Recently, my 10 year old son had an extremely rough diabetic seizure and was admitted to a hospital. They said he wasn’t stable enough to be transported to a children’s hospital where they specialize in this matter. So, after he was admitted, we requested it, but needless to say, they didn’t.

After three days they sent him home with uncontrolled sugar levels (400-500+ mg/dl [22.2-27.8+ mmol/L]), and I was very upset because they never even checked him for ketones. I requested that he be transported to the children’s hospital to be checked out and stabilized, but they sent him home and said they would get him in to be seen the next day.

Keeping him at these high levels can’t be good. Sending him home that high to me was scary. Shouldn’t I be concerned of about these high numbers? As a parent, did I not have the right to keep him in or request a specialty hospital? Shouldn’t I request that he be admitted and stabilized?

I live an hour from about anything including a hospital so I hope you can be of some help. I am frustrated and scared.

I am not certain that I completely understand what happened. I don’t know exactly what you mean by a “diabetic seizure.” Most of this time, this implies a low blood glucose in a patient known to have diabetes and who, for example, received too much insulin. However, you seem to be describing that he had high glucoses to cause the seizure. This is possible, but usually is associated with severe brain swelling. Having a couple of days of higher readings likely cause little issues in the long-term.

Yes, you have a right as a parent to request transfer of your child’s care to a facility that accepts him. This is certainly true for on-going care, and even during more acute events, but I agree it is wise to have emergency/urgent care done at the closest facility.

DS
Additional comments from Dr. John Schulga:

It is always very worrying and frightening when a child has a hypoglycemic seizure. After a seizure, it can take some time to get things back under control, and keeping a child in hospital for this reason may not be the best way to get things back under control again. Keeping in regular contact with your diabetes team is very important in these circumstances.

You should be reassured that hypo seizures are unusual, and it is unusual for them to happen on a frequent basis. Having good control is important and being able to predict when hypos might occur will help to prevent them.

JS