get bruises (like I assume most kids her age do?) especially on her knees for example. I told the doctor as much but she was quite persistent about the bruise and ended up looking at her legs and arms too to check for more. She made notes on her computer about the one on her back and the couple on her knees. I felt like I was being judged and suspected of being abusive towards my child. Obviously I may be over reacting like a sleep deprived mum might do but it felt a little much for just going in for a cough to be checked?
The doctor was pleasant otherwise but I just can't stop overthinking the whole experience and being a bit paranoid! Any views from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

Can’t bruising be a symptom of other illnesses... she was probably just been thorough.

Bruising on the back is a bit unusual so I'm not surprised at them asking a bit more. When you say 'it's a bit much I'm afraid you can't opt out of safeguarding.

I’m a GP. We have a duty of care to children. There are some very well known cases where children died because medical professionals were not curious enough. Parents can be very good at hiding abuse. It is our job to always be alert.

Bruising is obviously common in children, but there are some patterns that should alert us to child abuse and make us consider further examination. Bruising on the back can be one of these signs. Most of the time it is not abuse, but it’s reasonable to think about it.

Sometimes this can cause offence to well meaning caring parents, but better this than we miss something. I went through the same thing when my 2 year old had a disclocayrd elbow and lots of questions were asked. If I wasn’t a doctor I might have been offended, but I was pleased they were doing their job properly.

Try not to take it to heart.

A bruise on the torso is more unusual than on a knee say - and an indicator she has to look for and note. So it will have been noted for future reference. You won't have been "judged" on a single bruise.

This is not just about safeguarding, but some medical conditions can lead some children to bruise more easily than others, and it is much better to have a record of this in case anything comes up in future - it would give them a quicker heads up. She will have looked at the easy bruise points - knees, shins, upper and lower arms to make sure she hadn't missed something.

Thanks for all the responses.
So I think I am just being a bit paranoid :P (Currently expecting my second child so hormones are bit insane and I'm gonna blame it on those!)
I guess it is better to be on the safe side for doctors so I am glad that they are looking out for my daughters best interests.
At least I can stop overthinking it all now!
Thanks again everyone!

As others have pointed out -

bruise in a mobile toddler on a bony prominence (knees, shins, elbows, forehead etc) = likely toddler bumping it.

Bruise in an area not over a bony prominence (back, torso, thighs, arms etc) = ensure it isn’t non-accidental injury or a platelet/clotting disorder.

The GP is doing her job, satisfying herself it isn’t a recurrent pattern over the rest of the body by examining the child and documenting her findings. Your feelings don’t come into it as far as she’s concerned.

A DC who has infections that are slow to clear and who bruises easily needs an urgent blood test to rule out the potentially serious cause. The GP would have been remiss not to check the bruising properly.

When my daughter was about 18 months she got a nasty bruise on her cheek at nursery. We saw a Paediatrician for her allergies and she noted it in her clinic letter and stated that we’d told her there’d been an accident form. It’s just in case they have other bruises in a few months time or couple of injuries needing a&e. They can ask all the HCPs for their records.

They’ll document hundreds of bruises and only a small amount of them will be abuse.