Since babies can’t speak or communicate what is wrong when they get sick, it’s a parent’s job to speak for their children and get them the proper care they need, which is exactly what one Australian mom did when she noticed her 7-month-old baby was sick.
Despite knowing their children better than anyone else, parents are often brushed off and ignored by doctor and nurses who think they know better than a paranoid, over-protective parent. And when Perth mother of two Nicole Thompson brought her youngest baby to the hospital with a fever, rash, and restricted movement on his right side, the doctors laughed off her concerns and told her that the symptoms were due to teething before sending him home.
The very next day, baby Malakai was getting worse, so Thompson called an ambulance. However, when they arrived at the Princess Margaret Hospital, there were no beds available so he was assessed on a changing table in a bathroom. Doctors gave him Nurofen to reduce his heart rate, and sent them home with an over-the-counter painkiller to help with ‘teething’ pains.
The following day, Malakai still wasn’t better, so Thompson took him to their GP, but this time, the doctor said the baby had a virus and they were again sent home since nothing could be done. By this point, Thompson was exhausted, so her mother-in-law took the baby for the night so Thompson and her partner Keps Paraone could get some sleep.
However, Malakai’s condition got worse during the night and the couple was jolted awake during the night by a phone call telling them to get to the hospital right away since Malakai was now in the ICU.
“My son had been fighting a virus all week and I was told it was teething. He had a temperature, vomiting, rash and joint pain,” Thompson said about her baby boy, who was actually suffering from meningococcal meningitis and died five days after his parents noticed his symptoms. “Not one medical staff member over the three days I took him in thought they should keep my seven-month-old in for observation.”
“I really do feel like going to that Midland hospital and saying ‘You know how you laughed at me for asking those questions, well my son passed away.’ If I was taken seriously by medical staff within the first three hospital visits my baby would be here now,” said Thompson, who is sharing her story to get justice for her son as well as warn other parents.“I have to say goodbye to him this week. I never ever want another child or parent to go through what I have in this last week.
What would you do if your instinct was telling you your child was sick when doctors continue to brush off your concerns? Let us know in the comments below, and please SHARE this with friends and parents on Facebook.
[featured image: Nicole Thompson]
Baby Dies Of Menigitis After Being Misdiagnosed With Teething is an article from: LifeDaily