ER ignored us

About a month ago, my youngest was complaining of abdominal pain and she had a slight fever. The pain wasn't too severe. I took her to the pediatrician and her WBC's were 20k. The pediatrician called the hemotologist and he didn't seem too concerned (this was one in the group we hadn't seen but once or twice). The pedi told me to wait for another test result and then she would decide from there. Well the test result came back the next day and she sent us to the ER at the children's hospital.

We get there and the ER doctor told me WBC's could go up due to the platelets dropping (bull manure!). He didn't even call her hematologist or pediatrician. I told them she has a history of having ileuses. He did absolutely nothing. It was a waste of time. (I actually had an anatomy test on the blood cells that morning.

A week later we went to her hematologist appt and saw the one doctor we love. She is the head doctor there. She was shocked at the way we were treated and that they were not consulted by the ER. She promised she would address the situation in an upcoming meeting at the hospital.

I say all this to say, if you are headed to the ER for any reason, call the hemotologist and let them know. Our hemotologist said that had we called the nurse first, they would have told the ER what to do and how to do it.

Just one question: What would your Hemo have done had she been consulted? I'm not quite sure what the issue was since your daughter seems to have been okay with no intervention and the problem doesn't seem to have been hematological. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the story.

Anyway, I have little faith in ER's. I've been misdiagnosed a few times. As far as ITP goes, most ER doctors don't always know what to do and either overreact or do not treat properly.

After talking with the hemotologist, they would have ordered blood work to compare with the pediatrician's. Thankfully, the pediatrician agreed to run more blood work after the ER blew us off. And thankfully, there was slight improvement of platelets 59k to 61k and WBCs 20k to 16.5. Had the ER done that I would have felt better.

The hemotologist said she would have also ordered a scan to check for a ileus. If she has a reoccurance in the future, then she has to see a gastroenterologist. On top of the endocrinologist that we will see in late May cause she isn't growing like they want her too. (This kid has more specialists then I ever had growing up)
Due to the whole situation, I will call the hemotologist before going back to that hospital.

In defense of the ED - they are trained to handle emergencies not to diagnose.

Would it not have been up to the pediatrician to call the ED and tell them she is sending in a patient for xxx reason [I'm assuming she sent you & daughter after office hours] and this is what she wants done or looked into? Could you have contacted the ped or hematologist while there?

When my hematologist sent me to the ED with a count of 11k and falling he let them know I was coming and why and what to do.

I hope your daughter is doing well!!