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Girl starves to death over issues with Dentists; Idiot health workers, or idiot parents?
Topic Started: Feb 10 2009, 03:47 PM (1,241 Views)
Pestiferous
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http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingn...l-39365197.html

Quote:
 
Eight-year-old Sophie Waller cracked a baby tooth eating candy, and set off the chain of events that led to her death.

Sophie refused to open her mouth for a dentist so doctors at her local hospital took out the tooth in an operation, one of the doctors told a coroner's inquest. They removed all seven of her other baby teeth at the same time to avoid the need for future operations, the doctor said.

After the surgery Sophie refused to eat or even open her mouth for her parents, the couple told the inquest. But she was sent home anyway, and starved to death three weeks after the operation.

The parents said the hospital mishandled Sophie's follow-up care, referring them to a child psychologist who told them not to worry about Sophie's plummeting weight. Sophie's mother, Janet Waller, said she also was told to consult her family doctor, who prescribed nutrition drinks over the phone but did not see the girl in person.

Pediatric pathologist Dr. Marie-Ann Brundler said Sophie died at home Dec. 2, 2005 from kidney failure caused by starvation and dehydration. The inquest was told Sophie weighed 72 pounds when she went into hospital and lost a third of that weight before she died.

An official at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, 400 kilometres southwest of London, said there had been failures in Sophie's care, and it had changed its procedures.

"The impact of Sophie's death has been a wide-ranging impact across all of the disciplines that were involved," John Ellis, a pediatrician at the hospital, told the inquest. "There have been changes."

The hospital said it would not comment further until the end of the inquest, which was continuing Tuesday to establish the facts behind the girl's death.

Janet Waller told the inquest in Truro that Sophie had developed a fear of dentists after her tongue was nipped during a checkup, and had refused to let a dentist look at her loose tooth.

"Because Sophie would not open her mouth for examination, I wanted to eliminate any further dental problems," Tamsin Hearle, a specialist in pediatric dentistry, was quoted as saying by the Times newspaper.

Hearle said the parents signed a consent form for the procedure. The Wallers said they thought they were consenting to one tooth being removed. Waller told the inquest that Sophie was "devastated" when she found out the eight teeth had been removed.

She said that doctors did not adequately take care of Sophie after the girl was sent home from hospital Nov. 17, 2005, eight days after the operation.

"No one saw her after she was discharged from hospital," Waller, 34, told the inquest Monday. "I told (a child psychologist) she was sucking on a watermelon, she told me that was enough for her to survive on."

Janet Waller said she and her husband phoned the hospital to express concern about Sophie's weight loss and refusal to eat, and were told not to bring her in, but to talk to the community child psychologist assigned to the case.

Sophie's father, Richard Waller, said he phoned the psychologist "every day, sometimes twice a day, to say how unwell she looked."

"I kept asking her to come round but she said she would next week and there was nothing to worry about," he said.

Ellis, the pediatrician, said Sophie had stopped eating when she had loose teeth in the past, and "it was clear there were psychological issues" around her refusal to eat.

A coroner's inquest is required in Britain to establish the facts when someone dies unexpectedly, violently or of unknown causes, but has no power to punish anyone. The coroner is expected to rule next week.

The Wallers have criticized the time it has taken to hold the inquest. The coroner's office said it was a complex case and it took time to gather reports and inquiries from the different agencies involved.



Now, what I can't figure out is why the parents didn't drag their daughter (who obviously had severe psychological issues) to a hospital. Really. If I was a healthcare worker, and someone called me telling me their child was refusing to eat, I would probably brush them off, too - because common sense would dictate a parent would just bring their child in to a hospital were they truly fearful for his/her life.

Not just phoning around.

But that's just me.
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ConfusedMonkey
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People assume far too often that the healthcare professionals are always right. If you think your child is sick, and you aren't being taken seriously - take your child to A&E and STAY there until you are seen.

If the child didn't eat or take fluids for that long, common sense says that the child is going to die. As much as I believe that the healthcare professionals handled this incredibly badly, the parents have to accept some responsibility for not doing more to prevent their child's death.

I think her parents get that, there's a few more quotes on the Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11...rved-death.html

Quote:
 
Mr Waller said: 'It could have easily been avoided if we had just taken her into hospital instead of listening to that woman.
'If I had just said 'I am going to take her anyway' we would not be sitting here now.
'I asked her to come round and see her but she kept saying there is nothing to worry about and I'll come next week.'


Quote:
 
Her parents admit that after leaving hospital their daughter was not seen by any doctor.
There are no promises or assurances in any shape or form contained in the above post. Do not trust this Monkey.
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ConfusedMonkey
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There's another story which I was talking to Lori about last week, where a little girl lost her legs because she had Meningitis which went undiagnosed for a few days.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-...home-visit.html

Quote:
 
Jodie Cross looked on in despair as her daughter Lydia was violently sick again. She knew the two-year-old was seriously ill, but she was facing an uphill battle to prove it.

Lydia had appeared unwell three days earlier, on a Friday evening. When her father Tony, a policeman, took her to see an out-of-hours doctor, he diagnosed a virus and said there was nothing to worry about.

By Sunday, the little girl's condition had deteriorated. This time, a different doctor diagnosed an ear infection. 'He prescribed antibiotics, even though I said Lydia wouldn't be able to keep them down as she was vomiting repeatedly,' says Jodie.
Doctors had refused to make a home visit, saying she just had a virus.
'He said: "Yes, but they will make you feel better" - as if I was being neurotic.'

Now it was Monday morning. Lydia's temperature had soared and she was hallucinating - she thought spiders were crawling all over her body. Jodie was particularly concerned because Lydia's baby sister Millie, then seven months, had just spent two weeks in hospital, critically ill with septicaemia and suspected meningitis, although the latter was never confirmed. Jodie was terrified Lydia had caught it, too.

At 10am, she rang the Gable House Surgery in Malmesbury, near the family home in Wiltshire. 'I asked for a home visit and was told matter-of-factly: "That's not our policy."

'I was really shocked. Lydia was far too ill to go out, and I expected a doctor to be sent to such a young child straight away. I know doctors are reluctant to do home visits these days, but I wouldn't have requested one if it wasn't urgent.'
Jodie, now 39, insisted on speaking to a doctor. When a doctor she didn't know called back, she explained what had happened over the weekend.

'He was very arrogant and reluctant to come out - he wanted me to take Lydia to the surgery. I explained that her sister had just been critically ill with blood poisoning and suspected meningitis, and said that Lydia had been hallucinating and vomiting.

'I asked for a home visit and was told: "That's not our policy"'
'But he was certain it was only a virus, and told me to call back if I was still worried.'
They struggled to keep Lydia cool with a fan and Calpol. Then, when Jodie tried to bath her, she became even more concerned. 'Lydia didn't seem able to sit up,' she says.

By 2.30pm, frantic with worry, Jodie called the GP practice again and asked for an emergency appointment. There wasn't one until 4.45pm - but when Tony took Lydia, a passing nurse saw how ill she was and fetched the doctor straight away. He took one look at her and called an ambulance.

'Tony rang from the ambulance to say Lydia was really poorly. I was shaking all over because I'd told the doctors this, but they'd said it was just a virus.'
In fact, Lydia had meningitis and septicaemia, and was fighting for her life. Five weeks after becoming ill, both her legs were amputated below the knee because blood poisoning had killed the soft tissue.


Here - the child was hallucinating and vomiting, AND their other child had just been in hospital with septicaemia. And they waited for their GP.
There are no promises or assurances in any shape or form contained in the above post. Do not trust this Monkey.
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HollyHostess
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It's not unrealistic that an 8 year old child is scared of doctors/dentists. Let's face it, not many pleasant things go on there. A dentist is even more terrifying, even x-rays hurt if you have a smaller mouth.

I imagine that poor little girl was traumatized. I cannot imagine someone extracting 7 teeth from my mouth in one go. How fucking awful. I'm sure there was good reason she didnt want to eat. But yeah, the parents should have been more proactive instead of placing all their trust in health professionals.

Sad case all around.
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Evil_Henry
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Quote:
 
Doctors at the Royal Cornwall Hospital decided to remove all her milk teeth in one go to avoid repeating the procedure - a decision her parents claim they did not consent to, and which made the situation even worse.


Totally unnecessary and I doubt I'd want to open my mouth after that too.

There is such a thing though as liquid food. A blender and a straw might have been enough to help the poor girl get over her fear but we'll never know.
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ConfusedMonkey
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According to the Daily Mail, when she was 4 a dentist accidentally cut her tongue during a check up.

How the fuck does one accidentally cut someone's tongue? That must have hurt like hell. It's bad enough when you accidentally bite your own tongue, so having it cut like that must have been horrendous.

Dentists are evil.
There are no promises or assurances in any shape or form contained in the above post. Do not trust this Monkey.
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HollyHostess
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Evil_Henry
Feb 10 2009, 11:37 AM
A blender and a straw might have been enough to help the poor girl get over her fear but we'll never know.

The problem is with most extractions you cannot suck through a straw for a period of time. I know when I had a wisdom tooth extracted, the dentist told me not to use a straw for at least a week.

I do agree with Monks though, dentists are evil.
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ErgonomicLogic
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Yes. And goodluck having a lawsuit for malpractice in the UK. I naturally blame socialized medicine and the shields that are put up protecting quacks to insulate the government's dime. Also, is it any wonder why the British get such shit for poor dental hygiene?
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Mock
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Yes, because multi-million dollar payouts for a spilled cup of coffee is the preferred alternative.
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Pestiferous
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Everyone knows that if you sue enough people for enough money, your kid comes back to life.

Pfft.
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zippy®
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yeah, brits with poor dental hygiene...not a stereotype at all.

well, at least no more so than americans being fat, arrogant, ignorant, non-passport owning, under-educated, polluting, assholes, devoid of all but the most basic sense of humour.

yeah, sad case, that dentist story. irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the treatment in this particular case, it is extremely difficult to understand how any parent of a child would be able to watch their child starve to death at home, over a period of 3 weeks, without doing more than repeatedly picking up a telephone.

i do think it partly reflects this totally transfer of responsibility for healthcare from the individual onto the government, or government healthcare system, at least.

i can never understand why [mentally astute] people dont generally take a greater level of interest and responsibility for their own health..."oh yeah, the doctor did say i had this condition, but i can never remember what it is", and "yes, i do take several pills, theres a red one, and a green one...you must know what they are!", and, in this case "oh, well i did speak to the doctor a few times, and they never told me to bring our child in to hospital, so i was rather surprised when she, erm, died."
did i mention...im shy?
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ErgonomicLogic
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Mock
Feb 10 2009, 02:40 PM
Yes, because multi-million dollar payouts for a spilled cup of coffee is the preferred alternative.

Actually it was a million, if you've seen the picture of the injury you wouldn't find it that outrageous. The injured woman offered to settle with McDonald's beforehand for under $100,000 which would barely cover her medical bills but they refused. The judge reduced the jury's award to approximately $450,000. Another part of the consideration was that McDonald's purposely overheated their coffee to hide its crappy flavor. And now McDonald's inceased the quality of their coffee and maintains it at a reasonable temperature. Anymore platitudes Mock?
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Pestiferous
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It was 2.84 million, and that was eventually downgraded to $640,000 before both parties settled for a confidential amount.

She offered to settle for $20,000 for medical bills, but her medical bills were actually only $11,000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._Mc...9;s_Restaurants

The attorney was Reed Morgan - who turns out to be quite the ambulance chaser.

As for shitty coffee having to be hotter:


Quote:
 
The smell (and therefore the taste) of coffee depends heavily on the oils containing aromatic compounds that are dissolved out of the beans during the brewing process. Brewing temperature should be close to 200 °F [93 °C] to dissolve them effectively, but without causing the premature breakdown of these delicate molecules. Coffee smells and tastes best when these aromatic compounds evaporate from the surface of the coffee as it is being drunk. Compounds vital to flavor have boiling points in the range of 150–160 °F [66–71 °C], and the beverage therefore tastes best when it is this hot and the aromatics vaporize as it is being drunk. For coffee to be 150 °F when imbibed, it must be hotter in the pot. Pouring a liquid increases its surface area and cools it; more heat is lost by contact with the cooler container; if the consumer adds cream and sugar (plus a metal spoon to stir them) the liquid's temperature falls again. If the consumer carries the container out for later consumption, the beverage cools still further



Any coffee is best served extremely hot.

Are your exaggerations just feel-good inspiration passed around law schools? Add little touches like "barely covered her medical bills!" and "they serve it hot to scam the public!" in order to martyr the person representing her? Yeah, fight that corporate scum! They serve coffee, like, way too hot.







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stevapalooza
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So how have you been Wes?
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Pestiferous
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I'm good, Steva. Still working a ridiculous amount of hours, but good.

How have you been lately? How's the graphic novel scene?
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ConfusedMonkey
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ErgonomicLogic
Feb 10 2009, 06:52 PM
Yes. And goodluck having a lawsuit for malpractice in the UK. I naturally blame socialized medicine and the shields that are put up protecting quacks to insulate the government's dime.

Doctors are sued in the UK as well. From the link about the girl with meningitis:

Quote:
 
Five years after Lydia's illness, her family, who now live in Braunton, Devon, won a fight for compensation. The High Court heard that if a doctor had seen Lydia when Jodie first called, and sent her to hospital just an hour-and-a-half earlier, her legs could have been saved.

The court ruled that given her age, deterioration and her parents' ongoing concern, Lydia should have been seen at home.

The GP - Dr John Harrison - admitted that, in the circumstances, he should have visited the two-year-old, although he disputed whether it would have made a difference to the outcome.

His medical insurers agreed to settle the case on the basis of 85 per cent liability, and the family was awarded a six-figure compensation sum. This money is being held in a court trust fund to provide for Lydia's needs, including prosthetic legs. Her first pair were provided by the NHS.

'Before this all happened, Lydia used to pester me to paint her toe nails, but I said she was too young,' says Jodie. 'Now I want her to have legs she could be proud of, with toe nails she could paint. So we decided to buy legs privately. They cost £10,000 a pair and have to be replaced every six months while Lydia's growing.'

There are no promises or assurances in any shape or form contained in the above post. Do not trust this Monkey.
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stevapalooza
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Pestiferous
Feb 11 2009, 12:05 AM
I'm good, Steva. Still working a ridiculous amount of hours, but good.

How have you been lately? How's the graphic novel scene?

Not bad. We just had the NY comic convention this weekend. Nerds ahoy!

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Xx_SwordWords_xX
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The injured woman offered to settle with McDonald's beforehand for under $100,000 which would barely cover her medical bills but they refused.


Uhm... remind me again why public health care is not a good idea? :huh:
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stevapalooza
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Um, I'm talking to Wes, do you mind! This is our thread now. The rest of you take your little dead child discussion elsewhere.

So Wes, how has the winter been treating you?
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Pestiferous
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It's been interesting - the winter this year has been very cold, and then very warm, and then very cold...right now we're very warm again.

Planning any trips this year? Aside from the nerd conference?
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