When my twins were born, all was going well. The next day the smaller baby stopped eating. By that evening I knew she was getting ill. I called Dekalb Memorial and asked their advice, they said to bring her in because she most likely needed supplementing while breastfeeding. When we got there we followed instructions to go to the emergency room. The triage nurse was nice and not too concerned. When we got to the back the doctor started treating us like we were irresponsible parents and was more concerned about his being sued than saving our baby. He insisted he see the other twin that wasn’t having any problems, as a safety precaution, but I could hear him outside the room talking about liability. The nursing staff, knowing Crismas was not holding heat or sugar very well insisted on keeping her completely undressed except for her diaper and not covered with a blanket.
For improvement, I would say to keep their personal judgments out of it and concentrate on helping the patient. I would encourage them to do what comes naturally as well as what they are trained to do as I find it very difficult for mothers and grandmothers (nurses) to keep a little baby uncovered on a gurney all by herself. The fact that the whole staff was more concerned about gossiping about how the twins arrived instead of ensuring their added safety was very discouraging and upsetting. Paying attention to symptoms instead of just ordering tests would be wise, as well. The doctor ordered x-rays when the babies were breathing ok, sounded ok with a stethoscope, had good color, and had a capillary oxygen level of 99 and 100 out of 100. It seems the doctor should have practiced based on medical evidence instead of fear of litigation. I believe there is some humanness that needs to be embraced during medical care that wasn’t there. I think that while they looked professional in their scrubs their manner was unprofessional with their gossiping which is a direct violation of out HIPPA rights as well as simply being rude in societal codes.
The babies were transferred to Lutheran Children’s Hospital early that morning. The doctor on staff was asking questions about their birth, their symptoms, what we experienced, and ordered the appropriate tests. He actually told me the concerns with low blood sugar and ordered them to be placed on warming beds. He said it was his watch and these babies were not going to be hurt on his watch. I was so relieved to hear him say he was concerned for the behavior and explain to me what his concerns were. He was doing it for the babies, not for the job or status of being a doctor. I would change that some of the nurses they had ask me about my information on some of the procedures they went behind my back and performed after I specifically asked them not to. I was disappointed that the doctor was overly worried about infection, but that was understandable when he wasn’t exposed to some of the situations he encountered with us. In order to fix this situation, he needs education into some of the natural ways of birth, neonatal care and postpartum. Doctors are always trained in the things that can go wrong and they are rarely trained in what can go right, or what is normal when certain medications and chemicals are not included which is routine in their model of care. They were all very professional in approach, though I enjoyed and was much more comfortable with the staff that was human and shared their own personal experiences with me. It was very encouraging when I met some that you could tell truly cared as opposed to those that were simply doing a job. I think it added to their credibility and responsiveness to show a human side to their patients or patients’ primary caregivers.
