Dis-Chem Willowbridge Clinic - Clinic Error - New Born Baby

Item: Dis-Chem
Rating: 1
Author: jenwiborg J

Dear Dis-Chem I would like to inform you about the very unsatisfactory and highly concerning service we received from the Dis-Chem Willowbridge clinic, when we took our new born baby to be weighed. My son was born on the 23rd of May 2017 at a healthy weight of 3.37kgs. We were discharged from the hospital on the 26th of May 2017 and he weighed 3.06kgs. On the 27th of May he was re-admitted to hospital due to Jaundice. We were discharged on the 28th of May 2017 again, after he underwent phototherapy for the Jaundice and he weighed 3kgs. We were instructed to have another blood test done later to ensure the Jaundice level had not gone back up. On Wednesday the 31st of May 2017, we had another blood test which showed the Jaundice level had increased again by 23. After speaking to our paediatrician she instructed us to weigh our baby and let her know the weight. She would then make a decision as to if he needed to be hospitalised again. We had already decided to make Dis-Chem Willowbridge our baby clinic for weighing and immunisations. On Friday the 2nd of June 2017 we took our 10 day old baby to Dis-Chem Willowbridge to be weighed. The sister on duty undressed our baby and weighed him – she advised that he weighed 3.3kgs and that he had gained 300 grams. We were all very happy with his weight gain. As a first time mom who is breast feeding, the only way to tell your baby is getting enough milk is the weighing. It was a relief to know that he was receiving what he needed and he was almost back at birth weight. I informed the paediatrician of his weight and due to his weight gain she advised she was happy and that there was no reason to hospitalise him again. The sister at the clinic advised us to return in a weeks’ time to weigh him again. On Friday the 9th of June we went back to Dis-Chem Willowbridge to weigh our baby again. However when we weighed him this time we were told that he now weighed 2.7kgs. We advised the sister that it was impossible for him to have lost so much weight, as the week before he was 3.3kgs, based on your scales. She proceeded to tell us that on Friday the 2nd of June, they had picked up an error with the scale weighing the babies. A lady who had recently been weighed by a Dr had received a kg higher difference and felt it was impossible. It turned out that there was an issue with the scale that our baby had been weighed on the previous week. We were absolutely shocked and devastated and obviously doubted the weights coming from the scale at your clinic. The sister signed our clinic book and let us leave. She did not say anything besides that the scale was wrong the week before and she was sorry about that. She could not confirm by how much the scale was out by, the previous week. We decided to get a second opinion and went to MKem. At Mkem they assured us that their scales were calibrated and we would not have an incorrect reading. We weighed him at Mkem and they confirmed that his weight had dropped to 2.64kgs and that his weight could definitely not have been 3.3kgs the week before. She was very unhappy with his weight and proceeded to contact our paediatrician who advised us to come straight to Panorama Mediclinic so that our son could be hospitalised, as this was a serious issue. On Friday the 9th of June, our son was hospitalised due to severe weight loss and dehydration. When they did his vitals his heart rate had slowed and they confirmed he was dehydrated. He spent 3 nights in hospital trying to get stronger and trying to gain weight. We were discharged on Monday the 12th of June. We were advised that if we had gone home after Dis-Chem, that he might not have survived the weekend, due to him deteriorating so rapidly. We are extremely disappointed and unhappy with what happened at Dis-Chem Willowbridge. In fact the more people we tell about the incorrect scale weight, the more outraged they get. Our paediatrician and other mothers have urged me to take this further and to go to social media, as they believe it is absolutely ******** and that other moms need to be warned to avoid your clinics. When you are offering a weighing service for a new born it is imperative that the scales are calibrated and giving the correct weights at all times. When it comes to a new born this info is crucial and it could mean life or death. Moms rely on this info to know that their babies are getting what they need and if not, the correct steps are taken. Our baby could have passed away on that weekend, if we had not gone for a second opinion. I would like to know the following: How can your scales be incorrect? Are they not calibrated? Once the issue with the scale was picked up on Friday the 2nd of June, why weren’t other moms who had weighed their babies before that, on the day, contacted to be informed about the error? This way we could have made a plan to go somewhere else to establish if the weight we were given earlier was correct. We could have made the necessary changes to ensure that my baby did not lose further weight and was getting the required nutrition he needed. After seeing that our baby had lost about 20% of his body weight, how could your nursing sister let us go home without advising us that this was not ok and a Dr should be contacted, like Mkem did. We are extremely annoyed about what happened and the lack of advice and guidance we were given. It is extremely unprofessional. We also believe that it resulted in our baby being hospitalised and that he could have been treated earlier and avoided some of his weight loss and dehydration if it was picked up on the 2nd of June 2017. Needless to say that I have lost complete faith in any Dis-Chem clinic and we will not be returning. I would like my questions above answered and I would also like to know what you are going to do about the above to prevent this from happening to another mom, as it is absolutely shocking – it is little babies lives you are dealing with here.

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