🩺 SWANK Dispatch: I Asked for Oxygen. They Asked About My Children.
🗓️ 14 February 2024
Filed Under: asthma crisis ignored, safeguarding deflection, NHS retaliation, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital misconduct, medical records missing, predatory referral culture, breathless interrogation, parenting misused, legal evidence submitted
“I said I couldn’t breathe.
She said ‘You can.’
Then she said she’d call the police.”
— A Mother Who Went for Oxygen and Got Interrogated Instead
This letter, addressed to Samira Issa at RBKC Family Services, documents the harrowing experience of Polly Chromatic on 4 February 2024, during an asthma emergency at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
She submitted this report to protect herself against another false safeguarding referral, and included:
A full audio recording of the visit (linked: YouTube Evidence)
Detailed peak flow meter values, including a drop as low as 112.8
Recorded oxygen saturation of 90%, pulse of 101, and blood pressure of 160/74
🫁 I. What She Documented
Was dropped at the door of the hospital by Uber because she was too weak to cross the street
Nurse refused to touch her medical log, even as she struggled to hold it
Was told, “You can breathe,” despite her visible respiratory distress
Medical records from the night before were missing, requiring a duplicate X-ray
After stating she had four children, a safeguarding trigger was activated
🚨 II. What They Did
Asked about her children’s location while she was still in a medical crisis
Threatened to call police and social services before her second nebuliser was given
Only agreed to treat her after she insisted repeatedly
Prescribed prednisone and discharged her after her insistence
Initiated a false safeguarding referral, linked to the previous visit at St. Thomas’ — even though that visit was also for the same untreated asthma flare-up
🔐 III. SWANK Commentary
The moment you say "children,"
the system stops seeing your lungs.
This is how women with chronic illness are silenced —
through veiled threats disguised as “concern.”
She needed a second nebuliser.
They needed a narrative.
She has one now.
And it’s written down.