Tammy's horrible Friday
Gary & Tammy Bangs (gbangs@earthlink.net)
Wed, 27 Mar 1996 19:29:11 -0800
I know Chip and Liz have been concerned, so I'll post about my horrible day.
I want to say upfront that this is a personal story and doesn't have anything
to do with the preemie list, so some may want to delete. I am only posting
this to the group because I have made so many friends here.
BTW--Chip, I have learned a lesson about tempting fate, by joking about some
things.
Here's what happened:
Monday night, March 18, Travis woke during the night and couldn't get back to
sleep (he had the beginnings of a cold). Gary had duty that night, and was
aboard ship, so I ended up bringing Travis to bed with me. The next morning,
I got an early phone call and jumped out of bed to answer, Travis decided to
jump out of bed too. He landed on the floor and hit the top of his cheek,
just under his eye, on the corner of our electric blanket control. Needless
to say, he ended up with a few bruises and a black eye. There was no trauma
to the eye itself so I didn't think much of it. Thursday night, the 21st,
Travis had a fever all night, 102-103 F. So, Friday morning I took him to
the acute care clinic (this is in a military hosp), because my regular
pediatrician did not have an opening. I saw a nurse-practitioner. She asked
about Travis's eye, and I told her how he fell. She then preceded to listen
to his lungs, and look in his ears. She noticed a bruise on his hip and only
commented "oh he's got bruises all over". Then she informed me that he had
an ear infection wrote me a prescription and we left. At 8:30 that night,
the doorbell rang. It was Children's Protective Services, with two
policemen!!! The nurse practitioner had filed a child abuse charge on me.
The CPS worker made me strip both kids, and he and the police inspected them.
We had to explain every scar on Taylor, and as you all know, there are lots.
We also had to explain why Taylor is so skinny and small for his age. They
then inspected the house, and the area where Travis fell. The CPS worker
decided that he believed my story, but he had to document the event, he took
pictures of Travis's eye, and file a report. He would file it as
"unsubstantiated", but the incident would stay on file "just in case
something else where to happen".
Words can not even begin to describe what we were feeling.
I have no problem with the fact that a red flag went up when the nurse saw
Travis's bruises, I do have a problem with how it was handled however. I
feel that if she had truly been 'doing her job', that I could have proven my
innocence before I even left the hospital. If she was concerned about Travis
enough to call CPS why didn't she do a full examination on him? Why didn't
she ask me further questions about his injuries? Why didn't she get another
doctor to look at him too, something they do all the time at military
hospitals? Why didn't she attempt to examine Taylor, who was with me at the
appointment. Why didn't she walk two doors down and speak to my pediatrician?
Why hadn't she look at the boys' medical records and seen the 7 different
docs that Taylor has seen, and speak to one of them? If she would have given
me ANY indication that she was concerned, I would gladly have gotten other
docs to examine both of them right then and there, and then gotten all of
Taylor's docs to tell just what kind of mom I am. I could have alleviated
all of her fears in just a few minutes. She didn't even talk to the pediatric
social worker, who by the way is very familiar with me and Taylor.
The CPS worker had no idea of all the gov. programs that Taylor is involved
in. For heavens sake, between his early intervention classes and his PT and
OT, he sees state employees 4 days a week. My kids see state workers more
often than kids who are actually abused.
As a result of all this, I have spoken to the Chief Resident of Specialty
Pediatrics (who has consulted with me about Taylor), and my pediatrician
about all of this. (I waited outside a staff meeting in order to speak to
them) They assured me that she did not follow protocol, that it is not their
policy to blindly call CPS without doing further investigations, she should
have informed me of her concerns, and had someone else, preferably the
child's pediatrician if possible, look at him. If after that, they still feel
there is a possibility of abuse, they are required by law to report it. But
because she did none of these, and did not give me a chance to prove myself,
my husband and I will now have a report of suspected child
abuse-unsubstantiated-on our records. And anytime my husband has a
background check done, it will show up.
We have filed a complaint against the nurse with the hospital for failure to
follow procedure. The Chief Resident of Pediatrics and my pediatrician are
both going to write letters on my behave to CRS, so they will be attached to
the report.
So if any of you ever go to the docs with bruises on your kid-- BEWARE!!!
Tammy
Mom to Taylor , angel Alex, and Travis, and wife to 'home for now' Gary.