KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Givens family make getting their seasonal flu shot a priority. Charlene Givens says when the family got vaccinated two weeks ago, 2-year-old Dylan Givens developed a fever that kept getting higher and higher.
When Dylan's temperature reached 104 degrees, Givens says they called for help.
"When it is that high," Givens said. "That let me know right away this is more than just the aftermath of the injection."
When an ambulance took Charlene Givens’ grandson to a local hospital with a high fever, she says she put his care in the hands of the staff at Children's Mercy Hospital.
Givens is now upset because, she says, it wasn’t until her grandson was released and later saw a pediatrician that he was diagnosed with the new H1N1 virus.
"My husband called me right after the doctor's visit and said 'Dylan has H1N1!'" Givens said.
Givens says it is a diagnosis she wishes came from the hospital.
"I was angry," Givens said. "I had trusted Children's Mercy to do everything possible in the interest of an ill child."
Children's Mercy officials declines to comment on Dylan's case, releasing this statement.
"Because of patient confidentiality, we cannot comment on this case."
Dylan never received a test for H1N1 at the hospital or at the doctor's office. Givens says the pediatrician diagnosed Dylan with H1N1 by his symptoms.
Children's Mercy Hospital officials did say as policy, they do not test children for H1N1. They say they simply follow guidelines given by the Centers For Disease Control who ruled the test for H1N1 wasn't accurate enough for use.
Officials from other area hospitals say they rarely test because they assume all patients that come in with flu-like symptoms have H1N1 and treat them accordingly.
