|
"The first time she mentioned it, I was against getting it. I just knew it was bad idea," Paul said.
Paul (last name withheld) works for a Fortune 500 company and makes a six-figure salary. He and his wife had a run-in with the state Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) after his 7-year-old child bounced off the trampoline and landed badly.
It was Paul’s wife, Jen, who had convinced him that the trampoline would be a fun way for the kids to get some exercise. They bought it and put it in the back yard.
Their kids loved it. Their kids’ friends loved it. Everybody loved it, except for Paul.
"I always knew something was going to happen with the thing," he said.
One summer evening, his fear came true.
The youngest of their four children was jumping with the older kids and got jostled, fell off and banged into the barbeque grill, burning a forearm.
"My mom would’ve put ice on it and then a Band Aid," Paul said. "That would’ve been it. But being modern, panicky people we rushed to the hospital."
When they got there they explained what had happened to the triage nurse who wrote it up and then got them treatment. There wasn’t a problem until the attending emergency room physician started to question Paul in a way that offended and shocked him.
"This young jerk was accusing me or at least insinuating that maybe this was no accident. That maybe I used this as a form of discipline, or me and my wife were just grossly negligent," he said. "I got really steamed."
Paul told the attending physician how he felt about the way he was being spoken to. The doctor stepped out of the room and called DYFS, Paul said.
This newspaper contacted Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital and talked with NaDean Wristbridge, the emergency department nurse manager.
Wristbridge confirmed that hospital personnel are among those legislatively mandated to report incidents of suspected child abuse or neglect.
According to DYFS reports, 46.7 percent of substantiated cases for child abuse and neglect in 1997 came from health professionals, mostly hospitals. In 1998, it was 44.4 percent.
Wristbridge enumerated the criteria for evaluating if a case should be reported.
It includes the following: the story does not match the injury; there is a history of repeated injury; the child verbalizes the abuse; the caretakers look as if they are unable to care for the child ("For example, if they smell of alcohol or look like they’re using drugs," Wristbridge said); signs of an old healed injury that did not get medical attention; any chemical or poisoning incident ("a clear indication of lack of supervision" according to Wristbridge); certain injuries that do not fit the profile of injuries that children get ("bruises not consistent with the bruising pattern for a child," she said); and neglect (Wristbridge said this might include a disheveled appearance or not having enough clothes on in the winter).
Within an hour of the ER doctor’s phone call, a DYFS agent appeared. Paul called her "Church Lady," after the Saturday Night Live Dana Carvey character. "That’s what she reminded me of," he chortled.
She introduced herself and asked questions. Paul, who describes himself as being in a state of shock because of her presence, called his attorney and his psychologist.
"I was seeing a psychologist to help me deal with stress," Paul said.
The psychologist, who practices in Cape May and Atlantic counties and asked that his name not be used, said: "The minute he told me the conversation with the doc, I knew it was a case of clashing egos. I am convinced if my patient had spoken nicely to the ER doc none of this would have happened. Some of these overworked ER guys can be pretty hostile."
He also said that it happens to all of us but the difference in "such a case as this is most of the rest of us have to deal with it. This (doctor) got immediate revenge."
After interviewing everyone who witnessed the accident, contacting the family pediatrician and psychologist, all of which took about three months, DYFS gave Paul and Jen a clean bill of health.
"Yeah, after ruining our reputation they said, ‘Nothing here. Have a nice day,’ " Jen said.
Paul has applied for a transfer and the family hopes to be out of New Jersey soon. "Where do these people get the power to strip you naked morally and psychologically – you, your wife, your kids – and you can’t protect your family from their intrusion?" he said.
Paul’s psychologist thinks it’s a "changes in latitude and changes in attitude, to quote the (Jimmy Buffet) song. The standards used, if you can call them that, are too subject to individual interpretation. As psychologists we are told to guard against that."
The Committee on Professional Practice and Standards states in its guidelines that, "The psychologist should be aware of personal and societal biases and should strive to engage in nondiscriminatory practice or biases regarding age, gender, race ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status or political persuasion that may interfere with an objective evaluation. When judging, the doctor should be aware that there are diverse cultural and community methods of child rearing and consider them in the context presented." (APA Ethical Principles of Psychologist and Code of Conduct and Standards.)
Wristbridge said that the state Department of Health and the County Board of Health set the standards for evaluating child abuse and neglect as well as the Emergency Room Nurse National Association, and whatever is in the "current literature and other educational sources."
But, she added, that it really "comes down to a gut feeling you have about a case."
When asked if relying on "gut feelings" might lead to frivolous reporting and baseless investigations, she stated emphatically, "Frivolously is your word. If we have any kind of a feeling we are mandated to report it to DYFS. In other words, if we just feel something is not right, not what it should be, we are required to report it."
Asked if there were any sort of consultation or review process within the hospital before a case would be reported to the agency, Wristbridge said: "Everyone who works in the hospital falls within the same mandate. Anyone in the hospital can call, must call, and make a report if they feel it is a case of child abuse or neglect. Even if everybody felt this case was not a case of abuse but one nurse thought it was, that one nurse would be required to call DYFS. It doesn’t matter if she is the only one who feels it and everybody else disagrees, she must make the call."
Asked if she did not see that this might lead to mistakes being made, she said that was not the hospital’s concern.
"We have to protect the children. We don’t do the investigation, we just call the state agency. It is their job to check things out," she said.
She also said that she was not familiar with reporting criteria for unborn children. In 1998 the DYFS report states, that "prenatal substance abuse accounted for 10.3 percent of caregiver maltreatment." In 1997 it was 10.8 percent.
Wristbridge said that the hospital was not concerned about lawsuits for mistaken or incorrect reporting because "we are insulated from lawsuits under the law, anyone who takes care of children in any sense is insulated." She did say there was a quality assurance person who reviewed charts on a regular basis.
"Some of these people are like some kid with a pocketful of rocks in a window factory. They don’t have to clean up the glass shards. There should be some way to check on this. But my family and me are out of here very soon," said Paul, who said they are planning a giant yard sale before they move.
"Know anybody who wants to buy a trampoline?"
|