Girl dies after turned away by GP...

kindai

kindai

kindai

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-39095656

Obligatory daily mail link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4260108/Girl-5-died-asthma-attack-GP-refused-her.html


Tragic yes, but, where do the family get off asking for a criminal inquiry and for the GP to be struck off.

Ms Clark claims her mobile phone was showing 17:04 when she arrived, but that she then had to queue at the reception desk.

After being turned away, Ms Clark took her daughter home and dialled 999 at 22.35 when she suffered a seizure and stopped breathing.
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So given the emergency situation, why the hell didn't the parents do anything for 4 and a half hours? Either by taking her to A+E or calling 999.

Don't get me wrong the GP sounds like a nasty piece of work, but this sounds like the parents aren't willing to accept their own personal responsibility for how things went down after.
 
My sentiment exactly, she was a frequent visitor to their ward anyway, so the doctors would be accustomed to her condition, not going straight to the hospital puts as much blame on her shoulders.
 
Well with all the hate seemingly pilling on people for using A&E, it might have something to do with that. Even the slightest hesitation is easy to compound, regardless maybe she seemed stable enough between those hours?
 
StriderX said:
Well with all the hate seemingly pilling on people for using A&E, it might have something to do with that. Even the slightest hesitation is easy to compound, regardless maybe she seemed stable enough between those hours?
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Only a doctor can determine that, you make an emergency appointment down the GP for a bad migraine, not something possibly fatal like an asthma attack.
 
Pretty outrageous of the GP given how serious Asthma can be... frankly I'm a bit worried that the GP surgery even made her wait until 17:00 rather than telling her to either come along right away or go to A&E. If she's having an asthma attack and her inhaler isn't working then she needs urgent treatment - a nebuliser perhaps which might be available in the GP surgery and certainly in A&E.

Sadly the parent has also made a very bad call here in not taking the kid to A&E.
 
diamount said:
Only a doctor can determine that, you make an emergency appointment down the GP for a bad migraine, not something possibly fatal like an asthma attack.
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But how do you make the distinction though?

The parents aren't doctors, you either take your children in when anything happens or not at all.
 
I would have gone straight to and A and E.

What is a doctor going to do? Tell you to go to A and E.

Stupid situation. terrible ending.
 
So they mke an emergency appointment with a GP. Get turned away for arriving a few minutes late.

Somehow now it is the parents fault for not going to A&E at that point?

The parents are not medical experts, and an emergency appointment does not mean there were signs (to a non medical professional) that something was life threatening.
 
kindai said:
So given the emergency situation, why the hell didn't the parents do anything for 4 and a half hours? Either by taking her to A+E or calling 999.

Don't get me wrong the GP sounds like a nasty piece of work, but this sounds like the parents aren't willing to accept their own personal responsibility for how things went down after.
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I dont think you understand what an emergency appointment is.

It is simply one made when no normal appointments are available.

I could get one for having the flu or an infection. But I wouldn't go to A & E and waste their time.
 
muon said:
So they mke an emergency appointment with a GP. Get turned away for arriving a few minutes late.

Somehow now it is the parents fault for not going to A&E at that point?

The parents are not medical experts, and an emergency appointment does not mean there were signs (to a non medical professional) that something was life threatening.
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So if you made an emergency appointment, but couldn't be seen (or got turned away at reception) you would just say "oh alright im not a doctor, toodles" ?

Of course you wouldn't. If you felt the need to make an emergency appointment, until seen by a medical professional its still an emergency and you would push to be seen there and then or go elsewhere...
 
kindai said:
So if you made an emergency appointment, but couldn't be seen (or got turned away at reception) you would just say "oh alright im not a doctor, toodles" ?

Of course you wouldn't. If you felt the need to make an emergency appointment, until seen by a medical professional its still an emergency and you would push to be seen there and then or go elsewhere...
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You misunderstand what an emergency appointment is.

In an emergency you dial 999. You don't make an appointment with a GP to see them after hours at 5pm.

The parents just saw bad asthma. Not something worthy of calling 999.
 
muon said:
You misunderstand what an emergency appointment is.

In an emergency you dial 999. You don't make an appointment with a GP.

The parents just saw bad asthma. Not something worthy of calling 999.
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Then your GP and my GP surgeries have different definitions of emergency appointments.

In the case of this one, where an inhaler isn't working, you would book an emergency appointment because its a situation that could get worse to become life-threatening.

If I rang up and asked for an emergency appointment for the flu, they'd tell me to sod off and ring back in the morning to try and get a normal appointment.
 
After being turned away, Ms Clark took her daughter home
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This is the bit I'm struggling with. If she felt her daughter was well enough to take home then she has to take some of the responsibility. Instead it reads as though she watched the condition worsen for 5 hours and didn't seek further help until her daughter collapsed.

Given her daughter had been to HDU several times in the past through asthma, I'm not sure why she didn't go straight from the GP to either A&E or a walk in centre to see another doctor.
 
kindai said:
If I rang up and asked for an emergency appointment for the flu, they'd tell me to sod off and ring back in the morning to try and get a normal appointment.
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And if I was a vulnerable person that could die from the flu or an infection? You'd be as bad as this doctor.

Normal appointments are usually booked up for a week. You can't just show up the next day. The NHS doesn't operate with that much spare capacity.
 
muon said:
And if I was a vulnerable person that could die from the flu or an infection? You'd be as bad as this doctor.

Normal appointments are usually booked up for a week. You can't just show up the next day. The NHS doesn't operate with that much spare capacity.
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Then if you were in such a position you thought you required urgent care and couldnt get into your GP, you would go to A+E or ring 999 and present your symptoms,

Same as the parents of this article.
 
kindai said:
Then if you were in such a position you thought you required urgent care and couldnt get into your GP, you would go to A+E or ring 999 and present your symptoms,

Same as the parents of this article.
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You'd ring 999 after the GP asked you to make another appointment for a chronic condition, flu or infection?

Requiring urgent care and getting checked out so that a medical professional can decide if you need care is very different.
 
muon said:
The parents are not medical experts, and an emergency appointment does not mean there were signs (to a non medical professional) that something was life threatening.
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You don't have to be a medical expert to know asthma is dangerous and needs to be treated. Especially if you've got a child with asthma... knowing what to do in the event of an attack is a good idea!
 
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