When Do I Take My Child to the Emergency Room?

In the ongoing health care reform debate, one of the most pressing and difficult issues is emergency room visits.

Emergency rooms don't deny anyone -- anyone with minor ailments can show up.

So if it's your child and all you see and hear is blood, bruises, and screaming, you have an ER situation on your hands -- right? Perhaps not.

Dr. Marie Savard, "GMA" medical contributor and author of a new book, "Ask Dr. Marie -- Straight Talk and Answers to Your Most Private Questions -- Sex, Reproductive Health, Fertility, Menopause, Hormones," answers some questions about emergency rooms and your kids.

Related

Is Your Swine Flu Severe? Find Out Online

Sex: What Women Need to Know

READ EXCERPT: 'Ask Dr. Marie,' by Marie Savard

Q: Let's start with something we fear most in the current swine flu climate. What if a another kid (or a dog) bites your child and the skin is broken. Do you head to the ER?

Dr. Savard: Yes, if it's a human bite. Now, people fear that a child's mouth is more germy than a dog. But you don't get swine flu from a human bite. A bite won't pass on swine flu, but a sneeze could. What you should fear is the bacteria from the bite that can cause a severe infection.

Using the hospital's emergency department for a human bite is often the right thing to do. Emergency doctors generally have a lot of experience with bites and other wounds.

People who do not have a doctor or who cannot get in touch with their doctor may have to use the emergency department even for minor bites in order to get a tetanus shot, and a doctor's opinion of the need for other treatment, such as antibiotics.

Tips

You should still call your pediatrician right away. He or she may decide to send you [to the emergency room] depending on the location of the bite and how it looks.