Hospital mis-diagnosed my babies fractured wrist

[tgm1974]

My 14 month old son fell off my bed on tuesday night and it was the following day that I took him to hospital to be checked. No xray was carried out and I was told that it was probably just a sprain. Whilst he was with the childminder yesterday she called me saying she was concerned that he wasnt using his arm so I picked him up and took him to another hospital for a 2nd opinion. They actually xrayed his wrist to find that he fractured 2 bones ......... as you can imagine I was not happy that this was not picked up initially.

What would you go besides speaking to the PALS people to log a complaint!??

[China Doll]

You can write an offical complaint and address it to the Complaints Officer of the hospital or PALS can pass this on for you.

[legendis.god]

Seek legal advice , and buy a bed guard for the child too.

[888sally888]

zacmaster - all children have accidents!

[redcrx]

to be honest Id just write an offical complaint to the management of the hospital.
Your son was obviously very brave and ws doing well to use his arm if he was ok for nursery so perhaps it wasnt that easy to actually spot a problem.
id be furious too but what are you expecting from a complaint?

[ummmm]

Can your baby talk?

[naflharrison]

oh cranky!! i will be honest and say that there is nothing wrong with having your child on your bed and if they happen to fall of which im hoping was purely accidental as i know myself it can happen so fast, a child can seem fine initially but then problems can occur. personally i would have probably checked them for any signs of fracture myself but not everyone knows how to! in this instance you are more than right to be absolutely raging at the hospital and you should take it further, also tho and i say this in the kindest possible way. no matter what its better to get checked out when it happens rather than the next day. you were lucky that they believed you that your little one fell of the bed, alot of hospitals will presume the worst, ive seen it happen to someone i know, their child had an accident and was taken away from them for a yr as the hospital did not believe it was an accident. (it really was an accident!)

[daffy654]

I wouldn't be complaining at all for such a minor thing. Small fractures are easily missed on x-rays,especially with young children.
When my daughter was around 11 years old she twisted her ankle and couldn't put any weight on it,I took her to hospital where she had an x-ray and was sent home with pain killers and told to return in 3 days time. When we went back we were shocked to find that she had a fracture right across the growth plate that had not been noticed on the x-ray by the doctor who saw it first time around. She was sent off to the plaster room and was in plaster for 6 weeks. At no point did I feel the need to complain about the first doctor who missed the fracture as in the end she was diagnosed and treated properly.

[naflharrison]

the first hospital didnt bother to xray tho daffy.

[daffy654]

I suppose they may have thought that exposing a very young child to x-rays was uneccesary the first time,especially if the child appeared to be using the hand normally. He may have actually worsened the fracture by playing or possibly falling onto the same hand again in the time between visits.
I know that tgm1974 is probably quite upset and angry that the fracture was missed but what good is complaining....unless of course this is a compensation issue.

[legendis.god]

I hope its zac that was cranky?

I only said get a bed guard even for your bed if your child is sharing it , though i was of the opinion thats not the best thing to have a small tot in the bed ?

[tgm1974]

Hi everyone

Just for the record this is no way a compensation claim - as I blame myself for the accident. He is very quick on his feet as just started walking and silly me just turned away for a split second.

I mentioned an xray first but was dismissed as if i didnt know what i was talking about .... even for caution i feel it should have been done as this was what the 2nd hospital did. As you say fractures are easily missed and need xraying to find - a simple squeeze and prod wont give much away.

Anyway Ive contacted PALS so just want it noted to the Dr!

[redcrx]

I hope PALs are a help
I wish your son a speedy recovery, i bet its hardly bothering him and hes off and running again.
Dont beat yourself up about the accident, these things happen, especially with the little ones as they are just so quick at times arent they.

[angeldraws]

Are you lot for real....? of course mum would be major p1553d off about this - i would too - what if the mum thought 'ah the doctor's said it was ok, it must be ok.....' then a few days/weeks/months down the line the child could've damaged it further and actually broken his arm in the meantime.

Honestly - you people - clueless!

Write to the Medical Director as well as PALS - even if only for an explanation....i certainly think one is due -

[angiebaby57]

I advise you to take it further just to prevent this from happening to another child...perhaps the Dr involved will think twicw about a similar case...we all know that Drs are not infalliable but in my personal experience they should listen more to the mother, whose instinct is pretty much spot on when it comes to her child - better safe than sorry.
If I had listened to my HV and GP my son would be dead. Fact. He had a blockage in his bowel at 4 weeks and I was continually dismissed as being a neurotic mother - in the end thanks to the experience of a locum GP on the verge of retirement my son was transferred to hospital in an emergency ambulance and then transferred as a critical patient to a specialist teaching hospital. I f I had not followed my gut instinct my baby would have died from a ruptured bowel. As it was we were in hospital for 10 days! Luckily he is now 13 and has suffered no long term effects. Even if you are wrong, follow your instincts - thats my advice.
My HV was given a warning by the authority for being so dismissive and patronising and the GP's who had all dismissed my fears as 'colic' were pretty quick to apologise. Thats all wanted. No amount of money would ever have lessened our anguish, trauma and distress so we would not have dreamed of making a compensation claim - although we knew we had grounds.