E.R. Visitor Restrictions

[Ryche1983]

Last Friday, my 14 yr old Daughter woke up with abdominal pains. After seeing a Doc at Instacare, he referred us to the ER so she could get a CT scan to confirm his initial diagnosis of an appendicitis. The ER doc agreed that it was probably her appendix.

Anywho, she gets a CT scan. My wife had taken our other kids over to my Sisters and arrived at the ER when they finished the CT scan.

The local Hospital has a policy of ONE visitor per ER patient. They told me I had to sit in the waiting room so my Wife could see our Daughter. I argued that since it was our minor child, we as parents both had a 'right' to consult with the physician and decide on a treatment.

I lost the argument and ended up in the waiting room. The Doc came in and gave the diagnosis to my wife and daughter. I was unable to speak with the Doc, or be part of the discussion as far as treatment went.

My daughter was diagnosed with a large Ovarian cyst that was on the inside of an ovary pushing towards the middle of her stomach. That was why the pain was confused for an appendix. Luckily, she didn't require surgery, but is still in quite a bit of pain as she waits for the cyst to burst.

Anywho, my question to you is this....

Does a Hospital Emergency Room have the right to restrict the access of parents to a minor child?

Their stated reason was the 'H1N1' virus. Neither myself nor my wife were running a fever or showing any flu symptoms.

[garnett_21]

That's total crap...I understand policies, but if you are making a decision for your minor child, that policy should go out the window...it's wrong not to allow both parents to be with their child (or two family members being with one person) at the same time...I'd call the hospital and express your displeasure in their policy...if they want that restriction, then there should be an exception that states "unless the patient is a minor, and that patient's parents or legal guardians want to be present".

BTW - hope your daughter feels better soon!

[TheTGB]

Just tell them you got the vaccination. ;)

[Enigma]

Better yet...cough in their face and say, I hope you got your vaccination...lol

[Ryche1983]

Better yet...cough in their face and say, I hope you got your vaccination...lol

Thats the best suggestion I've heard yet

I did call the hospital yesterday and expressed my displeasure at the situation. Here is the email that resulted from my call....

Hi, Kathy and John. I just received a phone call from a man who wanted to relay his perspective on our single visitor policy in the ER. He and his wife brought their daughter to the ER last Friday evening, and were not allowed to be in the ER room together with the young patient. He believes overall care will be best if both parents can stay with their child. He was especially unhappy that he didn’t get to hear what the doctor had to say about his daughter’s condition directly. By the time he was able to trade off with his wife to go in the room, the doctor had left.

I explained that our visitor guidelines have been tightened as an infection control precaution because of the high incidence of seasonal flu and H1N1. He said he understood, but that there ought to at least be some kind of middle ground when it comes to the doctor’s explanation. He has an equal right to hear about his daughter’s condition the same way his wife did – from the doctor. He suggested we should at minimum let both parents be present when the doctor explains a child’s condition, or have the doctor take the time to explain the situation to each parent.

I told him that we care about input such as this and that I would relay his feedback to those in a position to make changes.

Terri Draper, Communications Director
Intermountain Healthcare, Southwest Region

[pr0phet]

I can understand the reasoning, but that is total BS. As the parent of a minor you do have that right. Now I can understand if lets say the aunt or uncle came into the ER. This proves especially prevalent if your area is at a higher H1N1 risk. Keeping in mind on the hospital side that this is a highly contagious disease and people in the ER at the most susceptible/in a bad state of health. Something like that could really hurt a hospital.

Don't be surprised if the hospital changes policy because of you....I hope your daughter is doing better at least.

Jay

[Ryche1983]

My daughter is still waiting for the cyst to burst and quit hurting. She's on pain medication, but is still miserable.

Hopefully it will only last another day or two.

I would be very happy if they changed their policy, but...I am somewhat cynical of 'the system'

On a sidenote, I was a patient in the same ER on Halloween day, and I had two family members with me. Nobody said a word to them... Go figure

[giants1249er]

I work for Kaiser Permanente and here's the new policy implimented recently:

Changes to hospital visitor policy
Because of the unusual nature of this year's flu season, we have also revised our hospital visitation policies to help protect the health of our patients, staff, other visitors, and the community. Based on clinical evidence that children are especially susceptible to the H1N1 virus, we are temporarily prohibiting hospital visitors 14 years of age or under. After considerable study, we determined that this increased level of protection is warranted. In addition, visitors to the hospital are prohibited if they have a fever higher than 100 degrees, a cold or sore throat, and/or any other flu-like symptoms.

[avstars]

In this situation, they should've let both parents in. This is a certain time where these rules should've been bended. But the important thing is let's hope you child gets better.