My sick daughter turned away by doctor in Limerick

mikeboy

Hi guys
I felt I should put this here to let you know that inhumanity still exists at large ..
I'm a single man with an eleven year old beautiful daughter who I consider to be my best friend and I love her dearly.
She lives in Cork with her mam.
As with a lot of people I became unemployed last year and have a medical card,of which I'm very grateful for.
My daughter came to visit me at Christmas and we had a great time ,but unfortunately she became ill with a severe sore throat and became feverish.

Worried, I decided to take her to my g,p of whom I've been a cash paying customer for near 5 years and a medical card attendee the past year.
Unfortunately my usual g.p was off and was seen by another lady doctor.
I advised the doctor what was wrong and the doctor before I could finish telling her this ,told me My daughter was not on my card...
I had always "on my life" presumed she would be and a was..
The doctor then told me she would look at me but not my daughter,she said it's 50 euro if you want me to look at her...
Shocked I said I hadn't that sort of money as i was unemployed,the doctor then told my daughter and I "To go away and find 50 euro and come back tomorrow"
I pleaded with her I had no hope of finding it and My child was very sick ,and she then asked us to leave..
As my daughter was starting to get upset we left..
I can not put into words on upset my daughter was,I can not put into words the embarrassment and shame I felt in front of my daughter..
I asked my daughter to come to the regional in hope they would look at her,but she wouldn't go in fear of a repeat of what happened..
I know the doctor was within her legal rights to do what she did,but...to let a sick chlid walk out her door in tears and to not even ask her how sick she felt ?
How could anyone do this to a child ? I'll tell you how and why ...greed !
I never had an outstanding bill in the clinic and would of paid 500 euro if I had it,but I didn't...
My usual Gp rang me two days after offering to see My daughter for free and said he was sorry...again my daughter refused to even though still sick due to what the doctor did to us..
It was the most inhumane thing I've ever witnessed and it destroyed our Christmas and my daughter and I will always remember it..
I felt the worst father in the world.
All details of the Surgery and Doctor are on a <snip> I have set up to let people know what she did to us ...Its <snip>
Thanks for your time
Mike

Conor Bourke

Hi Mike,

Sorry to hear about what happened to you and your daughter. I hope she's better again.
While it's terrible that you both had to suffer this, I'm not sure what exactly you're hoping to achieve by posting here or creating a facebook page, especially as you pointed out that unfortunately the doctor in question was within her rights.
May I suggest that if you have any desire to do something constructive about this situation that you contact the ombudsman for health who may be able to investigate the matter and at the very least you might get an apology.

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