A mum who took her five-day-old son to hospital to seek medical advice after she found a mark on his arm says she was made to feel like a child abuser by medics.
Kirsty Clark, 33, took baby Jackson to Lincoln County Hospital on Sunday, November 19 because she was worried a red mark on his right arm could be deadly meningitis or his blood was not clotting.
But to her surprise a doctor called social services and the police with Mrs Clark then subjected to questions by an emergency social worker in hospital.
Officials also prevented her husband Cane, 35, from collecting their seven-year-old son Kairen from his godparents.
Their son was also interviewed by a social worker.
Mrs Clark says she was “made to stay” in the hospital for two days until Tuesday, November 21 as little Jackson underwent numerous X-rays and a CT scan.
The mark turned out to be self-inflicted by baby Jackson who had taken to suckling his arm.
Mrs Clark, an administration assistant from North Hykeham, said: “We were made to feel like child abusers.
“Jackson is a precious, little baby who means the world to us.
“He’s an IVF baby and we had police checks done on us in order to have IVF in the first place.
“I took him to the hospital because I wanted some medical advice and then I’m made to stay in a room for two days while they do all these tests and I’m interviewed by an emergency social worker.
“I understand that the system is there to protect children but in this case it seems to have gone completely the opposite way.”
Lincolnshire Police has confirmed it received a concern for safety report about a baby at Lincoln County Hospital on November 19, but that the eventual outcome was “no requirement for further police involvement”.
Mrs Clark, whose ex-Army husband works as an electrical engineer, said that a doctor had witnessed Jackson suckling his arm but did not believe this to be the cause of the tear-shaped mark.
The doctor went on to seek a second opinion.
She said: “Despite this second opinion saying that it was the baby suckling his own arm, he still had to have the X-rays and tests.”
United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, which runs Lincoln County Hospital, said it acted within the trust’s procedures.
Sue Bennion, head of midwifery and nursing for women and children’s services at ULHT, said: “We would welcome the opportunity to discuss and investigate the concerns raised by Jackson’s family and would encourage them to get in touch with ourselves, to enable this to take place.
“The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and our trust guidance states that in the circumstances of an injury to a child which raises the possibility of safeguarding concerns, staff should liaise with social care for the safety and wellbeing of the child in question.”
A social services spokesman said: “If a suspected case of abuse is reported to social services, we have a statutory duty to make enquiries into such allegations.
“We would have a meeting/conversation with police to ensure joint working and information sharing.
“This would determine how the investigation would proceed and where there are allegations of suspected physical abuse a medical examination would be undertaken to determine where enquiries would go next, dependent on the findings.”
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