Comment by fusslo
2 years ago
since everyone else is sharing an anecdote:
When I was 14 or so I fell off my dirt bike and broke my arm, both bones in my forearm.
Went to the hospital. About 5 people asked me how it happened taking about an hour, while I was WRITHING in pain.
Finally, I complained to the right nurse and she got me something for the pain. It was just enough to stop crying, not enough to stop feeling it.
I later found out that the intake nurse was concerned about abuse.
I was dressed head to toe in dirtbike gear. I was a 150lb 14 yr old. my mother was 110 lbs.
They delayed treatment so multiple people, nurses, doctors, and hospital staff could all ask me what happened and compare if I told them the same thing.
THIS. It very often seems as if the medical/social system has "barricaded itself" inside it own ideological/psychiatric obsessions with the idea of child abuse, and is blind to reality. Let alone the actual welfare of the child.
While I certainly don't agree with delaying your treatment....your size/weight vs your mother's is irrelevant - just because she's who brought you in doesn't mean that she's the only person who could have abused you.
For all they know you've got a father or uncle or whoever that's huge and has anger problems who broke it.
One abusive family member and a partner who's covering for/trying to make up for their behavior (and may be being abused themselves) is a pretty common type of abusive situation.
They may delay treatment for reasons other than just asking; my son was in the ER for 4 hours with a significant laceration (it resulted in two layers of over 2 dozen sutures each) before he was given anything as the nurses were not allowed to administer an analgesic (much less pain killers) until a doctor had examined him, and it took 4 hours for the doctor to get to him.
At no point was there any sign of the staff acting like there might be abuse or neglect involved.