The case in summary: • A family in Skien experienced that their six-month-old baby was misdiagnosed with a fever at the emergency room, despite high fever, vomiting, chills and tremors.• The baby was later diagnosed with acute renal pelvis inflammation and septicemia at the children’s ward.• The family contacted the emergency room several times, but was once refused entry.• The emergency room in Skien has apologized for the incident and will investigate the matter carefully. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – We just felt stupid and like hysterical parents, says Tonje Daapan. Last weekend, the six-month-old daughter had a fever of up to 41 degrees, vomiting, chills and tremors. Late on Saturday evening they went to the emergency room. But according to Daapan, the doctor thought it was just a fever, and sent them home. Refused to come in. Later that night, the baby had a seizure, and parts of his body started to turn blue. Then they tried to call the emergency room, but did not get an answer for eight minutes. In the end, they chose to call the ambulance. Tonje Daapan is the mother of the six-month-old child. Photo: Private – We had them on a video call, and they thought we could drive into the emergency room ourselves. Again they were told that it was “just” a fever. The daughter became worse on Sunday evening. When Daapan called the emergency room again, they were refused entry as they did not have the capacity, she says. – They refused to take a CRP since the doctor had written in the medical record that it was just a fever and we had been told about antipyretics, she writes in a post on Facebook. She tried to argue to come in, but claims that it was out of the question on the part of the emergency room. Read what the ambulance service answers further down in the case. Renal pelvis inflammation and blood poisoning The parents were awake on the night of Monday to keep an eye on their daughter. On Monday morning, they had an appointment at the GP’s office. This doctor would make further inquiries with the children’s department. They welcomed their daughter in straight away and were ready when they arrived. It turned out that she had acute pyelonephritis and blood poisoning. She was admitted to the children’s ward for five days. Blood poisoning (Sepsis) Blood poisoning is an infection with bacteria in the blood, high fever and affected general condition. Anyone can get blood poisoning, but it is most common in the elderly and in people who are weakened by other illnesses. All bacteria can cause blood poisoning. Blood poisoning is caused by an infection somewhere in the body having passed into the blood. The triggering cause can be pneumonia, urinary tract infection, skin infection or other infections. Symptoms are high fever, chills and weakened general condition, rapid pulse, rapid breathing rate, low blood pressure, and often altered mental functioning. Many elderly people develop vague symptoms such as fatigue, lethargy, acute confusion, and unconsciousness. Early in the course, the skin is often warm and reddish, later often cold, pale and clammy. Patients with sepsis must be taken to the nearest hospital for examinations. The main treatment is fluid therapy, oxygen supplementation and antibiotics. Often the patient can return to daily life without lasting pain. But blood poisoning can also cause serious and life-threatening complications such as circulatory failure, respiratory failure, blood clotting failure, kidney failure, liver failure and blood acidosis. Older people are at greater risk of adverse complications. Untreated sepsis is very serious, and it is therefore important that patients with signs of serious infection are taken to hospital. Early diagnosis and treatment improve the prognosis. Source: Norsk Helseinformatikk and Felleskatalogen – If the emergency department had only answered the phone to the children’s ward when we were there the last time, I am quite sure that they would have seen us in view of the symptoms she had. She says she thinks it’s strange that a doctor couldn’t recognize it when the symptoms were so obvious. – They are doctors, and they know so much better than us. But we know our children best and know when they are not as they usually are. Daapan believes that parents must be good at standing their ground. – It’s very scary if things suddenly go really crazy, and then you might not dare to take that fight with the emergency room. Then it might end quite fatally, because it can happen. The ambulance service apologizes – We apologize that there has been an incident, writes Ove Myklemyr in an e-mail to news. He is area manager for rehabilitation, institutions and the medical service in Skien municipality. Ove Myklemyr, area manager for rehabilitation, institutions and the medical service in Skien municipality apologizes for the incident at the emergency room. Photo: Fredrik Pedersen / news They will now investigate the case carefully to gain insight into the assessments and measures that have been carried out throughout the course of events. – We will also contact relatives for further follow-up and information. He points out that they do not comment on the details of individual cases in the media, but can inform on a general basis that there should be a low threshold for accepting children at the emergency room and possibly referring them on. Published 28.10.2024, at 15.34 Updated 28.10.2024, at 19.08
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