4week old baby - meningitis (ER)

[kmv2k]

Tennessee
4week old baby Meningitis

-Monday August 6, 2012
taken in to his doctor with thrush
was given nystayant which was working and clearing the thrush up

-Wednesday August 8, 2012
Slept a lot during the day and ate decently
Later in the evening he wouldn't take a full 2oz
Low grade fever off and on (99.6-99.8)
And he didn't want to be touch or moved when he was he would scream like something was hurting him
About 9:45pm temp spiked to 101
Took him to the ER after wiping him down with a wet cloth
Temp was normal by the time we got to triage
We saw the doctor he checked his chest, ears,mouth, strep test & chest x-ray
He said the chest-xray was clear, strep negative and that he probably just had a virus and to give tylenol.
We go home I give him tylenol and try to feed him,
-Thursday August 9, 2012
I was able to feed him once around 2 or 3am then while sleeping he started to scream out and cry like something was hurting him.
I held him the rest of the morning with the same result, him crying out like he was in pain.
Got up and called his peditricion , we got an appointment at 12:30. His nurse weighed,measured and took his temp which again was normal at the time. I explained that we had gone to the ER last night and why. She started to examine him and felt if his soft spot. She immmedately asked if he doctor on call did blood work or urine specimen. I told her no and proceeded to tell her that only checked ears,mouth, & performed chest x-ray & strep test. She was in a state of disbelief.
The doctor came in and I explained to her what was going on and that we had been to the ER. She also asked if blood work was done and urine taken. I told her no and repeated what I told the nurse. She to couldn't believe it. She started to examine him and with in a minute she said he is very sick and has an infection, I'm not sure what but it seems like meningitis. She then proceeded to.tell me she was going to draw blood,urine, and do a spinal tab and give him a shot with adose of antibiotics. She kept him on oxygen and monitored his oxygen staturation levels until the ambulance arrived.
She then sent us to ER by ambulance so that. They could start an IV and get him ready for transport. We got there about 2pm and wasn't able to get transported til almost 6:30pm. He was transported by pediatric ambulance from chidlren's hospital the team worked on him 20-30mins before leaving out for Nashville.
- we arrived at Children's Hospital ER around 9pm. During transport they had to pull over and intubate. Upon arrival After talking to the doctors around 10pm I was unable to see him til almost 11pm when they moved him up on the floor.

We've been in the ICU since Thursday he was on a respirator til saturday morning and his breathing still hasn't compeletly normalized, He now has a feeding tube and has had to have 3 spinal taps and counting and will soon have an MRI to dignose possible brain damage.

My issues is not that he has meningitis it that he wasn't tested when I took him to the ER they didn't do any test to rule out anything and my son is a twin and was 2 1/2 weeks early and only a month and a day old.

Do I have a case against the doctor or hospital that failed to do blood and urine which is standard (according to my pred.nurse and doc.) when a baby under 8 weeks comes in with a fever and the symptoms I described?

[goddessoflubboc]

If the ER breached the standard of care then you need to speak to a medical malpractice attorney. They can get the records and have them reviewed.

[Lexus]

There are two types of breach that can be actionable in medical malpractice. The first is deviation from the standard practices of professional medicine. In some situations, there is no single standard and the doctor is allowed to use discretion or judgment. Even in these situations, however, doctors can breach their duty to the patient by negligent application of their judgment. Establishing that a doctor breached the standard of care is often the most challenging aspect of a medical malpractice case. Hire an attorney.