Looking for a lawyer to take on a case for my son. Caspian was diagnosed with alopecia but we don’t think that’s the case. The dermatologist treated us poorly and we can’t keep quiet any longer.
October 4,2024 I took my son (Caspian South age 5) to his first dermatologist appointment with Georgia skin and cancer clinic . Let’s rewind a month. In September I took my son to the pediatrician for a cold. He’s prone to colds due to his allergies. So he gets sick quite a few times a year. No problem. I mentioned a hair loss spot on the back of his head to the doctor. He also has eczema and this spot is one that has come and gone in the past year or two. Thins out and comes back. Anyways, I decided to mention the spot to the doctor to see what he would say. He mentions it may be alopecia areata. He referred us to a dermatologist in Waycross. For context we reside in Valdosta,Ga. That is a four hour round trip. For most people that’s not a big thing, but for us it’s a big deal. So we get the first appointment in October. We arrive, get signed in, wait a few minutes to be called back. You know the normal routine at any doctors office. We get in answer all the assistants questions and wait for the “doctor”. Julie Maddox is who we seen that day and the other two appointments we had with them. She examines his head and the spot. Says he has thick hair it needs to be able to breathe. She prescribes us a cream and a solution. The cream was more like hydrocortisone, normal for eczema patients. The solution was mometasone furoate 0.1% solution. We were told to use it at night and wash it out the next day. Use for two weeks take a break. I personally didn’t like it the first couple times I used it so I didn’t use it as directed. It was making the hair come out more it looked like. I took him to a barber and cut it down so it’s more breathable. So comes the next appointment November 15,2024. We see Julie again. Checkup appointment to see how the prescriptions are working. I mentioned I barely used to solution cause the hair was falling out instead of maybe helping it. She kinda of ignored it and says to use it anyways. His father told me we should just use it and listen to the “doctor”. I agreed. Worst decision ever. Again that appointment was November 15th, all his hair was gone by Christmas. Once all the hair was gone, we were beating ourselves up. We did this to our baby. Devastated and heartbroken. We had another appointment January 15,2025. We go in and get through check in, waiting for the doctor now. The assistant comes in and says “wow I feel a little stuble”. Now this is the same assistant from any other appointment. We say “ no ma’am, that’s the aftermath of the solution. All of his hair is gone now”. She seem shocked. Now you’re showing me that you don’t pay attention to your patients. Doctor comes in and we mention our concerns. Dad is very upset about the whole thing. He’s trying to get the point across that the solution has made this happen. So now we have gone from alopecia areata to alopecia totalis. So one spot from the back of the head turned into his whole body losing hair; head, eyebrows, arms and legs and even his back which was hairy since birth. Julie dismissed our concerns behind everything we have said. She claims there’s not enough pediatric patients in the dermatology field to know what will and won’t work and if the product is safe for the age group. She is going back and forth with his father, he mentions he will get a second opinion. She says “that’s fine yall can find someone else I’m leaving at the end of the month anyways”, in a very careless and dismissive attitude. Julie Maddox is indeed not a doctor but a nurse practitioner. Not a single medical doctor was in that office. She let us feel as if we did this and took no responsibility about it. I know a lot of medicines are trial and error. We did no types of testing besides some blood test that all came back normal. I asked if there was testing during the first appointment and it was said that a scalp biopsy could be done but it never was. Julie had no sympathy towards my son or our family during our visit. We have no been back since. Our insurance is very limited on dermatologist and I don’t believe that clinic is in our best interest. Since then we have been doing our best with natural remedies such as rosemary oil and coconut oil. We have seen some new growth but it is very slow. He is still just as happy and healthy as he’s ever been.
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