ZK
Zarkia K
1 reviews | Active since Nov 2015
03 May 2022, 07:12
My one year old daughters harrowing experience
My 1 year old daughter had flu like symptoms and as a result she stopped eating and drinking liquids as she normally did, so I sought the assistance of a peadiatrician. Unfortunately my daughters pediatrician was fully booked so I called around and found Dr A Gokhul.
She saw my child and immediately requested that we admit her into hospital, off course I didnt object because I assumed she would get better care and recover quicker at hospital rather than at home. Even though my husband was very concerned at how quickly Dr A Gokhul suggested hospitalization.
That night they gave her a drip as my daughter was dehydrated but there seemed to be a misunderstanding between the doctor and nurse because the next night I had to request that the drip be administered as my child’s liquid consumption hadn’t improved.
The doctor did confirm on day 2 that my daughter had bronchiolitis and I was under the impression that she was being treated for it however I did note that all the medication administered could be procured over the counter or with a prescription at any pharmacy including the nebulizer.
My concern with this doctor reached its height when on day 3 of us being in hospital she resquested that I agree to further testing to determine if she needs to give my child antibiotics or her body needs to fight the flu off naturally and this would cost me R3800. In these trying times that is a large sum of money but even so I would have agreed and appreciated if the testing was requested on day 1 instead of day 3 so that my daughters treatment was customized to her ailments.
Upon requesting an early discharge Dr Ashmika Gokhu told me and I quote “If you leave here and your child dies on the way, then there is nothing i can do.” I was appalled to hear this because surely ethics training comes standard in the medical field, surely there was a more professional way for her to have articulated the terms and conditions.
I’ve since taken my daughter to her Paediatrician and within the same day she was much much better, he even suggested ways to keep her hydrated at home.
So I write this review and urge parents to take care and look more closely at whom we entrust our children’s health because some doctors are more interested in your medical aid scheme than your child’s name.
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Replies (2)0
Replies (2)
Dr Ashmika Gokhul Paediatrician's replyOfficial
12 May 2022, 10:25Dear Mrs Munsamy/Ms Khan. We are sorry to hear that you were unhappy with our service. Your little girl was admitted late afternoon( after explanation that she was dehydrated and will need intravenous fluid, receive empiric antibiotics iv , pain/fever meds iv (these are not meds you get over the counter as you allude to) since it's intravenous together with symptomatic treatment till she able to tolerate oral fluids/feeds. She was also receiving physiotherapy and nebulisations. All results(cxr/bloods)were showed and explained to you following morning. The only outstanding results were the sputum results for bacteria and the the viral panel(which we did not do on admission). We were not sure if your medical aid covered the viral panel if not covered you would have been liable for the bill that's why it was not immediately requested. R3800 is alot of money and we only requested it after asking you if you are willing to pay. We added it after you requested us to do so.(we always ask parents 1st- especially in your case when you first said that you did not have medical aid then did have medical aid after your child was to be admitted) These results were not ready when you requested to leave to the hospital and your baby was still not drinking/eating well and coughing alot as per your account. There definitely was a misunderstanding/miscommunication. You said you are leaving with your child whether we discharge or not therefore I explained that pending results and need for hospital treatment you will need to sign refusal of hospital treatment which means that the doctor/nurses/hospital will not be liable should your child deteriorate (which we said is unlikley with your girl but we cannot guarantee that could get worse-3weeks ago we unfortunately had one of our primary immuno-deficiency babies demise from RSV/Rhinovirus despite ventilation/ecmo and plenty other kids in high care and ICU) So you took all responsibility onto yourself for leaving without final results and treatment for your child (even though we did send you home with all her oral medication/antibiotics). As doctors we only do what we think is best for the well being of your child- we base this on our academic qualifications and years of experience. When asked why you wanted leave none of the above problems listed by you were mentioned-you said you thought your child will do better when she
is at home and sees her father. When the nurses asked why you wanted to leave you said it was personal. You requested us to call with all outstanding results. Final results confirmed 2 viral infections causing bronchiolitis which we tried to communicate to you via telephone but you refused all calls. These results were emailed to you upon your request. We are glad that you are confident and happy with your regular Paediatrician and wish your little girl a speedy recovery. Kind regards always Dr Gokhul
is at home and sees her father. When the nurses asked why you wanted to leave you said it was personal. You requested us to call with all outstanding results. Final results confirmed 2 viral infections causing bronchiolitis which we tried to communicate to you via telephone but you refused all calls. These results were emailed to you upon your request. We are glad that you are confident and happy with your regular Paediatrician and wish your little girl a speedy recovery. Kind regards always Dr Gokhul
Dr Ashmika Gokhul Paediatrician's reply12 May 2022, 10:25
Official
Dear Mrs Munsamy/Ms Khan. We are sorry to hear that you were unhappy with our service. Your little girl was admitted late afternoon( after explanation that she was dehydrated and will need intravenous fluid, receive empiric antibiotics iv , pain/fever meds iv (these are not meds you get over the counter as you allude to) since it's intravenous together with symptomatic treatment till she able to tolerate oral fluids/feeds. She was also receiving physiotherapy and nebulisations. All results(cxr/bloods)were showed and explained to you following morning. The only outstanding results were the sputum results for bacteria and the the viral panel(which we did not do on admission). We were not sure if your medical aid covered the viral panel if not covered you would have been liable for the bill that's why it was not immediately requested. R3800 is alot of money and we only requested it after asking you if you are willing to pay. We added it after you requested us to do so.(we always ask parents 1st- especially in your case when you first said that you did not have medical aid then did have medical aid after your child was to be admitted) These results were not ready when you requested to leave to the hospital and your baby was still not drinking/eating well and coughing alot as per your account. There definitely was a misunderstanding/miscommunication. You said you are leaving with your child whether we discharge or not therefore I explained that pending results and need for hospital treatment you will need to sign refusal of hospital treatment which means that the doctor/nurses/hospital will not be liable should your child deteriorate (which we said is unlikley with your girl but we cannot guarantee that could get worse-3weeks ago we unfortunately had one of our primary immuno-deficiency babies demise from RSV/Rhinovirus despite ventilation/ecmo and plenty other kids in high care and ICU) So you took all responsibility onto yourself for leaving without final results and treatment for your child (even though we did send you home with all her oral medication/antibiotics). As doctors we only do what we think is best for the well being of your child- we base this on our academic qualifications and years of experience. When asked why you wanted leave none of the above problems listed by you were mentioned-you said you thought your child will do better when she
is at home and sees her father. When the nurses asked why you wanted to leave you said it was personal. You requested us to call with all outstanding results. Final results confirmed 2 viral infections causing bronchiolitis which we tried to communicate to you via telephone but you refused all calls. These results were emailed to you upon your request. We are glad that you are confident and happy with your regular Paediatrician and wish your little girl a speedy recovery. Kind regards always Dr Gokhul
is at home and sees her father. When the nurses asked why you wanted to leave you said it was personal. You requested us to call with all outstanding results. Final results confirmed 2 viral infections causing bronchiolitis which we tried to communicate to you via telephone but you refused all calls. These results were emailed to you upon your request. We are glad that you are confident and happy with your regular Paediatrician and wish your little girl a speedy recovery. Kind regards always Dr Gokhul
ZK
Zarkia K's updateReviewer Update
13 May 2022, 11:35I was hoping that Dr Gokhul would use my review to learn from her mistakes but clearly that's not going to happen. So rather i hope that parents out there reading my review, learn from my experience with this doctor.
I've elaborated on this doctors treatment but let me explain why i'm upset by explaining how the second pediatrician's treatment actually helped my child and where i believe this doctor went wrong.
When i left the hospital my daughter was weak and she could barely keep her eyes open which is exactly the condition i admitted her into hospital. Dr Gokhul sent us home with multiple bottles of medication including a script for anti biotics. The second pead asked us to stop all the meds, he explained that my child had a virus and unfortunately meds can't cure it, its the body that needs to fight it off naturally. He simply explained that by flooding the child's body with so much meds its becoming overwhelmed and struggling to fight the virus, he just asked us to give her cough mixture and a pump for her chest, he also advised that physio is not required at this stage of her treatment because the body naturally does physio when it coughs, all we doing is tormenting her. This was all advise on just an examine, no expensive testing. He gave us advice on keeping her hydrated without the iv and keeping her fed. This advice worked brilliantly, my daughter was up and about within the same day. I kept her at home, where she had access to her dad and fami**** surroundings.
I'm not a doctor, I don't know the medical jargon all i can tell you is my experience. This is not a personal vendetta against Dr Gokhul and i do understand that every doctor is human and fallible but i also believe that they should hold themselves to a higher standard because my daughter is only 1 year old and might just be another patient to doctors but she's my entire world and i'm sure that's the case with every parent out there, so you cannot blame me for being upset and wanting to alert parents out there so that you don't have to go through the same experience. My daughter screams now when she's being examined by any medical personal and that wasn't the case before this experience.
I've elaborated on this doctors treatment but let me explain why i'm upset by explaining how the second pediatrician's treatment actually helped my child and where i believe this doctor went wrong.
When i left the hospital my daughter was weak and she could barely keep her eyes open which is exactly the condition i admitted her into hospital. Dr Gokhul sent us home with multiple bottles of medication including a script for anti biotics. The second pead asked us to stop all the meds, he explained that my child had a virus and unfortunately meds can't cure it, its the body that needs to fight it off naturally. He simply explained that by flooding the child's body with so much meds its becoming overwhelmed and struggling to fight the virus, he just asked us to give her cough mixture and a pump for her chest, he also advised that physio is not required at this stage of her treatment because the body naturally does physio when it coughs, all we doing is tormenting her. This was all advise on just an examine, no expensive testing. He gave us advice on keeping her hydrated without the iv and keeping her fed. This advice worked brilliantly, my daughter was up and about within the same day. I kept her at home, where she had access to her dad and fami**** surroundings.
I'm not a doctor, I don't know the medical jargon all i can tell you is my experience. This is not a personal vendetta against Dr Gokhul and i do understand that every doctor is human and fallible but i also believe that they should hold themselves to a higher standard because my daughter is only 1 year old and might just be another patient to doctors but she's my entire world and i'm sure that's the case with every parent out there, so you cannot blame me for being upset and wanting to alert parents out there so that you don't have to go through the same experience. My daughter screams now when she's being examined by any medical personal and that wasn't the case before this experience.
ZK
Zarkia K's update13 May 2022, 11:35
Reviewer Update
I was hoping that Dr Gokhul would use my review to learn from her mistakes but clearly that's not going to happen. So rather i hope that parents out there reading my review, learn from my experience with this doctor.
I've elaborated on this doctors treatment but let me explain why i'm upset by explaining how the second pediatrician's treatment actually helped my child and where i believe this doctor went wrong.
When i left the hospital my daughter was weak and she could barely keep her eyes open which is exactly the condition i admitted her into hospital. Dr Gokhul sent us home with multiple bottles of medication including a script for anti biotics. The second pead asked us to stop all the meds, he explained that my child had a virus and unfortunately meds can't cure it, its the body that needs to fight it off naturally. He simply explained that by flooding the child's body with so much meds its becoming overwhelmed and struggling to fight the virus, he just asked us to give her cough mixture and a pump for her chest, he also advised that physio is not required at this stage of her treatment because the body naturally does physio when it coughs, all we doing is tormenting her. This was all advise on just an examine, no expensive testing. He gave us advice on keeping her hydrated without the iv and keeping her fed. This advice worked brilliantly, my daughter was up and about within the same day. I kept her at home, where she had access to her dad and fami**** surroundings.
I'm not a doctor, I don't know the medical jargon all i can tell you is my experience. This is not a personal vendetta against Dr Gokhul and i do understand that every doctor is human and fallible but i also believe that they should hold themselves to a higher standard because my daughter is only 1 year old and might just be another patient to doctors but she's my entire world and i'm sure that's the case with every parent out there, so you cannot blame me for being upset and wanting to alert parents out there so that you don't have to go through the same experience. My daughter screams now when she's being examined by any medical personal and that wasn't the case before this experience.
I've elaborated on this doctors treatment but let me explain why i'm upset by explaining how the second pediatrician's treatment actually helped my child and where i believe this doctor went wrong.
When i left the hospital my daughter was weak and she could barely keep her eyes open which is exactly the condition i admitted her into hospital. Dr Gokhul sent us home with multiple bottles of medication including a script for anti biotics. The second pead asked us to stop all the meds, he explained that my child had a virus and unfortunately meds can't cure it, its the body that needs to fight it off naturally. He simply explained that by flooding the child's body with so much meds its becoming overwhelmed and struggling to fight the virus, he just asked us to give her cough mixture and a pump for her chest, he also advised that physio is not required at this stage of her treatment because the body naturally does physio when it coughs, all we doing is tormenting her. This was all advise on just an examine, no expensive testing. He gave us advice on keeping her hydrated without the iv and keeping her fed. This advice worked brilliantly, my daughter was up and about within the same day. I kept her at home, where she had access to her dad and fami**** surroundings.
I'm not a doctor, I don't know the medical jargon all i can tell you is my experience. This is not a personal vendetta against Dr Gokhul and i do understand that every doctor is human and fallible but i also believe that they should hold themselves to a higher standard because my daughter is only 1 year old and might just be another patient to doctors but she's my entire world and i'm sure that's the case with every parent out there, so you cannot blame me for being upset and wanting to alert parents out there so that you don't have to go through the same experience. My daughter screams now when she's being examined by any medical personal and that wasn't the case before this experience.