Monday, April 13, 2009

A Deviation In The Path Of The Quest!

It was becoming clear that the refusal to diagnose by Bristol would be supported by any other doctor we approached - did misplaced professional loyalty outweigh patient need?

R.I.P. ethics!

Then Hari decided to develop another problem.

For a while she had been getting nose and mouth bleeds for no apparent reason. I had also noticed small pin prick size blood spots appearing beneath unbroken skin. I had mentioned this to the health visitor and she had said it was a heat rash - although I was not totally convinced by this response.

During a physio session in Bristol, Hari developed another mouth bleed with no apparent reason. When I told the physios that this had been happening a lot they agreed with me that the rashes were probably not a heat rash and this needed to be checked out. We drove home (over twenty miles) and went to the GP.

The GP decided that as Hari had been seen in London, he didn't know whether or not he was 'allowed' to send her back to Bristol - he would have to check the rules!!!!! He told us to go home and he would get a message to us.

Within a couple of hours he was on our doorstep instructing me to take Hari to Bristol immediately!

Back we went to Bristol.

Blood tests were done and it was discovered that Hari's platelet levels were drastically low. She was admitted - with good and bad aspects to the admission arrangements.

The good aspect was that she was now too old for the baby ward so we didn't have to face that particular nightmare again! She was admitted to another ward which appeared to be a definite improvement on the baby ward. It was an improvement - but later posts will reveal that it could have improved some more!!!!!!

The bad aspect was that they put Hari straight back under the care of the same consultant we had walked away from when he refused to investigate and diagnose her lack of growth! So, despite raising objections we were lumbered with Peter Fleming again.

I thought that, as we were lumbered with him, he might improve - given a second chance. Maybe he might even realise that he really ought to investigate and diagnose the lack of growth.

I thought wrong!

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