We had asked The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario to reach out to their doctor who called Children’s Services on our family, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons - and finally we received a letter from the doctor, stating that they stand by their decision to file the complaints, and furthermore they believe the treatment our son received was the cause of him being sick.
There are no words to describe being told by a doctor that the treatment your son is on is the reason he is suffering.....
I can only say that at this point there is certainly evil at work in our local hospital - because this is absolute cruelty.
The doctor that filed the 2 complaints last saw our son on August 15th in the ER and then for a brief 5 seconds on September 11th in a hallway where they said hello as we passed. On October the 11th we received the call from CAS. The mere fact that this doctor had made the complaints almost two months after he actively cared for our son and only saw a glimpse of him the month before is astounding that he would presume to be able to ascertain whether our son was at risk due to treatment - not at risk of harm for abuse or neglect, but because of risk of treatment. Are all doctors going to start calling CAS when children have Lyme and get treated for it outside the hospitals because the hospitals don’t want to treat them or even diagnose them? Sadly, I already have the answer to that question, we aren’t the first, but I hope we will be the last.
This doctor admitted on August 15th that they had never seen a case as advanced as Nicholas’ - so what gives them even the knowledge base to presume to know if the treatment our son was receiving was a risk - if it was beyond his scope!? How about we leave it to the experts. And so, beyond acquiring care for our son by 4 medical professionals, Nicholas and I have travelled to Rhode Island, New York and attended the Lyme Research Conference there, and not to our surprise we received confirmation that not only is current testing inadequate - but current treatments are less than stellar as well, everyone is in the same position across the globe - there is no perfect treatment for persistent Lyme.....so CHEO - let’s wake up here! Let’s not punish the children, the families, and the physicians who are doing what you don’t want to do - if you aren’t willing to provide medical care for the medical condition of Lyme and Co-Infections, perhaps you and your doctors shouldn’t try to intervene those in search for better care for their children. We have the right to better care, and not treating isn’t the answer. I know for a fact that the many families with children in wheelchairs, emaciated, and suffering through your pain management clinics and psych departments would agree.
It’s time to start treating these children medically to prevent the long term damage caused by the disease.
Its time to apologize for the hurt you have caused our family, our son and his doctor.
No, the treatment our son was on didn’t cause him physical and psychological damage - it helped him get better. We have the most extensive documentation to prove that very fact. No, your doctor doesn’t get to say they don’t know how to help us and then try to prevent us from helping our son - that is a double-edged sword, and you cannot have it both ways.
You cannot deny our son’s rights to health because you don’t agree with a treatment plan that is helping him. You could pick up the phone and call us, call his doctor if you are concerned - but don’t utilize and abuse CAS and the College to settle a disagreement about treatment; specifically length of said treatment - you can’t have it both ways! If you don’t know how to help our son, you don’t get to prevent us from obtaining experts who can and will. Shame on you for putting our family through this.
It’s time for you to re-evaluate your policies so you can start helping kids like Nicholas get well within the hospital instead of outside the hospital, especially if your doctors feel compelled to try to intervene regardless.
We still await the outcome of the internal review and what the hospital’s position will be in regard to our son being refused care, his being refused a hospital diagnosis (only 1 of 3 CHEO doctors acknowledged our son’s diagnosis and reported it to the Health Unit), we expect to get feedback on the unacceptable inconsistencies at CHEO in regard to the handling of Lyme, and we expect apologies for the mistreatments that we and Nicholas’ doctor have received.
- Nicholas & his Family