Paramedics refuse to take 2yr old to hospital

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Click on the URL below to watch the video:
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/launc...nds&Nothing Wrong?&Video Launch Page&-1&Shows

 

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FYI when you click on the link, it will bring up fox news page. Click on Nothing Wrong to load video.

 

[pooky169]

I bet that the EMS workers will get into trouble for that and with good reason. I am glad they took him and that he got the medical treatment he needed. My friends 16 yr old son broke his collar bone earlier this fall just after school started and it was scary for her since he done it at school. He looked fine otherwise but he had the bone kinda sticking up near his neckline. He may have to have surgery for it now becuase it didn't heal quite correctly. So I know of what these parents are gonna face and it may be a long road for them. Prayers for the little boy.

 

[angelwngs]

The little fellow had a broken collarbone and paramedics 'refused to take him to the hospital', said the child was faking "it" ... and told parents they had a car in the driveway and could take the child to the hospital if they wanted to...

Glad the parents decided to take the little guy on to the hospital in spite of the idiot paramedics... This is the perfect lawsuit! What idiots! :banghead:

 

[Mr. E]

I can't access the video from work, but why would anybody doubt it when a child says he's in pain? My daughter broke her collarbone after falling out of bed when she was 2 or 3. We took her to the ER since it was the weekend and the clinic was closed. We weren't sure what was going on, just that she was favoring one arm. My daughter was jumping, climbing, and playing in the ER. The doc came in and said incredulously, "Is this the child who fell?" I thought for sure she (my daughter) was fine and that we were wasting money. The doc even moved her arm up and down (something I tried to do earlier, causing daughter to scream in pain), and my daughter seemed unaffected. They did X-rays even though she seemed fine, and it turned out her collarbone was cleanly broken.

The point of that whole story is that you never know how kids will react to an injury or sickness. They should always be taken seriously.

 

[philamena]

I feel certain that the EMT's will either loose their jobs or they will be heavily fined. That cannot always be 100% sure that someone doesn't have a broken bone.

 

[feddup]

wow! that is awful!
Thank goodness we live in an area where 911 is very good, the paramedics took my hubby right away, first they got him stabilized and out they were with him to Hospital! Hes a Diabetic and was in bed when they got here. *whew* I was at my wits end.
They dont 2nd guess here, they knew he needed an IV to get blood sugar up.
PS at my wits end because for an hr had been doing what his Dr told me and it wasnt working....

 

[Mr. E]

I finally got to watch the video. While I don't think the paramedics should have refused taking the child to the hospital if that's what the parents wanted, I do wonder why the parents called an ambulance for this problem. If I called an ambulance every time my kids fell or got hurt at that age, the paramedics would have been at my house constantly.

 

[JBean]

I finally got to watch the video. While I don't think the paramedics should have refused taking the child to the hospital if that's what the parents wanted, I do wonder why the parents called an ambulance for this problem. If I called an ambulance every time my kids fell or got hurt at that age, the paramedics would have been at my house constantly.

It is all unfortunate, but I also wonder why they didn't just go to ER. It doesnt sound like an "ambulance" situation. I am not sure why he would have needed to be transported by ambulance? A broken collarbne isn't a particualry bad injury and I doubt that a delay in taking him will make any differnce in the healing process.

I am not sure what the protocol is for this situation, but it seems like usually they just take you anyway.I guess I am surprised they didn't take him.
I broke my collarbone when I was little and I remember my parents kind of shined it on because, like others have said I wasn't in a lot of pain or anything. My father was a doctor no less!
They only took me because I didn't eat my dinner! They figured if I wasn't eating something MUST be wrong.

Hope the little guy is ok, but I think this is much ado about nothing.I can't believe they went to the news?!
JMHO of course!

 

[Spazkat9696]

As a child I had a lot of broken bones, including my collar bone, black eyes and other traumatic injuries. I was a bit of a tom-boy. I was always in a cast of some sort, at least 10, and my parents said they hated taking me to the ER. Not because it was a waste of time or anything but because they always got the look, like they had done something to me. Maybe the parents just wanted the incident documented in case CPS was called in.

 

[JBean]

As a child I had a lot of broken bones, including my collar bone, black eyes and other traumatic injuries. I was a bit of a tom-boy. I was always in a cast of some sort, at least 10, and my parents said they hated taking me to the ER. Not because it was a waste of time or anything but because they always got the look, like they had done something to me. Maybe the parents just wanted the incident documented in case CPS was called in.

I am still a tomboy and am covered with bruises from head to toe most of the time lol.
If you are taken to ER by ambulance, you go in right away. If you walk into ER you have to wait in order of severity. Maybe they didn't want to wait.
Just thinking out loud here, I have no idea..but wonder why they didn't just take him in.

 

[fivekidz4me]

When my son broke his collar bone, I took him to the ER myself. When I got there they told me I should have called an ambulance due to bone fragments that could have pierced his lungs or caused further damage. I never would have thought it could be a life or death type of situation, but apparently it could collaspe a lung.

 

[JBean]

When my son broke his collar bone, I took him to the ER myself. When I got there they told me I should have called an ambulance due to bone fragments that could have pierced his lungs or caused further damage. I never would have thought it could be a life or death type of situation, but apparently it could collaspe a lung.

Oh! Thank you. I did not know that. I guess it makes perfect sense.

 

[crypto6]

When my son broke his collar bone, I took him to the ER myself. When I got there they told me I should have called an ambulance due to bone fragments that could have pierced his lungs or caused further damage. I never would have thought it could be a life or death type of situation, but apparently it could collaspe a lung.

Broken collarbones are getting the short end of the stick, medically speaking. Since there is little to do for them now (the figure-of-eight brace is falling out of fashion), a lot of ER people shrug and don't make much of them. If I had a piece of bone disfiguring my neckline, I'd certainly want someone to look at it both medically and cosmetically.

You did fine taking your son yourself; he probably got there faster than if you had waited for EMS and very few clavicular fractures get pneumothoraces (punctured lungs).

Clavicular Fractures

Crypto6

 

[JBean]

Broken collarbones are getting the short end of the stick, medically speaking. Since there is little to do for them now (the figure-of-eight brace is falling out of fashion), a lot of ER people shrug and don't make much of them. If I had a piece of bone disfiguring my neckline, I'd certainly want someone to look at it both medically and cosmetically.

You did fine taking your son yourself; he probably got there faster than if you had waited for EMS and very few clavicular fractures get pneumothoraces (punctured lungs).

Clavicular Fractures

Crypto6

Thanks crypto. When I had my broken collarbone, they didn't do anything for it. well except give me lots of ice cream and twinkies.

 

[Spazkat9696]

Thanks crypto. When I had my broken collarbone, they didn't do anything for it. well except give me lots of ice cream and twinkies.

Man I had a huge plaster cast (no fiberglass back then) with one of those arm things to make me keep my arm out at a 90 degree angel. I am the poster child for not running in the house. While running in the house I misjudged the door jam my body kept going and my shoulder stayed.

 

[pedinurse]

Man I had a huge plaster cast (no fiberglass back then) with one of those arm things to make me keep my arm out at a 90 degree angel. I am the poster child for not running in the house. While running in the house I misjudged the door jam my body kept going and my shoulder stayed.

most of the time it depends on the injury and the severity, but for a lot of clavical injuries, they can't do a lot and it heals on its own... especially if it is not displaced. i haven't looked at the vid, but i think that if the parents are insisting to be taken by ambulance and it is called, they should be (lawsuit thing).
everyone should have a proper medical evaluation to determine risks... you can always have two ends of a spectrum. a coworker and i were talking, just the other day how, for instance, how you can have major complications from something as simple as an ear infection.
but that doesn't mean you should call the ambulance if you think your baby has an ear infection... but you know what i am saying!

 

[southcitymom]

When my son broke his collar bone, I took him to the ER myself. When I got there they told me I should have called an ambulance due to bone fragments that could have pierced his lungs or caused further damage. I never would have thought it could be a life or death type of situation, but apparently it could collaspe a lung.

Wow! When my son was 2, he jumped off the top of a slide at daycare and broke his collarbone. The school didn't know that, but they called me when they couldn't settle him down because that was so unlike him.

When I got there, he kept saying his arm hurt and he was crying pretty hysterically. I took him to the UrgentCare myself because my ped office was closing for the day. Sure enough - he had broken it clean and was in a figure-eight bandage (not brace) for 3 weeks and on painkillers for a few days.

I would have never thought to call an ambulance - seems to make more sense to take thme yourself - especially when you don't really know what is wrong.

 

[sherri79]

going by what i saw in the video and what i think is human nature i totally feel for these parents. they seem to be younger parents and they have a 2 yr old that has fallen. it later turned out his collar bone was broke but i dont think they knew that. if the bone was displaced then i think the EMTs would have noticed it. as a parent you know your child better than any1 else. you know the i'm sleepy cry and the unhappy cry and the cry of a shot compared to real pain. imagine what these parents knew at the time. the child fell out of bed and was not acting normal and seemed to be in some pain. my fear with my first child was always head injuries. 2 yr olds are always falling and hitting their heads and had my child acted strange after a fall but i could not find the cause that would be my fear.

 

[southcitymom]

....... you know the i'm sleepy cry and the unhappy cry and the cry of a shot compared to real pain.......

This is so true - it's why the school called me when my son fell even though there was no obvious injury and he hadn't hit his head or anything - all they knew was that he wasn't acting right.

Children's daily caretakers (and especially the parents) know when something is wrong. I'm surprised the ambulance didn't take this child, but I don't know how you could file a lawsuit because there weren't any damages. The child's injury wasn't any worse because of the ambulance not taking him.