Posted by Joseph on 10/04/05

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My son recently had an horrific stay at the local
Children's Hospital. During Cody's stay - his needs were
neglected by new and poorly trained staff. His life was
also endangered for most of his stay by the lack of the
staff and security to follow established procedures.

We (his parents) got very fed up very quickly at Cody's
inadequate care. How many times can you hear "I'm sorry -
she's new," & "I'm sorry he's in training". Even after we
spelled out the problems to the attending doctor (one of
two Cody saw) and the nurse manager - nothing improved!
Wondering if we have any legal recourse? Take a look at
the problems Cody encountered....

1. He was sent to Children's Hospital by his pediatrician
for a suspected formula intolerance. At Cody mother's
suggestion, he was to be placed on Nutramigen (a
predigested formula) and monitored to see if his vomiting
and diarrhea improved. He was to be given weigh checks to
ensure he was regaining lost weight. His doctor also
wanted surgeons to check to see if there were any internal
problems.
In the emergency room, they didn't do a proper weight
check. The weighed him with clothes and a full messy
diaper. That was Friday night and despite the fact that we
kept telling the nurses that the ER weight was incorrect -
no one re-weighed him or weigh him at all even on Saturday.
We kept pestering them until finally Sunday morning - he
was weighed! Monday's weight was down very slightly from
Sunday, but with nothing else to compare it to - they chose
to keep Cody hospitalized longer. Keep in mind that they
profit from their mistakes. Tuesday's weight was done
improperly with a blanket under Cody and was another
invalid weight - so we went into Wednesday. What's even
crazier was the fact that the nurses couldn't properly
convert the kilograms to pounds and ounces! One conversion
showed Cody at 7lbs 4ozs when in fact he was 7lbs 14ozs -
but wait -- that was the weight done with the blanket -- so
again, IT DIDN'T COUNT! If only this were the only
problem!!!

2. Saturday, Cody was to have a sonogram to check to see if
he needed surgery - he didn't. They wouldn't let him eat in
the emergency room and then they wouldn't let him eat
before the sonogram - in case surgery was needed. Sounds
reasonable until you find out that he couldn't have the
sonogram until 3PM Saturday and withholding food was only
necessary six hours before the surgery - if it had been
needed which it wasn't. According to the attending doctor,
the surgery wouldn't have been preformed until sometime the
following day - if it had been needed -- which it wasn't -
Cody would have gone 36 hours - 48 hours without food
instead of the 24 hours he went without food! A infant,
already losing weight and no one could get on the same page
as to feeding him. The attending stated that the resident
incorrectly thought that Cody would be rushed into surgery
immediately and that's why he wasn't fed. The resident
blamed the surgeons - in any case...THE INFANT WASN'T FED
FOR NEARLY 24 HOURS! If only the problems ended here!!!

3. Cody was placed on Prevacid for reflux. He was to be
given the first dose at 8pm on Saturday. The dose never
came. Calls were made to the hospital pharmacy - but no one
could give an answer until the following morning when
everyone concluded that the pharmacy goes by STANDARD TIMES
when dispensing medication. A once a day medication would
be dispensed at 8AM unless the doctor insists. The resident
planned on Cody being given the first dose right away and
informed the parents of that fact - but the resident never
insisted! So, Cody got the medication nearly 12 hours later
than was intended and no one informed us (who were in his
room) - we would have insisted on the earliest possible
dose.
Prevacid is a fairly new medication for reflux that takes
4 - 7 days to start working. Had we, the parents, been
told this fact - we would have immediately requested a
different medication - Zantac! Instead, the attending
doctor touted the drug as an improvement on Zantac. You may
have heard of Prevacid in the news - several arrests were
made due to the marketing practices of the drug company!
The drug is not currently made in a generic form, so if it
is prescribed - all profits currently go to the only
source - the drug manufacturer. So, how do they get doctors
to prescribe Prevacid? They lavish CASH & SKI TRIPS & GOLF
VACATIONS on the Doctors who prescribe it! It is a shame
that this is how things are done. Drug companies lavish so
much on doctors to write certain profitable prescriptions
that it averages out to over $6,000 per year - based on all
the doctors in the US. So, once the we knew that the
medication took so long to work - we demanded that Cody be
put on Zantac. Enter attending doctor #2. He was so ill-
prepared to talk with us about the case that he stated the
he was going to up Cody's calorie intake from 20 calories
per ounce to 24 calories per ounce. I asked when that
would start and was told by the attending doctor (with an
attitude), "I'll make sure that it's done with the very
next feeding!" I responded, "IT WAS ALREADY DONE A DAY AND
A HALF AGO!" The doctor apparently hadn't even checked the
chart before speaking with us! The same attending tried in
vain to talk us out of the medication change, but he backed
off after his stupidity showed through! He even tried once
to take credit for the Nutramigen - to salvage his dignity -
- and was told bluntly that Cody's mother had arranged for
Cody to be placed on that formula before he even arrived at
Children's.

4. We constantly told the attending that we weren't being
informed and that no one was listening or updating us. We
were feeding Cody his bottles and the first attending
wanted us to estimate how much Cody was vomiting/spitting
up. Then, he didn't like our estimates of nearly half
Cody's feeding. When Cody took 3 ounces - 1-1/2 ounces came
back up. So, they decided the nurses would keep track -
Cody lost weight. We decided that Cody couldn't get better
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL'S WAY. We spoke to the second attending
and told him that we wanted Cody back on cereal. He tried
to say that it couldn't be done without Cody's doctor
giving approval - there again -- HE SHOWED HIS IGNORANCE!
Cody's doctor had put him on the cereal a week earlier. A
resident at Children's Hospital had taken him off it. Cody
went back on cereal and he started holding down his
formula - thanks DOCTOR MOM! Victoria had convinced Cody's
doctor originally to use the cereal method since DOCTOR MOM
had already suspected reflux!

5. So, DOCTOR MOM was right about the reflux. She was
right about the need for Nutramigen - the diarrhea stopped.
She was right about the cereal - the vomiting stopped. The
final thing Cody needed was gas drops for his discomfort -
the resident ordered them and 4 doses arrived to the nurses
station - for as needed usage! The first dose was given and
it helped. When Cody needed a second dose the following
day - it was discovered that someone had taken or discarded
Cody's gas drops! Cody had to wait for 4 hours for his AS
NEEDED medication. He cried himself to sleep. It also took
quite awhile to get his Zantac started. Two nurses faxed
the downstairs pharmacy a total of 3 times - they kept
claiming that they didn't get the fax and couldn't sent it
up without one. It doesn't matter if it was the pharmacy
or the nurses or the fax machine - I DON'T CARE WHOSE
FAULT -- again, Cody waited for medication! Care at
Children's Hospital is SUB-STANDARD. It is neglect - plain
and simple!

6. There is a monitor to which Cody was hooked up that
watched his heart rate and respiration. One nurse said that
it was state law that all infants be monitored, another
said that it was hospital policy for young children. On
Saturday, we had to go out and get something to eat. Cody
had just returned from his sonogram and wasn't reattached.
yet. His nurse said that she'd do it right away. We
returned 40 minutes later to Cody still unattached.
Victoria (Cody's mom) was extremely upset and she
complained loudly to the nurse, the nurse manager and an
attending. Anything could have happened to Cody! After we
had left to eat, the person doing vitals offered to
reattach Cody - the nurse took her up on the offer. The
monitor wasn't reattached and the nurse never checked on
it. But, there's more...
Then, imagine the horror of discovering that the monitor
was never attached to remote and wasn't even showing up at
the nurse's station - UNTIL SUNDAY MORNING. Over 24 hours.
We all know that seconds count in an emergency. That a few
seconds here and there can mean the difference between a
live baby and a dead baby or a severely brain damaged
baby. "Neglect & Endangerment," I say. Can there be more?
You bet....

7. There is a Halo system bracelet that goes on an infant
when he is admitted to Children's Hospital that locks doors
and elevators and sets off an alarm - if someone tries to
take an infant. Poor Cody, they never put one on him until
Monday - 3 days into his stay at Children's Hospital. But
security is on the ball, right? Guess again!!! There is a
sign when you enter Children's Hospital that states that
you must check in at the security desk. Rarely does anyone
do this! Security guards watch them come and go.
Anyone!!! I left the hospital 3 -5 times per day for 5
days and was stopped only once when returning. We had two
suspicious people enter Cody's room during the 5 days -
luckily we were there at the time. We reported both
incidents. But they shouldn't have happened at all! A
child is not safe in Children's Hospital - Cody wasn't! If
it wasn't the horrible care or lack of care - it was the
risks they take with the children!
I'm planning on having this hospital investigated! We are
also attorney shopping. They couldn't even give my wife a
copy of the Patient's Bill Of Rights - she requested it of
several people who either didn't know about it or couldn't
find a copy. We have demanded the complete name of one
doctor, so that we can file with the state and Children's
hasn't provided it and seems to now be ignoring us.

8. There are people drawing blood at Children's Hospital
that don't even know whether the sample needs to be taken
from a vein or an artery. That happened to Cody also - but
the test was never redone -- so how important was it in the
first place?

9. The 7th floor was a nightmare, but Children's Hospital
has many more problems. During the pregnancy, there were a
few false alarms. During one, an arrogant female attending
made the assumption for my wife that she wouldn't want me
present during an examination and proceeded to pull the
curtain shut on me - actually striking me! Then, when I
pulled it back - she yelled at me! Sexual Discrimination -
treating the male parent differently than the female
parent. We were both there checking on our child!

10. Then, there was the resident who tried to do a
sonogram, but didn't know how! He had a paperback
instruction book in his pocket, that he had his student
read from and they still couldn't figure it out! He was
the same resident who told Victoria that she was 3
centimeters dilated and when it was rechecked by attending -
Victoria wasn't dilated at all. That's a heck of a
difference!

11. Worse yet, was the botched epidural that a resident
tried to give when Victoria was in labor. He ruined an
epidural kit and yelled for a second one and he kept
jabbing away at Victoria's spine. He nicked a vein and kept
on going. A student doctor slipped from the room and got
the attending who MADE HIM STOP - HE WANTED TO KEEP
GOING! He was so flustered or nervous that when he
collected the kits and walked across the room to throw them
away - he dropped them and they splattered all over the
floor and on our overnight bag. I wish now that I would
have demanded that he be drug tested!

12. Back to Cody, when he was born at Children's Hospital -
we tried to get the doctor who examined Cody to put him on
soy formula, because there was a family history of formula
problems. He wouldn't listen and "didn't want to
overreact." He didn't even believe that the other children
had even had milk-based allergies. He wouldn't listen at
all. He was told that Cody slept through a feeding. He
called him "mellow". The next day, Cody had slept through 3
feedings and almost wasn't sent home. That first weekend
home, Cody was in the ER at Mercy and his formula was
changed to soy - Cody has a milk allergy (unfortunately he
also couldn't tolerate soy either). That's why DOCTOR MOM
the Nutramigen. She ran into this same doctor during
Cody's 5 day stay - his response, "my bad".

It's such a shame that doctors don't listen - they might
learn! Email or post suggestions...

codyscare@dbuffalo.com

Re: Dangerous Hospital Stay, 10/06/05, by just a thought.

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