HMO rant

[mom2koh]

I took dd to her doc today (Kaiser Facility, think Walmart of doctors). Turns out she has a raging ear infection in both ears. So we were sent over to the pharmacy to get her medicine. Everything is in house. Also, all records are computerized. So what the doc. enters, the pharmacy will see when they pull it up after I check in at the counter.

 

Here's my dilemma. The gave dd a medicine that she is allergic to!!!! How could this happen? We had no less than 4 people confirm that she is allergic to penicillin products! :confused: THis was a new med for her and they weren't even going to give me the drug interaction sheet until I asked for it!

 

Well 2 hours after the first dose dd's face was covered in hives. I read the interaction sheet and plain as day it said this medication should not be taken by people allergic to penicillin products. The LPN, RN, DR and pharmacist all confirmed her allergy! SO HOW DID WE GET THIS???

 

Dr. called in new med and told me to give dd benadryl every 6 hours for the next 2 days to prevent a more severe reaction. :001_huh:

 

What can I do? I know there is basically no recourse. But, I would love to know if there is someplace where I can report these "mistakes" to.

 

Thanks for letting me :rant:

[Jan in SC]

I don't know of anything you can do about it. I'm so sorry this happened to your daughter. I am also allergic to penicillin, as is one of my children. The only advice I can give you is to ask the doctor and the pharmacist- every.single.time.- can I take this with a penicillin allergy? !!

 

It is a pain, but it has saved me several times!

 

I hope she feels better soon. :grouphug:

[Cera]

I'm not sure there is much you can do since nothing (really bad, thankfully) happened.

 

I would call and insist on speaking directly with the doctor so that he could clarify to me why it happened and what steps he was taking to make sure it never hppened again in his practice.

 

A little fear that you are going to call him on his mistake isn't a bad thing.

[Jean in Newcastle]

It sounds like a prescribing error (by the Dr.) rather than a dispensing error (by the pharmacist - although I realize they should have caught it too.). I would start with the medical director at Kaiser.

[Night Elf]

I have had Kaiser for years. If I've encountered a doctor that I didn't like, I made sure not to make an appt. with that person again. There should be other doctors unless your facility is really small.

 

For years I've been thinking Kaiser wasn't great until recently when a friend shared the hospital charge that she received when her daughter was hospitalized for appendicitis. The hospital bill alone, no doctor fees at all, was $23,000. That absolutely boggled my brain. I know that I would not pay anywhere near that. For hospital emergencies, non-surgical, I've only paid $100. So going to the hospital is a no-brainer for me no matter what the issue is because it's really cheap for us. So I'm happy to have Kaiser afterall.

 

But do change doctors if you didn't like him.