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Children's health

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Original poster

Have i been 'tagged' as bad Mum in A+E?

21 replies

Angeliz · 12/02/2009 14:50

Hello all.
DD has terrible tummy bug at the moment. Last night she was vomitting green and after calling NHS direct i took her to A+E to be checked out.
She has a bruise on her cheek as DP bumped her face the other day in a rush to the sick bowl!! The nurse immediately commented on it and then the Doctor took a VERY detailed history of who lives at home......other siblings......dp......
DD is o.k, still vomitting but no bowel obstruction but now i am terrified that they think i'm abusing her!!

Any Docs out there or anyone who can say if i indeed was 'noticed' for them to take such an indepth history. I've been to A+E before and never had one.

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Original poster

Angeliz · 12/02/2009 14:50

Thanks in advance for any replies, dd is 3 btw.

OP posts:

liath · 12/02/2009 14:55

Hi Angeliz,

I've worked in a kids A&E before and TBH it sounds like them being routinely thorough. There is a HUGE emphasis on child protection nowadays so A&E staff are very aware they need to be on the lookout for any warning signs. However they'll be equally aware that most small children commonly have bumps and bruises so are really unlikely to be thinking you're abusing her but are just dotting the i's and crossing the t's IYSWIM.

Hope that incoherent ramble helps a bit .

cory · 12/02/2009 14:56

IME they always take a detailed history and draw up your family tree. Or else, they have always viewed me with a suspicious eye.

SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore · 12/02/2009 14:57

I think they have to do this.

Only one bruise? You are doing well. My two are very boistorous.

DD1 has been to A and E after falling down the stairs, after falling over and fracturing her gum, after diving head first into the fishtank and with niece after encouraging her to 'hide' stones up her nose. Each time she told the doctor it was my fault There has never been any follow ups.

When the health vistor called last week dd2 had a black eye, where she had opened the door into her face, a graze on her cheek of unknown origin and a bruise under her other eye where fell over trying to dance in dd1's tap shoes.

Original poster

Angeliz · 12/02/2009 14:58

Oh thank God, i didn't get in till 1 am and then couldn't sleep thinking they were having her put on some list.
I did wonder whether recent news had made them all need to be more vigilant.

OP posts:

Original poster

Angeliz · 12/02/2009 15:00

Haven't been on mumsnet for AGES, forgot how great it was to have opinions at the drop of a hat...thanks all

OP posts:

ScottishMummy · 12/02/2009 15:01

doesnt sound untoward,but yes emphasis is upon child protection etc.have to be seen to be vigilant and query social situation
how is your DD anyway?

liath · 12/02/2009 15:01

I think I was on the same antenatal thread as you many moons ago, Angeliz. Lovely to "see" you. How are all the mini-angeliz's doing?

herbietea · 12/02/2009 15:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster

Angeliz · 12/02/2009 15:09

She is still very poorly.
DS had what G.P thought was rotovirus last week and i think it's that. This is her 4th day and she's managing water in sips.
lovely to see you all again

OP posts:

snickersnack · 12/02/2009 15:15

Hope she feels better soon.

I took dd in last year because she?d fractured her collarbone while playing with dh in the garden. It was quite late by the time we got discharged, and the doctor came in and said brightly ?ok, you can go home to daddy now!?. Dd was having a lovely time ? up late, chocolate, everyone making a fuss of her ? and flung herself on the ground wailing ?Not daddy, not daddy, I don?t want to see daddy?. The doctor didn?t even blink ? just laughed and said it happens a lot. I was convinced we?d get a phone call from social services, but nothing?

Forrester · 13/02/2009 10:59

My friend who is one of the most caring mummies you could hope to meet was playing with her DD in the garden swinging her round etc and her DD's shoulder dislocated. They went to the hospital, the doc asked the DD what happened and she (2.5) said' Mummy hurt me'. An absolutely accurate statement, but taken totally out of context. The doc did not ask the DD what happened, just took what she said as read and before you could say knife, the social worker was round.

NotQuiteCockney · 13/02/2009 12:13

It's normal for them to be concerned about injured children - when DS2 was 1, he fell on a slide and split his eyelid open. Off to A+E.

They asked me if we had a social worker! Which seemed like a weird way to screen. I mean, if we don't have one, we must be ok? And then they clearly relaxed when I said the injury happened on a slide (= in public = other people would have seen). Actually, nobody else was in the playground, but never mind.

rempy · 13/02/2009 12:18

Sounds like a thorough doc to me.

We are supposed to take full medical and social historys regardless of presentation, so with kids that means who else is at home, who is primary carer, etc etc. (I am rather less thorough, but am an anaesthetist who is happy to acknowledge all the stereotypes).

We were asked by our nursery carer about a facial bruise on DD the other day. Embarrassed to say have no idea how she got it.

rempy · 13/02/2009 12:18

Sounds like a thorough doc to me.

We were asked by our nursery carer about a facial bruise on DD the other day. Embarrassed to say have no idea how she got it.

CeceliaAhern · 13/02/2009 12:27

This is normal. For my dd's entire firts year, anytime i went near gp for her chesty coughs, he noticed all the red stork marks all over her back and asked me about them EVERY time. I got v paranoid, but was pleased he was so thorough.

waspriceyp · 13/02/2009 12:41

Angeliz, you know that you are a good parent. Bad parents don't always bring their children to the attention of health professionals (some do obviously!). In the main as long as you know that, just concentrate on caring for your DD. FWIW, my DS 3.9 has been covered in random, unexplained bruises, lumps and bumps for at least 2.5 years now!

Sometimes they are going a yukky shade of green before they are even noticed by either me or DH.

I don't mind interrogation by HV, GPs etc, I like to think (hope) it's for the greater good and might actually help another child/family in the long run.

waspriceyp · 13/02/2009 12:48

In fact Angeliz, while I am sat here quietly MN'ing, DS has just whacked himself on the side of the head with the dog lead. He's swinging it around his head, luckily I have no ornaments or nick nacks (well not any more)

BexieID · 13/02/2009 12:51

They wanted to know the 'ins and outs of a ducks bum' when we took Tom to a&e recently. He'd hurt his arm whilst walking with PIL, they took him to the local hospital (no a&e). We took him to the a&e at the childrens hospital the next as advised and every time we had to go back, we had to say what had happened again, even though they had the original sheets with what had happened on them! We think Tom just had a pulled elbow in the end and 7 x-rays later!

Bumblelion · 13/02/2009 12:57

I had the same thing yesterday. It was my son's birthday (12) but I was at work - doing his birthday treat(s) next week - have 2 days holiday (Tuesday and Thursday) - 1 bowling, 1 go-karting. No point taking a day's holiday on his birthday (which I normally do) because it normally always falls in half term.

I got a phone call from school to say he had hurt his leg in P.E. (table tennis) and needed to go to hospital.

Long story ... when we got to hospital, they took a very detailed history and also said they would contact his social worker (not even sure if we have one), his school and his doctor. The accident happened at school so I wasn't too concerned.

Because they suspected a broken thigh bone (just badly bruised and swollen), they carried out a thorough check on his body for other bruising (head, chest, back, other parts of his legs).

I felt I was being judged but the accident happened at school, when I was at work and I did not cause the injury.

I know exactly how you feel but reading about all the injuries caused to children by their own parents, I can see why they need to be sure.

SOLOveMeTenderLoveMeDo · 13/02/2009 13:26

My first visit to A&E with Ds was with a rash at 6 weeks old and he was stripped off and checked over and I'm not sure why, but they were not just looking at the rash, but looking for bruising too...that just shook me up big style. of course there were no bruises.

I was snipping Dd's fingernails with over sized clippers when she was 3 months old and I caught her fingertip which would not stop bleeding. Phoned doctors surgery and we saw the nurse practitioner who phoned the hospital who said bring her in...the doctor we saw then asked many questions which included 'Do your children have the same father' I thought that was a very odd question and unfortunately I didn't think to ask him why he was asking that(in my view)irrelevant question. My Ds was at school so not with us, but they wouldn't have looked so very different evn with different fathers. Very odd.

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