On some nights I'm just so sick and tired, so fed up with it all that I just wanna scream and ask, "AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO GIVES A SHIT AROUND HERE?"
Case in point, father of this 7 y/o little boy brings him into the ED last night reporting that his mother's boyfriend had beatened him black and blue with a belt, to which the mother did not deny. The couple had been divorced for a little over a year. On physical exam, the little boy had indeedly not been spared the rod at all. His buttocks and back were ecchymotic, black and blue with scattered scabbed marks from numerous whippings and beatings. It was unbelievable. Sort of reminded me of a scene right out of the TV mini-series Roots where LeVar Burton, portraying the main character Kunta Kinte, had been lashed repeatedly across the back. Yes, it was that gruesome.
The father had just picked up the little boy from his mother's house as he had court allotted time with the child on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays. Upon giving the child a bath, he noticed the horrendous injuries and immediately called the mother, notifying her that he was bringing the child to our ED and will be filing charges. Poor kid was sleeping soundly when he arrived, whimpered a bit during the exam.
"It's OK, buddy. This is Annie, the nurse. And I'm Dr.____. We're just looking, alright. We want to help you get better."
His eyes were scared, not knowing how to react nor whom to trust.
Now the mother openly acknowledged that the boy had been "whupped" by her boyfriend, but defended the SOB over and over by giving a sob story of how rotten and misbehaved this kid had been. Reportedly this kid has ADHD, violent impulsive behavior, had tried to burn down the house several times in the past, once lit a fire in the classroom at school, is on Adderal, zoloft, tegretol, risperdal, and a bunch of other psych meds to control his behavior. Hell, the list of mood altering prescription drugs that this kid is on just boggles the mind. It is absolutely unconscionable and irresponsible for any physician to prescribe that many controlled substances and drugs to a child. That list was as long as those we typically see in debilitating elderly patients or those with end-staged renal disease on chronic hemodialysis.
Oh, how the mother sobbed like a squeaky violin trying to explain that the kid wouldn't go to bed even though it was 2 AM, screaming at the top of his voice, throwing things in the house, kept on wanting to watch TV, yada yadda yadda. So the boyfriend, whom she lived with, spared not the rod. Damn son of a bitch. He beated the kid to a pulp. Yet the mother still defended and condoned his actions.
Armed with this latest injury to his son, the father remarked, "I'll be gettin' custody now!"
In response to the father's threats, the mother began telling a disturbing story of alleged sexual abuse against the child by the father, how the father has a large collection of child pornography, watches it in front of this kid, etc...and was somehow able to ditch evidence of all of it during the divorce proceedings and investigations. I suppose that's how she got custody of the child and he has visitation rights?
God, I was so nauseated and sickened by it all...He said, she said...the child was the unfortunate victim and I was sadly caught in the middle trying to figure out whom to believe. I had mother and father moved to separate consultation rooms at each end of the ED and placed a hospital security guard at the child's bedside.
"Where the f*k is that motherf'er!!!" I suddenly heard the profuse profanity from the hallway. "I'm gonna kill him! I'm gonna kill him! Nobody beat up my kid like that and gets away with it. I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch!"
The repugnant boyfriend apparently had showed up. Pandemonium erupted in the ED as you can imagine. We had to tackle down the father to keep him from pouncing the boyfriend.
CCPD naturally had been contacted earlier and as soon as the two officers showed up, the boyfriend took off like a hot rabbit and ran out of the ED through the ambulance entrance. Did this guy have a previous criminal record? I asked myself. Or was he just scared shitless about getting arrested for being a child beater? Hell, we should've let the father of the kid kicked his ass.
Here's where things become even more sickening and frustrating. Children Protective Services was of no help at all. I personally spoke to the guy over the phone but it took him over 3 hours to show up. The dude was a completely useless imbecile. He spent 2 hours interviewing the father, the mother and the child without offering any helpful solution to the problem. I had expected him to take the child into state custody until pending further investigation, but he didn't.
"So, what're we gonna do with the kid?" I asked when he was all done.
"Umm, we're very familiar with this family. We've taken several reports on them before. You can send the little boy home with his mom," the imbecile replied.
"What?!!! Send him home with his mom?!!! But the guy who has been beating this child lives with her! I ain't sending this kid home with the mom. No way! You need to come up with a better solution than that."
"Well, I talked it over with my supervisor, and..."
You can understand why I started tuning out whatever the imbecile had to say afterward.
"Listen, the guy who has been beating up this kid is still out there. The mother lives with guy in his house for goodness sakes! What makes you think that he won't beat up this kid again?"
"The father already pressed charges and the police is looking for him."
"That's good to hear, but they haven't gotten him yet, have they? Did you missed the part about the mother and this kid living with this guy in his house? They got nowhere else to go. And from my discussion with her, it doesn't look like she intends to move out anytime soon. What's gonna happen after the police release him or if he post bail?"
"What makes you think he's gonna beat this kid again?"
"Fk! Did you see the horrendous wounds on the back of the kid? Have you seen it?! Hell, it's a chance that I'm not gonna take!"
"Well, the mother has legal custody of the kid and we can't send him home with his father."
"Man, you're completely hopeless and useless. Thanks-for-nothing! When you're driving home later, think about what you just did and see if you can live with it. You make me sick, man! You should be ashamed of yourself! Child Protective Services my ASS!"
It gets even worse. I had the pediatrician on call paged. And he, too, balked.
"Hey, Phil I got this little kid down here..." I explained the situation.
"What do you want me to do about it?" came his totally unexpected response. "If CPS isn't going to take this kid into custody, what am I going to do? There's no medical criteria for admission here. Medicaid won't allow it. I can't do a social admit and be an indefinite baby sitter."
WTF!!! I argued back and forth at length with this pediatrician about doing the right thing, being a child advocate, protecting a kid from getting abused...but DAMN, all to no avail! He was a wall. When did this pediatrician lose his compassion for children? I sadly wondered. When did this pediatrician's decisions become solely business based? No medical criteria for admission? Medicaid won't allow it? Shit! I ended our phone conversation with much needed words of impugnity.
"You're peds, Phil, you're not suppose to be this jaded. We're not suppose to punish a child for the stupidity of the parents, aren't we? Where's your love, Phil? Where IS your love? Have you lost it, man? Have you lost it?" I hung up not giving him an opportunity to mouth back at me.
Oh, it gets worse. Desperate, I called the psychiatrist on call, who agreed that this child should be admitted for his safety but wouldn't do it himself.
"I'm sorry I can't admit him. He's not..."
I started tuning out his psycho babble...
"It's psychosocial, man. It's all related. I can't believe that you guys are so willing to load him up with a bunch of psychotropic meds but won't admit him when it becomes inconvenient for you."
So then, I called the hospitalist on call, who commiserated with my situation but quickly pointed out, "Look, I'm not peds. My liability policy does not cover 7 years old kids. I'm sorry, man." Oh, my God!
Desperate again, I called the surgeon on call and tried the trauma-related angle. "It's a horrible situation, but what am I gonna do but consult the pediatrician and social services like you already did. I'm sorry, man."
I didn't want to resort to having to wake up the hospital's Chief of Pediatrics nor the President of the Medical Staff. It would have been pointless and useless anyway. They weren't on call for the night and wouldn't have answered the page anyway. So, I placed another phone call to the police to see if they have anything to offer...NADA. "We can't take him to juvies..." I don't want you to! I was hoping that they would know of some social services or shelter that would take the child in until things were sorted out.
Child Protective Services - Strike one
Pediatrician - Strike two
Psychiatrist - Strike three
Hospitalist - Strike 4
Surgeon - Strike 5
Police - Strike 6
AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT DOING THE RIGHT THING ANYMORE?
I ended up admitting this kid last night to my hyperbaric service, because I can. It's the only inpatient admitting privilege I have. It's just easier for me this way, and with so much less aggravation of having to argue back and forth with a bunch of derelicts. Not to admit this kid and release him to his dysfunctional and degenerate parents would have been a true dereliction of duty. I was raised by a military father never to shirk duty and honor. And I was not about to disappoint him.
This morning, the HBOT team was completely surprised and concerned about why a 7 years old kid is on our census list. "It's another one of Charity's social admits again," they complained. The kid's wounds do not meet HBOT criterias of course. The morning doc in my group wasn't too happy about having to round on this kid so I told everyone that I would personally round on him myself and take care of his disposition come Monday. I'm not sure yet what I'm gonna do or how to even disposition the kid. For now, I'm just glad that he has a safe place to sleep for the weekend. So far the nurses have informed that the kid has been very well behaved, a complete angel and not a problem at all. Not surprising how a little love and TLC goes a long way, I suppose. The only medication that I wrote for him is Motrin and Tylenol as needed for pain. No psych meds. A hospital security guard is posted at his bedside, of course. Funny how the hospital security folks are the only ones who understand the situation and have not complained at all about having to post a sitter with the kid 24/7. I just added them to my Christmas list for the year.
63 comments:
Hey Doc,
What a sad story! Too bad you
could NOT have him admitted for
detox of all those rx's.
Good luck finding a new position.
Thanks for all your great stories.
Sine Nomine
Thats a great thing you did Charity doc. Its weird how the more 'advance' we get... the less we seem to care.. =(
Its always good to know that people who care still exist. Thanks for writing it all down Dr. Charity. It's a good read.
I'm SO glad that you're taking care of this child when evidently no one else will. The parents' behaviour is disgraceful. Thank you so much.
I'm a pediatrics resident in a moderately-sized city and we rotate through our pediatric ER twice a year. This is the bullshit I have to put up with on a constant basis so I COMPLETELY feel your pain. The scenario you presented is an all-too-common one in my line of work. However, we usually don't face the roadblocks you do in admitting a kid for a "social admit" like this. We also have a child abuse advocacy center through our outpatient peds department, which certainly doesn't hurt either. And I'm pretty sure April was Child Abuse Awareness Month.
I love reading your stories. Best of luck on your new endeavor, whatever that happens to be!
Charity Doc: where are you going to go after leaving Crack City? I do think you need a break and everything, but you've got a gift and I'd sure love to see you put it somewhere where you CAN actually get things done the way you want and feel as though you make a difference. Actually, I think you make more of a difference at Crack City than you think. Sometimes, even "planting the seed" of common sense and "doing the right thing" is enough---because it raises consciousness and may encourage others to do the same.
I'm feeling rather hopeless myself today, too, but about the daily fight against death and disease. One of my beloved patients died in my arms today and I'm sad as shit. All my years in the ER trained me to accept the fact that people I don't know manytimes died while I coded them---but nothing had ever prepared me for a patient I loved dearly dying in my arms...
(sorry---didn't mean to go dramatic on you, but I feeling sad and had to get it out...)
You know what I think it is? I think there is a certain 'diffusion of responsibility' amongst the specialties that you consulted - i.e. they all see it as being someone else's problem, which eases their guilt somewhat when they "sorry man, what can I do?". No such luxury exists for those on the frontline however (like yourself), which is why I have such respect for ER doc's - you are truly patient advocates. I don't know what version of the hippocratic oath your unhelpful collegues chose to swore, but ours contined the following; "I will do my best to help anyone in medical need, in emergncies. I will make every effort to ensure the rights of all patients are respected, including vulnerable groups who lack means of making there needs known or met". Pretty self explanatory I would have thought. Good on you for going into bat for this kid.
Situations like these sicken me. Thank you for doing the right thing. May the CPS worker be burned at the stake.
Charity, just reading this almost gave me an anxiety attack. poor kid! You did the right thing, no matter how many people tell you that you didn't, you did!
What I'm the most amazed about is that this hospital is going to let a doctor like you, walk out the door at the end of the month. But for you Im glad you are walking. There has to be better jobs for you than this.
BTW, I have closed my blog, so I wont be around again. I have completely enjoyed reading you and will think of you often..good luck in whatever you decide to do.
There is something very wrong with the system when the "well known to" DFCS status is regarded as a reason to dismiss the situation. I hope you took it over their heads straight to the legislature. God bless you AND that kid. Sheesh.
I'm so sorry. It's very frustrating...We had to send home a newborn with a mom who had lost 4 or 5 previous kids to DSS/foster care. Docs and nurses protested but we were told there was no evidence so mom could have the babe. Six weeks later, baby returned to ER with a round fracture on the crown of her head c/w being jammed headfirst into a toilet. She didn't live.
Good job, dude.
I am aghast - I am speechless - all I can manage to say here is that you are this child's blessed angel. - signed a formerly practicing physician who quit for many of the same perverse, bizarre and truly unethical situations that you've encountered in practice
Good on you.
System be damned, you found a way to keep the kid safe for a few more days.
What a sad state the system is in though...
Did the mother give you permission to admit the kid, did you get a court order, or what?
Tough situation.
Bless you, Doc for being the responsible adult in this child's life.
Since it was his Dad's visitation weekend, though, why couldn't he have gone home with his Dad, though? Or did I miss something?
At any rate, please let us know how this child fares.
Charity, you are my hero. Thanks for doing the right thing. This is so scary, how can you save this kid if noone gives a ***. You cannot keep him at the hospital forever. I wonder, by the way, can you keep the child in the hospital against the wish of his legal guardian at all?
Shame on CPS.
You Rock!!
all this sounds a lot like trying to get a teenager having his first bipolar episode treated at the ER. my impression is that the people in the public sector who are entrusted with the protection of children like the one in your story and the one in mine are pretty happy to just say: sorry. we have no legal recourse here.
here's where i quote Shakespeare and say: first we kill all the lawyers. and i mean it as the only way to save chilren who need help from this sort of dangerous nonsense. it's the misuse of law and the passing of absurd and dangerous laws that are at the bottom of all of this. and right down there in the scummy dregs with the lawyers are the other professionals who choose to put up with the status quo.
i hope you find somewhere to rest. your kharma container is overflowing with the good you've done already.
The reason the hospital is letting such a great doc like this go is precisely because of things like this. When people start to rationalize themselves out of their responsibilities to their community, they don't want someone constantly reminding them that they have left truth and compassion behind in exchange for comfort and profit.
Did the other specialities miss the psychopharm class in Med school? Granted, I'm not an MD simply a Psychology grad student, but even I've has 2 psychopharm classes, and when I get done I won't even be able to pres. meds. What about this kid's own ped and psychiatrist? Those combination of meds will have side effects of violent agressive outbursts, insomnia, anxiety, agitation, problems with emotion regulation, the list goes on... He needed to be admitted not only for his safety, but to purge his system of all those meds.
Hey-you are great-wish you could come to our little hole in the south to work.
We had a case about a month ago involving an 18 month old, cocaine, and a stroke. We called CPS and they literally laughed at first! I was furious and let them know it. Their attitude instantly changed-but it took 4 hours before they showed up. The infant had already been transferred to a pediatric hospital...
You're awesome.
Speaking from experience: years from now, if that boy survives, he will remember your kindness and compassion and he will remember that someone thought that he was "worth" helping for no screwed-up ulterior reason.
Coming to this very late, but hope this might give you some alternatives:
Call the nearest large paper (are you in the NYTimes market area?).
Give them the story anonymously and let them know at what time the boy will be discharged and through which entrance. Encrouage them to have an investigative reporter and cameraman ready to interview "mom" and anyone else who comes with her. Make sure you give the people who failed - especially the child's case worker - name, description, contact info, such as telephone number and office address, if possible.
Call the mayor's office and make a citizen's complaint.
Let the court of public opinion take the lead on this, because it ain't pretty.
Send a letter of complaint to the hospital's CEO and president of the medical staff.
I am so sorry, Charity Doc. And no, you aren't the only one who cares.
If you need WaPo or NYTimes reporter contact info, email me univrslhealth at gmail dot com.
wow, you did a great thing. it just breaks my heart to hear stories like this one. God bless you. shame on all those other worthless cretins...sellouts.
You are my hero.
This is nauseating. Please update us about this child's disposition. Damn that confidentiality stuff that prevents you from taking it to the media.
dude... come to my Crack city... we are hiring.
Gads... that is simply heartbreaking. I am glad that you were there to take care of this little boy. The others should be ashamed for dropping the ball like they did. You are my hero, and I'm sure that little boy's hero as well. :)
I was a CPS worker for twenty years, now retired, and still having nightmares about similar situations. CPS workers mostly are just poorly educated bureaucrats, so are their supervisors.
Occasional newspaper reports should be alerting voters to the creepy judges overseeing the welfare of children, too. And don't forget the horrible foster homes that the CPS agencies come up with and supervise.
The only cure for society's abandonment of children at risk is for individual citizens to involve themselves in monitoring the agencies responsible. One thing all government bureaucracies hate -- public scrutiny and citizen involvement.
I'd like to add that some of the best social workers I met were ones working in hospitals. Another thing....the most concerned, and willing to act, citizens I ever met were members of the various police agencies, usually.
There's no cure for your pain, CharityDoc. Because you know the scars left on this boy will last a lifetime, so will yours.
If you want to do the right thing, you need to blow the whistle.
Get the mainstream media involved. Get the mayor's office involved. This is unconscionable behavior.
There's always someone further up the food chain, and when there's not, there's always the press. They eat stories like this for breakfast.
And maybe, just maybe, they can effect change. Maybe not soon enough for this child, but for others.
Thank you for standing up and doing the right thing, even though it's difficult. There aren't enough people out there who are willing to take the time and go through the inconvenience of helping someone else. It may not be my place to say it, but I feel confident that your father would be proud.
I had a very similar experience as a lay person. I intervened between a drunk fifty something and the 13-y-o girl he was beating the crap out of on the street.
The police had no issue returning her to her home where the abuser lived. Didn't even want to call CPS.
I argued and argued and argued with the police until they agreed to transport her to her drug addict mother for the night. Not sure if I made a difference or not and I'm lucky I didn't get arrested for being a public nuisance.
I did give the girl my number as I had been abused as a child, so I knew the drill, but she never called.
The system is overwhelmed and, as a result, apathetic. Besides a lot of these public social workers are fresh out of college, they have no idea what they're doing.
M
N=1 :
1. do u believe "anonymous" reporting protects the reporter's identity?
2. the least trouble charity doc could get into is being branded as troublemaker, for blowing this whistle...
3. and then, charity doc's chances of landing a greater opportunity gets jeopardized once he is officially branded
This is not a unique case. In the NYTimes backyard it happens much too often. But the initial shocked reactions somehow get tempered over time taken for the investigations. How many front page stories of child-abuse were u shocked-with initially, only to have follow-up stories in the inner pages months later, you might even not recall reading? Social workers are a real burdened lot...personally, I do not know what they are "working" for; they're so great at mirroring responsibilities back to the doctors! Try the VA and Walter Reed, if you are looking for more than child abuse cases...
Charity:
I agree with you about psych and peds (espicially peds) in this scenario. HOWEVER, placing the hospitalist in the same web is uncalled for. Internal medicine hospitalist's are trained to take care of adults. Our insurance does not cover children (mine also goes down to 13). We CANNOT ADMIT KIDS. If I did, I would be reprimanded the first time then probably fired. A general internist has not done a peds rotation since med school charity and you know it. YOU are more qualified (having seen kids in the ER and having done peds in residency) than he is. An analogy charity, when is the last time you did an appy? What happens to a patient he comes in with appendicitis and you don't have a surgeon available (remember this is a hypothetical). Do you operate on him yourself? no. Do you have the hospitalist come down to do the surgery? no. Why? because you and he (she) are not qualified. I would take the issue with the peds to the next level but leave the hospitalist out of it. This is coming from a hospitalist who had literally hundreds of social admits from ER docs over the year (I am not complaining because we are there to help each other and they do the intubations for me).
"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.“
~ Albert Einstein
Karma: some day in the future, the boyfriend shows up as a patient in the ED...
Hey Charity, I worked clerical at several hospitals and grew to despise lots of docs and social workers, et al; then I went to work at a pediatric ER and was relieved to find that the people there really cared and did their best to help. The hospital had tons of programs and resources. That was at Childrens Hospital Oakland. Maybe the nice people gravitate to peds? Or maybe the a-holes gravitate to CCMC?
Is it impossible for a doctor to make a big shift (like to peds) in the middle of their career?
I wish you luck. I have really enjoyed your blog and hope you find a decent hospital to work at.
Wow, so sad, especially to any parent of young children.
My hospital (small 200-bed community facility) just closed the inpatient peds unit recently. I understand it's a money-loser, but still it sickens me that they'd rather admit a 95-year-old demented lady for atypical chest pain than a helpless child in a situation like this.
Good for you (and that kid) for sticking to your guns!
Bravo to you for standing up for this innocent, we need more doctors out there like you. Thank you!!!!
What's sad is that you ARE amazing. You're the only one who had the balls to stand up for that kid, and that is incredibly depressing. Whatever you do next, you'll always be a hero.
I am a social work major. We are trained to work for the agnecies, not the clients. Good parents get harassed because they work with the system. Bad parents-- that woman's boyfriend probably threatened a social worker and they avoid him.
I'm stuck in my degree. My hope is that somehow I will be able to use discretion and be in it long enough to get word to local lawmakers on how to change things and what needs to be done. (If you donate $25 to a campaign, you have their ear for a while. I just do it and show up at events as much as I can.)
Social workers take the path of least resistance. It was easier to send the poor little guy back with his mom than to send some fat social worker to deal with the boyfriend.
you are a good soldier. sounds like you never leave a man behind. my offer still stands if you want to come work in a more rural and sensible setting. have linked you prominently on my most recent post, "crisis" regarding a recent newsweek article on the state of emergency medicine at trauma centers. obtw, congrats for making the Annals this month.
cheers,
me
God bless you social workers. You have a terribly difficult job and the last thing any of us need in this profession is MORE government or agency oversight. It's like trying to direct a battle by phone with updates coming in by morse code. Crazy. I propose a radical new system: Doctors and nurses and socail workers and psychiatrists and their extenders make the rules. How about that?
Dear Charity Doc,
You know how sometimes, people wonder if they really matter? If someone else couldn't/wouldn't be doing the things that they are doing?
For you, that question has been answered.
I don't know you, but your existence and placement was a blessing.
Even if just for the weekend.
With gracious thanks....
911doc-- don't let social workers make any rules. Keep their asses away from any power. The more they are involved, the more dependent clients get on their agencies.
Social workers get four years of school, maybe a master's degree so they have six, and they can make decisions and rip people apart, send them to jail, say whether they will repeat an offence again that no one knows they actually did. . . based not on a science but on how they think. (They are incapable of thought. My profs are either on speed or eat all day. Who has time to think?) Doctors need eight? Twelve? Years of school to do everything from deliver babies to doing open heart surgery. Lawyers need four more years to defend people. Nurses have to work their buts off to compete for a four year degree.
Don't let the social workers make rules. They'll exclude and stratify people with their lack of science and thinking skills.
You will be a godsend wherever you decide to go after the hellhole you work in now. That child needed a guardian angel - you were it. Be sure to let us know how it turned out.
So what happened next? Have you discharged the kid yet?
The kid was a prince and pleasure to have around. Off of all those damn meds and poison he had been loaded with for years, this little boy was a normal inquisitive kid, like my own son. I even took him around the hospital and the hyperbaric unit to see our chambers, seeing how he was technically on the HBOT service anyway. Kid loved it! He hung around there for a whole hour pretending he was on a submarine. Then we went down to the ED and played with the orthopedic cart making plaster splints. We took an 18g needle and poked some holes in the saline bags and went around squirting all the nurses and techs. We also made fake poo with some gauze and betadine, also squirted some charcoal in for visual effects, of course, and left them laying around all over the ED. I think I had a more fun than the kid actually! The kid was a spit ball expert, I tell ya. He was discharged the following Wednesday after a 5 days stay. Much kudos to the social worker who took on the challenge. She was able to track down the kid's maternal grandparents who lived several hundred miles away. I spoke with them in person at length when they came. Real salt of the earth kind of folks. I'm completely surprised that their daughter turned out to be so daggum dysfunctional.
That Monday morning after our shift, Annie, the charge nurse, and I went down to the Department of Children Protective Services and spoke to the director in person. Nothing speaks more volume than going down there yourself with your charge nurse demanding that the right thing be done for this child. The both of us were so dead tired after our long weekend shifts. Fortunately, Annie's husband was free for the day so he drove while we slept. We had pictures, on my digital camera, of the horrendous beating the kid took and showed this director lady who genuinely wept that her office had failed miserably. Anywho, the child was discharged to the custody of his grandparents with promise of visits twice a week by CPS. The director lady have assured me that she will handle the case personally.
Dear Charity Doc,
Thank you for the update.
And for doing not only what you knew was right, but what you felt would make things better and even fun for this kiddo.
More gracious thanks to you....
You probably saved his life. And I bet had a significant impact on his mental well-being.
Unbelieveable.
Charity, what a difference you made in the kid's life. I was so glad to hear the rest of the story.
Without getting uncharacteristically warm & fuzzy here, this is the best thing I've read all week, and I can go to bed happy knowing that this kid is sleeping safe tonight. Thank you for caring.
I'm in tears. I came back to this post, dreading what I would find.
I'm not a religious person, but you have just earnt 10,000 years of Good Karma, CD.
More to the point, the little tyke is going to be OK.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but sometimes you WIN.
Hugs, and thanks, Zoe
you are much loved by kid nurses everywhere! take care and hugs!
Wow. I'm so glad you were there for this kid.
It's a shame this kind of sh*t is so common place these days. One can only become more and more jaded when confronted with moron parents day after day; they should have never been granted a breeding licence. In my better world couples would start with goldfish and work their way up to small mammals before children.
I can feel your frustration. I hate it when I have to send a newborn home with a family that clearly won't take care of the baby and CPS doesn't do squat.
I bet that little kid was happy as a pig in sh*t to not have to go home with either parent. It was his safest night ever.
We have an empty guest bedroom, no kids. Send him on by. *sigh* I wish. I can guarantee you that first, the kid doesn't need to be gorked out on all those meds. Secondly, he probably doesn't act up, but gets beaten up by the filthy, pussy boyfriend, because BF and Mom want some alone time, and well, kids need to be taken care of. So, if he doesn't become non-existent, they'll beat him into that.
God bless that baby! I know I'll be praying for him. No child should EVER have to endure such a horrific life because no 2 parents and 3 adults can grow up! They should be strung up by the closest trees, and that poor boy should be put in a loving home with people who will love and care for him, appropriately teach him right from wrong, not just beat him for the fun of it, and raise him to be a wonderful man who has a chance in life. I hope someone tells him that, because I know he isn't getting told that by mom, dad or violent BF. I bet Momma's just glad it's her baby getting the beating and not her. May I have a few rounds with her??
I am glad you updated........May God Bless you and keep on blessin'
good call
Thank you so much Charity.
That's just awful, Dr Charity. You sound like a wonderful and caring doctor. More like you are needed
First, thank you for being on this kid's side. I know you were prevented from doing all that you wanted to, and I feel terrible for your pain and frustration, but you did all that you could, and that matters. Keeping that kid out of the home for a day or two may have saved his life. Be proud of what you did. Don’t you ever, EVER let yourself think that what you did not matter, just because it was less than you wanted it to be.
Second, Have a good rest, doctor. You’ve earned it, and it will do you a world of good. Enjoy! You have fought a good fight. When you are ready, there will be other fights facing you. I pray that those battles will leave you with fewer scars than this one did. In the famous words of Winston Churchill, “do not give you. Do NOT give up. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!”
The points that follow are just my miserable babbling, but this is sticking in my craw and I need to vent. Just ignore me.
1. To the pediatrician who said, "I can't do a social admit and be an indefinite baby sitter."
Why not? Is being a baby sitter beneath you, doctor? How about if it saves a child's life, is it still beneath you? Then why did you become a doctor? If not to rescue this kid, by babysitting, or whatever else you have to do, then why? (PS: I'm a nurse. My colleagues and I will be happy to take over the babysitting work from you. Leave that to us. Just get the kid out of that hell hole!)
2. To the surgeon who said, "what am I gonna do but consult the pediatrician and social services like you already did."
Yeah. That's what you do. Then the other ER docs call it in to the pediatrician and social services, then the charge nurse calls it in (they are mandated reporters in your state, right?), then the head of security calls it in, then the guy who mops the floor calls it in, and they keep calling it in until someone does something just to make the calls stop. Who cares?
3. I will stop my stupid ranting with this: regarding the allegation that the kid has tried to burn down the house these people live in; why the Hell shouldn't he burn down their house? How else can a little kid express righteous, justified rage at his abuser; take him on in a fair fight? Hold a formal debate? Hey son, do you need a few bucks for another box of matches? Here, I'll help you pick out the biggest box. I know, I know, I'm being an idiot. Of course I don't want this kid to burn down anything - it could get him in trouble and make his life worse. Its just, if he doesn’t have the right to be enraged, who does?
Oh dear, that nasty rant was terribly insensitive and judgmental, wasn’t it? I damn well hope it was!
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