Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

We left against medical advice because we felt my daughter's diabetes was not being managed safely there. There were many issues, including inadequate blood testing, but the main issue was an insulin error that could have killed my child. The nurses mixed up the decimal point, in the middle of the night.. Thank God I said I wanted to be awakened for any insulin dose consideration!

After reviewing the records, I found that three hours later, there was yet ANOTHER error involving a decimal point, that I did not know about. In this case, I myself delivered the insulin so the correct dose was given, but the doctor actually ordered ten times more than I gave, based on the nurses' erroneous request.
The nruses told me to "go ahead" and so I did do thte correct amount.

As it happens, the second error is in the records and has been acknowledged by the hospital, after I called patient relations. But the first error, which would truly have ben fatal, is covered up in the records by the nurses in an extremely malicious fashion.

This was the beginning of the nurses trying to protect themselves by attempting
to discredit me. They claim in their nurse's notes that I administered the insulin (corrected dose) and that I did it w/out a nurse witness, as required by regulations.

They came in our room and said they were going to do 8.8 units of insulin. I said they must mean 0.8. I asked them to document the error and commented that the 8.8 could kill my daughter. Then I further said that since she was running low, the dose should be reduced to 0.4. The nurse did this on the insulin pump, apparently w/out an MD order.

So to keep themselves out of trouble, the two nurses wrote that "patient's mother gave 0.4 units without asking nurses to witness, as required by regulations."

When I left the hospital with my daughter, the hospital reported us to state DSS for "neglect" because of my supposed failure to comply with hospital reulations regarding insulin. My family has gone through hell as a result, although truth is winning out in our case.

In other words, not only are errors made and not acknowledged, but the institution's defensive behavior is to attack and discredit the victim, and they have the power to do this w/impunity.

Once the hospital started writing about me as non-compliant, they threw in the Lyme controversy and that my child's Lyme was
"unsubstantiated" and even went so far as to suggest Munchausen by Proxy- mainly as a result of nurses covering up their error!

We have a good social worker who is impressed with our family and not buying it at all, thank God. But it's taken 4 months of degradation and violation to get here.

I've had many a run-in with arrogant docs/nurses - but your situation...

I'm not a sue-happy person, but it seems to me you might have grounds for some kind of libel lawsuit - putting your family through hell - almost killing your daughter from the errors and the coverup. The nurses involved in this should be fired at the very least.

You are clearly a wise parent...thank
God you made your "boundaries" clear about the insulin dosing and stood your ground.

I think there are many parents out there that may not be well-versed when it comes to medical issues and many would not have known or had the courage to challenge a medical "authority" - be they a doc or nurse.

I hope your nightmare with this situation will come to a close soon, and I wish your entire family peace & healing - not only physically, but emotionally as well.

Blessings,

Thanks for the responses. Our nightmare may be be almost over, after 3 months of unbelievable stress, but I am going to take my time in figuring out what type of good can come out of it, and what path to take.

I could litigate (malpractice, negligence, libel/slander, discrimination, medical record fraud, emotional damages, take your pick), but it will take a lot of $ w/out a guarantee of getting it back, and the case will rule our lives for years.

As an alternative, I am thinking of meeting with the hospital and asking them to review their practices, so noone else gets hurt (or falsely accused). The inpatient care for type 1 diabetes is very inadequate, obviously. I'm kind of scared of going back there, but it could be set up in such a way that I maintain safety. I am thnkng I could get a friendly doctor or nurse knowledgeable about the issues to come with me.

I could report the nurses and MD's to the respective state boards. I am also thinking of meeting with the state Nurses Assoc. Ethics Committee.

I am also considering meeting with our state senator, about the way this hospital apparently frequently and casually reports many, many parents who are dealing with painful health or mental health issues w/their children, and, to protect themselves from the slightest whisper of a threat, causes so much damage to those families.

And then DSS just jumps when the hospital says jump. There is no due process, noone has to tell you the charges, noone tapes records testimonly and worst of all, both DSS and the hospital enjoy immunity from lawsuits.

I am grateful most of all that my daughter wasn't harmed. In the next month or so, I'm going to try to strike a balance between our need to heal and our need for reparations.

Lyddie....what happened is totally inexcusable!! So glad you were there.
What a thing to have to go through. I like
your alternate idea above. Litigation should occur if your daughter had been harmed.

Maybe your intervention here will wake them up so they will review their practices and you will be doing something that might avoid harm to another child.

My evil mind says maybe you should have a lawyer with you who will demand to know what changes (in writing)they plan to make so this will never happen again.

I would say this is a better idea. I complained to a Hospital adm and got zilch in return. They falsely tarred me with a brush of delusion and thus attempted to discredit my complaint.

I guess the image of backing up from a grizzly bear makes sense...I need to wait until I'm at a safe distance, to do anything else.

I have spoken with Patient Relations and informed them there was a second insulin error, not documented on the record. Maybe that's enough for now, while I back away.