How Can Doctors Be So Careless? (Especially With Children)

[Nobody]

About a month ago, both of my children got ringworm from playing outside. My daughter is 10, and she got it on her arm, shoulder and thigh. My son is 5, and he got it on his ear, arm and scalp. They gave my son a topical cream, and my daughter an oral suspension called Griseofulvin.

The last few days, I noticed my daughter's ringworm doesn't seem to be responding to the treatment, even though they said it would go away in 2-3 weeks with that medication. My son was complaining that the spot on his scalp hurts really bad, and when I went to look at it, an entire patch of hair about half the size of a golf ball was missing, and he had a large red lump about the size of a large marble. We decided to send our daughter to Summer school, and we took our son to the ER instead of waiting 5 a week for him to see his doctor.

When they looked at it at the ER, they told us he has developed a condition called Kerion, as a result of a secondary bacterial infection in response to the ringworm. They said it can cause permanent scarring and hair loss, and if it has also been exposed to Staph it could take months to treat the infection and prevent it from moving into the bone or tissue nearby. So they gave us a prescription for Bactrim for 21 days, and a special shampoo to use every other day on it. The thing that pisses me off, is they said it could have all been prevented by getting the shampoo to begin with. They said Patient First never should have given him a topical cream for it, because the cream does not work on the scalp.

Then my wife threw in that she thinks they should have gave him the same stuff they gave our daughter. When we told the doctor what our daughter was on, he was immediately panicked and horrified. He said under no circumstances should it ever be prescribed to a child ever, because it is extremely toxic to the liver, and the toxicity is more pronounced when used in children. He said this is common medical knowledge, and the fact that the doctor prescribed it to her borders on negligence. Then he asked if they are at least testing her liver function twice a week, like the manufacturers specifically calls for when taking it. When we told him no, he was even more horrified and told us not to give her another drop, and to immediately get her an appointment with her Pediatrician to have her liver function checked.

Seriously, with something as simple and basic as ringworm, how can one doctor completely screw things up this bad, especially when children were the patients? They would have been better off not being treated. I guess the rumors that Patient First doctors are all of the med school bottom feeders has some truth to it after all.

 

[Nobody]

That's exactly how I feel about it. It's bad enough if I get misdiagnosed, but this kind of **** makes my blood boil.

I already didn't care for the Patient First doctor to begin with, because he always has a horrible attitude like he hates his job, but this just puts me at the tipping point.

All I can say is he better hope like hell my daughter's liver function test comes back normal. I'm honestly afraid of how I might react if it doesn't.

Thank you for understanding Mike, your words mean a lot.

 

[Miles Monroe]

That really sucks, and I would go off the wall with something like this.

You may want to actually find a pediatric doctor instead of dealing with Patient First, which I'm not familiar with, but sounds like a walk in clinic.

 

[Nobody]

That really sucks, and I would go off the wall with something like this.

You may want to actually find a pediatric doctor instead of dealing with Patient First, which I'm not familiar with, but sounds like a walk in clinic.

Her regular pediatrician is a doctor by the name of Christopher Wrubel, who is beyond phenomenal, and based on his certifications, awards, etc. probably one of the elite pediatricians in the U.S.

He's been her pediatrician since birth, so we never take her anywhere else unless it's late at night or an emergency.

Patient First is a walk-in clinic that's open every day of the year. That fact alone is the only reason we went there - they were open and they don't have a 6 hour wait like the ER.

We're taking her to see Dr. Wrubel in a couple of days, he said not to panic unless she starts having abdominal pain, but he also made sure to tell us that a lack of symptoms doesn't always mean nothing is wrong.