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Having private insurance is no guarantee of good (or even competant) care. My niece became seriously ill at age one. Her mother took her to the pediatrician three times and each time was told it was nothing to worry about, just a flu with a rash (viral exantham)---give her some tylenol and fluids. The child eventually ended up in the ER with a fever of 104, was given a bag of fluids and SENT HOME. They couldn't find any locus of infection--no pus-y ear or throat, no festering wound anywhere, urinanalysis was clear. So, with no idea why this child was acting as if she were in a battle against some real bacterial meanie, they sent her home. Turns out she was suffering from meningeococcal meningitis (bacterial meningitis-needs antibiotcis to recover). By the time they figured that one out, she was comatose and in ICU. She is now deaf due to the infection that raged for nearly five days. My ex sister-in-law had taken her to the pediatrician three times and to the Children's Hospital here in town twice before anyone noticed that a child under the age of one with a fever of 104 with NO locus of infection MIGHT have meningitis. This is first year medical student simple. It still blows my mind.
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