Mom and the Hospital

Jiro

Jiro

If You Know What I Mean
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Mother 'held like a prisoner for three days' as hospital staff threatened to call police over baby's radiator burn
A mother has spoken of how she was 'held like a prisoner' in a hospital, after her baby was burned by a radiator.

Hospital staff suspected Mandy Stopler of abusing daughter Madison, after the 10-month-old suffered an inch-long burn on her bottom.

The 26-year-old was told that the police would be called if she tried to leave the hospital with her daughter. Madison endured 18 X-rays and two distressing brain scans in order to ensure that she had not come to harm at the hands of her mother.
Mandy Stopler was held in hospital for three days after staff suspected her of abusing 10-month-old daughter Madison

Mandy Stopler was held in hospital for three days after staff suspected her of abusing 10-month-old daughter Madison

Despite the hospital's fears, mother and daughter slept in the same room, but were checked upon every four hours to make sure Madison was not being abused.

Both social services and Madison's health visitor had provided the hospital with a glowing reference for the mother, however Miss Stopler and her daughter were only allowed to leave the hospital after doctors were satisfied with the results of the tests.


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'I expected to be in the hospital for a few hours while Madison was treated for the burn mark,' said Miss Stopler. 'But they weren't interested in that at all, in fact they didn't even give her any cream or anything.'

'I ended up being held like a prisoner for three days and threatened with arrest if I tried to leave with Madison.

'Madison is a very happy baby, she is the world to me and hasn't got a bruise on her.

'I can understand the hospital being extra-cautious in the wake of the Baby P scandal but Baby P went to the doctors 16 times with injuries and bruises.

'My daughter had nothing like that and has no history with social services.'
Baby Madison was rushed to hospital by her mother after suffering a minor burn on a radiator pipe

Suspect: Miss Stopler had rushed baby Madison to hospital after suffering a minor burn on a radiator pipe

Madison's injury was caused when she was crawling around her bedroom without her nappy on. The 10-month-old accidentally burnt her bottom on the radiator pipe while her mother was running her bath.

Miss Stopler had just moved into the house in Bournemouth, Dorset, and her father had been due to lag the bare pipe the very next day.

She had taken Madison to the doctor, but was referred to Poole Hospital. Doctors there waited five hours to treat the minor injury before telling Miss Stopler she was 'under caution'.

Miss Stopler, a cleaner, said: 'After five hours a doctor said to me that I was under suspicion of child neglect or abuse.

'I was told I wasn't allowed to take her home otherwise they would call the police who would bring us straight back. I was in total shock.

'I think they thought I had been shaking her and she had some internal injuries.

'She had X-ray after X-ray and she was so distressed when she had the brain scans.

'She had to be starved from 7am to 2pm because she had to be sedated for the scans.

'They were pulling her about because she was struggling. She was screaming and I was in tears and so was my mother who was with us.'

Miss Stopler was told that she could leave the hospital, but not with her daughter and so lived there for the three days. 'A mother would never leave her baby, never,' she said.

'At night they locked us in a room and checked on us every four hours to make sure I hadn't harmed her.

'They came in and switched the lights on, woke Madison up, picked her up and checked her temperature.'

On the day Madison left the hospital Miss Stopler returned to her home to meet with social workers. 'I was glad when the social services got involved because I knew there was nothing wrong with Madison,' she said.

'Madison's health visitor, who I see once a week, kept calling the hospital to say what a good mother I was.'

Miss Stopler is now seeking an apology for her and her daughter's three day ordeal. 'Nobody has said sorry to me and they aren't going to,' she said.

'Are they going to treat every parent who takes their child into hospital in this way in the future? 'Now I'm scared to go back if Madison so much as grazes herself.'

A spokesman for Poole Hospital said: 'We take the welfare and safety of children very seriously.

'When a child presents with injuries we need to be absolutely sure that those injuries are accidental.

'There are clear policies and procedures which we must observe.

'We realise that this may be disturbing for the parents or family but the safety of the child is our priority.'
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WTF?
 
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That is pretty awful. I would like to see more concentration from health officials on real problems.

It is very hard to be a parent with all the suspicion today.
 
Wow... talk about paranoia.

Kids always get hurt nowadays. :roll:
 
Accidents happen. Geez people..I can understand if there was other injuries and such but damn..
 
I would have told them to call the police! Especially since sha had done nothing wrong. The way the hospital treated her was horrible!

The time my son mixed the chemicals and was transported to the hospital I had to go through a police interview. I told them, come to my house. I have nothing to hide. You can observe for yourself how active this child is. Though, I will not give you a break when you need to use the restroom... just like when I went. Sheesh!
 
Ok.

This is going to be a bit embarrassing for me to admit. When my daughter was 2. put her down for a nap in my bed. I fell asleep with her. My daughter got up meanwhile. Climbed up on the toilet, got on the sink, opened up the med cabinet. Found the childrens' Tylenol with the childproof cap on!!

She woke me up and said to me. That she wanted something to drink, and more grape candy. She held the bottle up to me! I instantly FREAKED. I checked her mouth and sure enough the tylenol crumbs were still in her teeth! I called the poison control. They asked me how many did she eat. I was bawling I said I don't know! So I rushed her to the hospital... They took her in immediately Drew blood gave her the charcoal treatment to filter out the toxins. It was not a pleasant site. The doctor gave me a good "chewing out" Told me that I was fortunate that she does not need a liver transplant. Making me feel like I was a horrible mother.

I was not reported by the doctors due to I showed him the bottle and he saw the teeth marks on the "so called" child proof cap. From then on I kept all meds locked until she was old enough to know better.

I felt horrible! Especially after the good ass chewing that I got from the Doctor. I bawled my eyes out and felt so small.
 
Wow - I mean, the concern of the child's welfare should be taken seriously but to a point where the hospital did to that child was just way too far.

It seems like now these days, there are a lot of trigger-happy folks who would get to look at "little" things that makes it into a big deal.
 
Point of this story is that.... if this happened in USA - hospital could face civil lawsuit and/or criminal arrest for illegal detainment. Social service has cleared her of negligence. They should have called cop to investigate. If hospital had "concern"... then they should have called appropriate people because they are not police nor social service.
 
Jiro said:
Point of this story is that.... if this happened in USA - hospital could face civil lawsuit and/or criminal arrest for illegal detainment. Social service has cleared her of negligence. They should have called cop to investigate. If hospital had "concern"... then they should have called appropriate people because they are not police nor social service.
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I misread your post. I thought the social services was already involved so I read it again.

The doctors have no authority to detain the mother!! It was illegal by far! If the doctors were truly concerned he would have called the cops and DCF right away. That is what they are suppose to do. The Doctor and hospital took the laws in their own hands. :shock: They do have a right to protect suspected abuse children.

The hospital staff just relied on intimidating the mother!! They did not follow procedures, they just did it to fulfill their suspicions.

The Doctor can be arrested if she press charges for unlawful imprisonment. The hospital as well!
 
Babyblue said:
I misread your post. I thought the social services was already involved so I read it again.

The doctors have no authority to detain the mother!! It was illegal by far! If the doctors were truly concerned he would have called the cops and DCF right away. That is what they are suppose to do. The Doctor and hospital took the laws in their own hands. :shock: They do have a right to protect suspected abuse children.

The hospital staff just relied on intimidating the mother!! They did not follow procedures, they just did it to fulfill their suspicions.

The Doctor can be arrested if she press charges for unlawful imprisonment. The hospital as well!
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exactly. in America - the hospitals are required to notify police/CPS if they suspected any sign of abuse/mistreatment/etc. They are not allowed to take legal matters in their own hands. poor mother! she was traumatized by whole thing and she was terrorized by the hospital staff. :mad2:
 
Since it made it to the news. I am sure that lawyers are hovering her to take her case. She will win this one. Since her child's regular doctor and Social Services think she is a wonderful mom. She has a very GOOD case against this hospital.

I am sure glad they did not do that to me. Because even though the doctor made me feel about "wee" big. I would have called an attorney right away or the authorities myself. To get matters cleared.
 
Sheesh Hospital went too far.

Happens to us at Children Mercury Hospital when my 8 yr old daughter burned both her elbows from hot BBQ grill which was a freak accident. We took her to hospital and Staff was not friendly to us assuming we abused her. The took her to other room and investigate and asked my daughter qq's if we abused her. She told them that it was her fault that she didn't pay attention to hot grill when she walked backward then turned around and bumped the hot grill. Nurse ALMOST didn't believe her but let her back to us! Indicent last 2 hours! grrr. They applied her cream and bandaid and gave us instructon and prescription but still nurses were not being nice to us.

We reported to our Pedrictian dr about situation, he was not too happy about it. He advised us to go to ER or hospital instead of Children Mercy hospital due to unfriendly staff.

So I understood how mother felt.

I sure hope hospital will change the way how they treat children because the cost of Xray and Catscan ect and if they billed it to parents and they wouldn't pay for it and economic sitaution. Hospital got to understand that they can't hound on parents and children.

Catty
 
I do understand the doctors having suspicions. If they suspect something isn't right then they do need to call the proper authority. Let the Social Services and police handle it.

This Doctor that is in the OP post had no right whatsoever. If he was truly suspicicious he would have called Social Services right away. The mother would have never been allowed to stay in the room til the investigators cleared it. Sounds like more to me that the medical staff went on a "power trip"


I am glad this was not a true abuse case, since the doctors allowed the mother to stay in a locked room alone with the child in between rounds. If something was to happen since they did not follow procedures. Then the state would be really outraged of the doctors actions.

This whole thing does not make sense to me. Doctor allowed the mom to stay? Locked the child and the "so called abuser" to stay in a room for hours? Geez.. how stupid!
 
What's next? Arrest for sibling abuse? Are there any psychological evaluations for those who were given indian burns as a child from one of their siblings?
 
Babyblue said:
I do understand the doctors having suspicions. If they suspect something isn't right then they do need to call the proper authority. Let the Social Services and police handle it.

This Doctor that is in the OP post had no right whatsoever. If he was truly suspicicious he would have called Social Services right away. The mother would have never been allowed to stay in the room til the investigators cleared it. Sounds like more to me that the medical staff went on a "power trip"


I am glad this was not a true abuse case, since the doctors allowed the mother to stay in a locked room alone with the child in between rounds. If something was to happen since they did not follow procedures. Then the state would be really outraged of the doctors actions.

This whole thing does not make sense to me. Doctor allowed the mom to stay? Locked the child and the "so called abuser" to stay in a room for hours? Geez.. how stupid![/QUOTE]

I was puzzled about that too..
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Daredevel7 said:
What's next? Arrest for sibling abuse? Are there any psychological evaluations for those who were given indian burns as a child from one of their siblings?
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The thought of that just frightens me...cuz I used to beat my brother up to the point where he got bruises all over!
 
shel90 said:
The thought of that just frightens me...cuz I used to beat my brother up to the point where he got bruises all over!
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:shock: If that was true my brother and I would be considered a juvenile delinquents. (even though Mom though it a few times)
 
Babyblue said:
Ok.

This is going to be a bit embarrassing for me to admit. When my daughter was 2. put her down for a nap in my bed. I fell asleep with her. My daughter got up meanwhile. Climbed up on the toilet, got on the sink, opened up the med cabinet. Found the childrens' Tylenol with the childproof cap on!!

She woke me up and said to me. That she wanted something to drink, and more grape candy. She held the bottle up to me! I instantly FREAKED. I checked her mouth and sure enough the tylenol crumbs were still in her teeth! I called the poison control. They asked me how many did she eat. I was bawling I said I don't know! So I rushed her to the hospital... They took her in immediately Drew blood gave her the charcoal treatment to filter out the toxins. It was not a pleasant site. The doctor gave me a good "chewing out" Told me that I was fortunate that she does not need a liver transplant. Making me feel like I was a horrible mother.

I was not reported by the doctors due to I showed him the bottle and he saw the teeth marks on the "so called" child proof cap. From then on I kept all meds locked until she was old enough to know better.

I felt horrible! Especially after the good ass chewing that I got from the Doctor. I bawled my eyes out and felt so small.
Click to expand...

What a horrible, horrible experience you had to go through, and your daughter as well. Charcoal treatment isn't pleasant. I am glad that everything turned out all right, though.

I know that feeling of being a horrible mother, though. When my son was about 2 he was running across the living room, and tripped over a scatter rug I had on the floor. He landed with his forehead right on the corner of the coffee table, and ended up with 4 stitches. Still has the v shaped scar in the middle of his forehead. I went home and threw the rug away.

Fortunately, he doesn't even remember the experience. When he was about 10, he asked me why he had a "V" in the middle of his head!:giggle:
 
jillio said:
What a horrible, horrible experience you had to go through, and your daughter as well. Charcoal treatment isn't pleasant. I am glad that everything turned out all right, though.

I know that feeling of being a horrible mother, though. When my son was about 2 he was running across the living room, and tripped over a scatter rug I had on the floor. He landed with his forehead right on the corner of the coffee table, and ended up with 4 stitches. Still has the v shaped scar in the middle of his forehead. I went home and threw the rug away.

Fortunately, he doesn't even remember the experience. When he was about 10, he asked me why he had a "V" in the middle of his head!:giggle:
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She doesn't remember her experience either. Thank goodness!

But I have told her about it. She was like OMG... "I did that?" I told her yup. You did, and gave me a good lesson. I am thankful she does not remember. Watching her and fearing for her was worst than the doctor's lecture. One of the reason I felt like a horrible mom at the time.
 
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