Dr. Ruediger Manfred Lindner, MD

Felt rushed and unable to articulate standard of care. Very bad impression and felt marginalized and insulted

Brought my almost 5 month old to the St. Lucie MC ER at Darwin Square with a high fever (103.1 which we couldn't break no matter what we tried at home). She also seemed to have some tenderness to her left ear (she would pull away and cry when we attempted to take her temp in that ear). We arrived at the ER at around 12:30am. The nurse and staff was very caring and nice. There was no wait time whatsoever. Dr. Linder was quick to see my daughter. We explained all the issues we expierneced with her- advised of the fevers, the tender left ear, the fact that we have two older children at home (14 & 2. The 2 year old had also been sick with a high fever). Dr Linder looked in her mouth and stated that her throats was red and irritated. He also checked her ears and seemed to have a difficult time doing so. My daughter was crying, but I was holding her still with her head pressed to my body so he could get a good look. He looked twice in both ears and said they were both fine. According to him,… no sign of an ear infection. Then he chalked it up to a virus. No further tests were done. No test for flu or strep or anything else. When he came back in the room he then felt on her abdomen and stated she was gassy. He suggested gas drops (which I had in my diaper bag). Again he stated this was a virus she was experiencing and no antibiotics would be needed. She was administered Motrin and the gas drops I had and that was that. I was told to continue with Tylenol and to also switch off with Motrin. We currently use Motrin with our 2 year old but per our primary care, we were told to not give Motrin until after 6 months of age. I was at a loss. We went home and in the morning called our pediatrician since she was still running a high fever. I shared the info from the ER discharge paperwork with my pediatrician and told her everything explained above. She looked in her ears and said her left ear was red. She said sometimes that can happen with a fever. She also performed a Strep test and a flu test. Flu cane back negative however she did come back positive for Strep! If Dr. Linder would've taken the time to administer those tests, our baby could've been on antibiotics that much sooner instead of being misdiagnosed or better yet untreated. I'm willing to even say that the infected left ear became worse in the 10 hours between seeing the ER and then our pediatrician however I don't feel that way about her being positive for Strep. I believe that was already present when we went to the ER. For a facility that specializes in pediatric care, I don't feel I'd go back for my children based on this experience.