Grandfather given wrong child at school, takes her to dr. appointment, doesn't notice

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wfgodot

wfgodot

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Grandfather picks up the wrong child from Kent school. (Guardian)
An investigation has been launched into how a school reportedly handed over the wrong child to a man who came to collect his granddaughter for a doctor's appointment.

The six-year-old girl, who shares the same first name as the man's granddaughter and is in the same year, accompanied him on a bus from the school to the doctor and was prescribed liquid paracetamol before she was dropped back to class. Her family learned of the visit when she returned home and showed the medicine to her mother.

The incident happened at Gillingham [Kent UK]'s Napier primary school on Tuesday morning, according to a report in Kent Online, which said the girl's father took her to the clinic to check that she had not invented the story of her visit.

"I went ballistic. I was boiling inside. The first thing I thought was the worst. I had to ask my daughter the sort of questions no parent ever wants to ask: 'Did he do this, did he do that?'.
---
"Thank God it was an innocent thing done by a confused old gentleman."
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more at the link

Longer story here:

Family's anger after Napier Primary School in Gillingham hands over girl, six, to stranger. (kentonline.com)
 
Wow! How did the grandfather not notice that the child with him was not his own granddaughter? I'm surprised the child didn't say something like "that's not my grandpa". Or maybe she did and the office staff didn't listen.

This one is just bizarre!
 
Sounds to me like the old gent was NOT the only one suffering from some confusion! How does the doctor not notice that this in not the right child??
 
The child probably saw a chance to skive off school for the afternoon and played along with it.
 
From your link WF.....thanks for posting!

This is frightening for all involved....but how come the doctor prescribed cold medicine? Did the other child have flu/cold symptoms too?

Gee whiz how awful.
 
does the UK not have some version of health cards that are to be shown at doctor visits?
 
My first day of kindergarten, a teacher put the wrong name tag on me. Same first name, wrong last name. I told them (I could read quite well) that it wasnt my name. They brushed me off like i was talking nonsense and sent me to the other girls class. Worst of all, the bus number was on the name tag. I again tried to explain to the teachers helping with the bus that I wasnt this girl and that wasnt my bus! No one would listen to me and I sat through the whole bus ride knowing they were never going to get to my house. Luckily, the bus driver noticed me still sitting there at the end of the route, knew my grandma, and drove me home. I really hope people didnt ignore this poor girl trying to tell them they had the wrong kid. I know 30 plus years later I am still really scarred by people dismissing me like that.

Sent from my VS840 4G using Tapatalk 2
 
At first I giggled as I remembered a Raymond episode in which he took the wrong twin to the dr.

I can't believe the grandpa didn't know his own grandchild. Grandpa shouldn't be driving either, Imoo.
 
Reading this out loud to my mom, she's horrified, we were laughing about not even my absent minded granddad would have gotten that wrong, I can't imagine my child not motor mouthing the whole way there and telling the doctor he or she had the wrong person.
 
LadyL said:
does the UK not have some version of health cards that are to be shown at doctor visits?
Click to expand...

I'm in the US and my kids don't have their own health cards. Even my card had dh's name on it, mine is not anywhere on it (the insurance goes through his company). I'm not sure how a health/insurance card would help, anyway. I've never seen one with a picture on it, and it's not like a 6 yr old is going to have ID.
 
Daily Mail says the grandfather has a very poor eyesight.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2443729/Kent-school-sent-girl-6-GP-WRONG-grandfather.html

The mistake took place on Tuesday after the girl’s parents telephoned the school to say her grandfather would arrive to take her to the doctors’ because she was ill.
But the girl handed over to him was not his granddaughter – although she is in the same class, shares the same first name, has similar blonde hair and is around the same height. And when she was asked if it was her grandfather, she nodded.

Last night the girl’s father, a 36-year-old systems tester for an IT company, said he thought his ‘shy’ daughter may have thought the man was her dead grandfather.
‘A little bit of pressure was put on her and she felt like it was the right thing to do to agree it was her grandfather,’ he said.
‘We have pictures of him up in our home so I think she got confused.’


The girl’s parents believe the receptionist wrote down her first and second name rather than the correct surname.
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I don't expect the doctor to recognize my children. They have appointments so seldom and it's usually a different doctor each time.

It's time for some stranger danger lessons for the child imo.
 
LadyL said:
does the UK not have some version of health cards that are to be shown at doctor visits?
Click to expand...

It wouldn't have made a difference with a health card. The grandfather would have given the card to the office assistant and that's it. The child wouldn't have had picture I.D. on her and they would not likely ask for that from a 6 year old who has a grandfather to vouch for her identity.

We only use health cards along with picture I.D. if you go to a walk in clinic, not if you attend your regular G.P. Again, with children, they don't ask for picture I.D., just for the health card.
 
Charlie09 said:
Reading this out loud to my mom, she's horrified, we were laughing about not even my absent minded granddad would have gotten that wrong, I can't imagine my child not motor mouthing the whole way there and telling the doctor he or she had the wrong person.
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The grandfather has vision problems and the father of the wrong child had said that the two children do have similar features. He also said his daughter is shy and most likely would not speak up, so those two facts together might explain why the grandfather didn't realize what had happened.

It all depends on the child's personality. A shy child won't necessarily speak up. Other kids would put up a fight and wouldn't have gone past the front doors of the school. Remember, the child nodded "yes" when the school asked her if the man was her grandfather.
 
The little girls seem very much the same. I will say I get my daughters 6 year old friends confused, they all look alike. The girl is only 6, and shy. My daughter is shy, but not that shy to start bawling her eyes out if asked to leave with someone she didn't know.
What I think should take place at schools, because I have seen the whole, is that your mom, dad, uncle and just go with the yes. I think I would nod my head yes to at that age, because I was super shy, and wouldn't want to be wrong. KWIM Anyways I think they should have pics of parents and whoever else is on the ok list to pick up child. I always wondered how the teachers know if that is the parent.
 
keeponsearching said:
The little girls seem very much the same. I will say I get my daughters 6 year old friends confused, they all look alike. The girl is only 6, and shy. My daughter is shy, but not that shy to start bawling her eyes out if asked to leave with someone she didn't know.
What I think should take place at schools, because I have seen the whole, is that your mom, dad, uncle and just go with the yes. I think I would nod my head yes to at that age, because I was super shy, and wouldn't want to be wrong. KWIM Anyways I think they should have pics of parents and whoever else is on the ok list to pick up child. I always wondered how the teachers know if that is the parent.
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At my school, nobody can pick up a child without confirmation that they are a person allowed to pick up that child and is listed in writing on the child's contact form. And if a parent ( or other authorized person) comes for a child, and I, personally have not yet met that parent, I politely refer them to the main office for verification even if the child recognizes them and says so. (But I have 2 & 3 year olds)

I haven't ever had anyone take issue with these precautions. We are just keeping their babies safe.
 
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