I would submit that what the doctor did was standard practice.
When our child was sick, we took the crib into our room, or when older, they'd sleep in our bed so we could keep an eye on him. Just in case they would throw up and choke on it.
If someone INSISTS on pointing blame, it wouldn't be at the doctor, unless HE was tasked with sitting in the room with the nauseous baby while he slept.
And, hey, let's FINISH the quote...
Infants 3 months to 3 years old
Infants between three months and three years of age present a similar dilemma, only not such an urgent one. It is much more difficult to diagnose which fevers are significant. Once again, the younger the child, the greater one’s level of concern. Children under three are usually unable to give you much of a clue as to what is wrong. It is up to us to observe our children in order to decide if a problem is of concern.
You Can Be A Great Help To Your Pediatrician
A pediatrician has years of training and experience that prepares him or her to distinguish medically serious conditions from minor viral illnesses in children. This clinical judgment can be aided by a variety of lab tests, but in the final analysis, the best diagnostic tool is the impression that the child looks sick. As parents, you can be a great help to the doctor by providing a good history of the child’s symptoms and what you’ve done about them, as well as providing your opinion about how sick your child appears to you.
....
I am much more concerned about how the child appears and acts than how high his temperature is. The child with 104° F who is active and playful is of far less concern that the child with 102° F who is lethargic and irritable. High fever often makes you feel bad. Try to reduce the fever and then see how your child looks. If he perks up and looks well again, it is more likely that your child does not have a serious illness. If he continues to look ill despite temperature reduction, you should be more concerned. Statistically, high fevers are more likely to be associated with serious illness than lower fevers, but I am more concerned with how your child behaves. Just having a high fever does not, in itself, mean that your child is seriously ill.
I would say that the parents described the symptoms to the doctor, and they weren't bad enough to warrant an emergency room visit. Once again, the fever didn't kill him; he choked on vomit, which is an anomaly that does unfortunately happen... even in otherwise healthy kids who suffer from acid reflux, as mine did. We either slept in the same room with him or turned the monitor up so loud that any cough or gag would wake us and have us in there in seconds.
And, if you ever want to second-guess your doctor, you are always free to override his decision and take him to the emergency room.
If the child was suffering from a 105° fever, and the doctor said he was too busy or it wasn't bad enough, and THEN the child died of overheating from the fever (not from vomit asphyxiation), THEN I could see blaming the doctor. With the information given, the doctor is simply not at fault.
Decisions were made with the information that was available at the time, and unfortunately a tragic accident occurred. But according to the information given, it wasn't the doctor's fault. It is just one of those senseless tragedies that you hope never happens to anyone.
:scowl:
105? 
