Whew!!!! It Worked! It Worked! (ER Trip)

[Purple Cat]

My son fell at the children's museum and needed stitches. Because he hit his head, the museum really pushed to have him go via ambulance -- at their expense. We had a firetruck, ambulance, and police car as well as the kiddie train he fell on closed. Talk about drama.

The triage nurse asked me if he was current on vaccinations. I told her we didn't vaccinate because we have religious objections. I've been to this network of hospitals before, so I know they simply write religious objections as the reason.

I braced myself for more of a showdown with the ER physician because tetanus being a possible concern. A physician assistant/nurse practitioner? came in to do the stitches. First question, asked rather challengingly, was "is he current on his vaccinations." I responded, "we have religious objections to vaccinations, so no." She stopped and said, "oh." Then she looked like she was gathering her thoughts and said nicely, "tetanus is a possible risk, but I'm sure you know that." End of discussion.

Hallajeuh!

BTW, my son is fine. The stories he tells of the firetruck taking him to the hospital are kind of funny, though.

[LivingforGod]

That's nice to hear. I wish it was always like that. Glad your little man is ok.

[ema-adama]

Oh my, would that all ER visits could go that smoothly.

[In Exile]

Hope your son is healing well!

Good to hear nobody bullied you- you must have said NO with conviction, the "weaker" you seem, the more they will keep harping on it. Just get that Pitbull expression.

On another forum a non-practicing person stating to be a Doctor tried to convince me that in ERs nobody cares about your vax status, right....

[GooeyRN]

I am glad to hear that. I Hope your little one heals soon!

[milkybean]

That's how our 2 ER visits have gone as well.

Except when they ask if he's "up to date" I say the rather complicated "in that WA allows us to not vaccinate, yes, he's up to date in the sense that he's had none."

They say "so, no vaccinations?" and I say "yes" and they move on. Helps that it's been the same triage nurse each time (and the same doc, too)!



Paid-for ambulance trip, wow. DS fell at Target and they probably would have paid for it, but it seriously was NOT their fault, and that was an ugly bill!

[ASusan]

Yay!

This prompted me to remember that we took DS to the ER in the middle of the night 2 weeks ago. He had croup, but we wanted to rule out asthma because of his allergies.

I don't remember that they even asked about being up-to-date on his vaccinations. It's possible my memory isn't good, because it was the middle of the night. But this is something I would remember. If they DID ask, they didn't make any sort of comotion about it, because I am SURE I would remember that. Slacker triage nurse

[Purple Cat]

Ahhh, isn't it nice to have the beauty of simplicity confirmed? Keep it simple: no. religious objections. move on.

My little guy, btw, is doing very well. He had the stitches out without a whimper. I expected more of a showdown there because while our pediatricians' office tolerates no vaccines they do try to persuade you of their necessity. The nurse never even mentioned it.