Emergency or Severe Illness:

Life-threatening Emergency
DIAL 911 IMMEDIATELY
Severe difficulty breathing, severe bleeding, loss of consciousness, or seizure are all life-threatening conditions. After getting help from 911, notify our office as soon as is reasonably possible.

Non-Life Threatening Emergency
Call our office at 978.535.1110, Peabody, or one of the direct lines to our other offices. Click to view Office Phone List on "Contact" page. Listen to the menu option, follow the prompt for "true medical emergency," and be sure to say,
"This call is an Emergency".

We prefer to handle most non-life threatening emergencies, such as lacerations, most asthma attacks, and many types of injuries, right in our own office.

We do not encourage our patients to use hospital emergency rooms because they can be impersonal, expensive and they do not know you and your child.

When to Call Immediately for an Infant Under 3 Months Old:

1. If the baby is lethargic (very sleepy or difficult to arouse), has poor color,
  appears limp and unresponsive.

2. If the baby has a rectal temperature over 100.4 F.

3. If the baby refuses to eat three or four times in a row.

4. If the baby’s hands or feet have a yellow “jaundiced” color
  or if the baby develops pumpkin-colored skin.

5. If the baby has repeated bouts of diarrhea or vomiting,
  or there is blood in the stool or vomit.

6. If the baby has a labored, wheezing, or “grunting” breathing
   pattern that lasts longer than one-half hour.

7. If your child has an illness associated with a rash
  that looks like bleeding under the skin.

8. If the baby does not wet its diaper at least 3 times in a 24 hour period.

9. If you feel very nervous about your baby’s illness or general condition.

When to Call Immediately for an Older Child:

1. If your child seems unresponsive, does not make eye contact with you,
    or has cold and clammy skin that is not associated with vomiting.
2. If you child looks much sicker that usual with a “routine” illness.

3. If your child has an illness associated with a rash that looks
    like bleeding under the skin.

4. If your child has severe stomach pains lasting longer than 4 hours,
    or has blood in the stool or vomit.

5. If your child has any symptom that you believe to be unusual or frightening.
    This might include labored breathing, severe headache, or a very high fever.

When to Call Immediately After Trauma or Injury:

1. If your child has struck his head and has lost consciousness, has nausea or vomiting,
    or complains of severe headache. Also report any of the following:
    mental confusion, unbalanced walking, poor coordination,
    loss of memory, or a discharge coming from one or both ears.

2. If there is persistent swelling, tenderness, or deformity of the injured part.

3. If your child refuses to use an injured extremity for more than one-half hour.

4. If there is a deep puncture wound, a gaping cut longer than ½ inch, or your child
    has an open wound and has not received a tetanus shot
     within the past 5 years. Under some circumstances a tetanus booster
    can be delayed an additional 24 hours.

5. If there is an injury to the eye that causes redness, pain, blurred vision,
    or tearing for more than 5 minutes.

6. If your child has been bitten by an animal and the bite has penetrated the skin.