Why the GP and the Ombudsman's experts are wrong
They are trying very hard to distort what I said Michaela's symptoms were and that in fact the symptoms didn't appear until the day she was admitted into hospital, where we were told she would not live through the night without treatment. The following links to other cases detailed below should prove I have been telling the truth about her symptoms and that they don't just appear hours before she would have died, as the doctor and the Ombudsman are trying to imply.
Link One - "average incubation time is 3 weeks"
Link Two - "it becomes relatively easy to make a diagnosis on the simple clinical findings"
Link Three - "the clinical manifestations of this syndrome are quite characteristic"
Link Four - "a syndrome so characteristic that mistake is almost impossible"
Link Five - "young patients present with high fevers, rigors"
Link Six - "Two days later his family brought him back to the ER with persistent fevers and mental status changes. The family also noted decreased oral intake. At that time the patient was somnolent, confused, febrile and hypotensive".
Link Seven - "and has a characteristic clinical course"
Link Eight - "Cases of Lemierre's syndrome are characterized by the following symptoms and signs: postanginal sepsis with intense rigors and high fever within 1 week after the primary local infection"
Link Nine - "A previously well 19 year old woman was referred to the Emergency Department by her general practitioner, with a four day history of fevers, sweats, and rigors, a two day history of a cough productive of yellow-green sputum and a 24 hour history of pain on swallowing. Shortly before the onset of this illness, she complained of mild pharyngitis, which lasted less than 24 hours and which resolved with no specific treatment"
CMO's Update - CMO's Update 29 - A Communication to all doctors from the Chief Medical Officer - February 2001. (Please read page six) Warning doctors about the illness.
A Case Report - This Acrobat document shows with x-rays how the lungs deteriorate over a four day period. This also implies that Michaela's lungs cannot have been alright when the doctor examined her, based on her condition when admitted to hospital two days later.
When Michaela was admitted into hospital her lungs were just shadows and her lung walls had turned hard. We were told she would not live through the night without treatment, because her lungs could not absorb enough oxygen and also because the lung walls had hardened she was unable to expand and contract her lungs. This just cannot happen 48 hours after a thorough examination.