FEW things are tougher for a parent than dealing with a child’s serious medical condition, particularly if it is complicated and hard to diagnose. The parent has to make hard choices about treatment, navigating conflicting advice from doctors or even rejecting one doctor’s opinion and seeking another.
Recently, the situation of these parents has gotten even harder. Some doctors and hospitals have begun to level a radical new charge — “medical child abuse” — against parents who, they say, get unnecessary or excessive treatment for their kids. That this care is usually ordered by other doctors hasn’t protected parents from these loaded accusations.
Although most of these cases have nothing to do with real child abuse, credulous child welfare officials have too often supported the doctors, threatened parents with loss of custody, and even removed kids from their homes — simply because the parents disagreed with the doctor’s plan of care. . . .
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- Karla,
Thanks for this sad yet important article - it's long overdue. I had no idea of the extent of this, the article is quite astounding in what it found in terms of the number of parents charged each year.
Even more frightening, is that doctors are trained to ignore important symptoms and think nothing of it. Patients are not being heard. Doctors are not looking further or even know enough to look to those who do know more.
Below, this LL author has also written well about this mater. For those who want to read her work, Google:
"Pamela Weintraub" borrelia, munchausen -
[ 07-13-2015, 01:26 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posted by beaches (Member # 38251) on :
A must-read for parents. Thanks for posting this.
Posted by lpkayak (Member # 5230) on :
Yes. Ty. So sad and scarey. So glad i have no young children to have to make those decisions for. The first grandchild is here tho and already conflict. When doctors disagree it pulls families apart
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- What is also so devastating about this is the attitude of doctors across the board with being lazy, dismissive and just not bright enough to think beyond what they were told in medical school. -
Posted by beaches (Member # 38251) on :
True Keebler.
But the most devastating is when you are fighting for your child's health and idiots (doctors, school "officials") challenge you and by ignorant people doing that, you could lose custody of that child you would lay your life down for.
When my youngest is of age and I am no longer threatened by my school system having the power to call CPS on us, I am going full throttle.
I have fought tooth and nail for years and years to get my children well. My truth will be told and God help that sorry bastard in our school system who fought me. I wil name names and I will not mince words.
Posted by WPinVA (Member # 33581) on :
When some doctors don't know what to do, they blame the parents. So incredibly sad.
Posted by KarlaL (Member # 29631) on :
Spirited letters to editor in response to recent NY Times article about parents being accused of abuse because they disagree with their doctors.