"Horrific treatment of my toddler"

One evening last month, I presented at Bunbury Regional Hospital ED due to a large, red, weeping and bloody lump on the back of my toddler's shoulder blade.

The female ED doctor was lovely and explained it would need to be surgically drained. She stated young children rarely fight abscesses with the sole use of antibiotics thus she called a surgical dr to assess my toddler. The surgical dr was prepared to take my toddler to theatre that night but since they'd just eaten and were required to fast for 6 hours, the dr said they’d try antibiotics for 5 days first.

IM antibiotics were requested and myself, a dr and the nurse administering it tried to hold my child who was thrashing and screaming from fear and pain. My toddler's muscle was too tense and the fluid bubbled under the skin and shot out when the needle was removed. My toddler kicked the nurse in the centre of their face during this.

The surgical doctor took it upon themselves to drain the abscess by hand without effective analgesia and without my consent! I requested them to stop and do it in theatre but they wouldn’t stop squeezing. My toddler screamed and begged the dr to get off them, to stop, to let them go home. The surgical dr said it looked fine and to try antibiotics. I explained what the female ED dr had told me and I insisted that I come back in the morning for it to be drained in theatre and after some back and forth the dr hesitantly, I felt, agreed. When I arrived home my toddler's temperature was 39.1 and after Panadol it increased to 39.4. 

The next day, in the morning my toddler's temperature had dropped and stayed in the 37s from then on. The infection site had clearly spread outside of the circled area from the night before. I presented to ED in the morning, one of the ED drs from the night before was still on shift and called the surgical dr who was a different person.

This dr said they didn’t feel there was a need to drain it and to keep up with antibiotics. When I argued, they phoned the surgical dr from the night before and they both agreed it didn’t need to be drained and if the antibiotics didn’t work then I could just come back in a few days for it to be done.

This dr then decided they too would drain it by hand without effective analgesia or consent. They continued to squeeze the abscess while I asked him to stop and while my toddler screamed and thrashed and begged them over and over to stop. My toddler thrashed until they fell off the bed and only then the dr stopped squeezing, I believe because my toddler was no longer reachable.

This dr didn’t apologise, I believe they didn’t blink an eyelid about my toddler falling off the bed. They even said that well it’s flat now. By the afternoon the infection site had tripled in size.

The next day, my toddler was still limping due to the pain and swelling in their thigh from the IM antibiotics 2 days prior. The infection site covered the side of their body, rib cage and shoulder blade. The abscess was red, raised and hot to touch.

I presented at Busselton Hospital's ED and explained everything that had happened. I believe the triage nurse and ED doctor were both completely mortified. This dr changed my toddler's antibiotics, I understand because the one prescribed at Bunbury wasn’t going to do anything. They phoned Bunbury surgical department and explained my toddler needed an abscess drained in theatre - apparently, they still didn’t care. So they phoned PCH who requested we present to ED there. 

Throughout this entire time, my toddler would not let me touch them, I believe they didn’t trust me, they couldn’t sleep properly, they constantly begged me to never take them to another doctor or hospital again. I had to beg, bribe and lie to get them into the car, of which I still couldn’t touch them. My toddler was so hysterical at the other hospital that the doctor gave them an icy pole and told us to leave while they made the calls and phoned me to let me know what we had to do because they didn’t want to prolong my toddler's distress or have a fear of every medical professional for the rest of their life.

The next day I presented to a third hospital’s ED in the early hours of the morning because my toddler had been uncontrollably screaming for hours, I believe because they were so psychologically damaged and anxious about ever seeing another doctor or hospital again and they still wouldn’t let me touch them so I was limited in the amount of comfort I could provide.

I think the staff at this hospital were also mortified, it was quite clear how distressed my toddler was and they did their best to gain my toddler's trust and avoid them. My toddler was placed on the emergency surgery list for that day and had to begin 4-hour fasting after a snack in the morning with hopes of mid-morning surgery. My story about that hospital can be read here.

The swab taken at Bunbury ED that first day tested positive for an infectious disease. Hospital staff at the third hospital had to be fully gowned when entering our room. Those surgical doctors in Bunbury drained that fluid by hand and went about their surgeries that day.

Several weeks on and my toddler still has trouble sleeping. They still cry and beg me to not take them to a dr or hospital. My toddler is not the same and they shouldn’t have had to endure this.