I know a fever of ~40.5 or 105 when taken orally is a medical emergency, you shouldn't even waste time calling anyone before sticking your kid in a car hugging

I know a fever of ~40.5 or 105 when taken orally is a medical emergency, you shouldn't even waste time calling anyone before sticking your kid in a car hugging every icepack you've got, because the problem won't be brain damage it'll be death. A fever over 41/106 when taken anally is hyperthermia and can lead to the rapid breakdown of cells (likely the girl's brother got brain damage either through braincell death if he had a severe fever, or his fever was associated with swelling of the brain, which usually shows with uncommonly intense headaches/migraines). From what I remember, if your kids fever ever gets over 39/100.4 (obviously if they're a baby or infant you should call your own doctor for any fever and follow their orders) you should call your family doctor, keep them cool (cold clothes and such, nothing severe) to keep them cool and do what the doctor says. Over 40/104 (and this is what my mum did to me, she's a nurse) she kept a cold bath and had me sit in it for 5 minutes or so, before laying down in bed with cold clothes and IIRC sometimes even ice packs to keep the fever dipping under the 40's. Over night my fever broke and stayed below 40 and my family doctor said I'd be fine. She even said, the only reason she kept me out of hospital was because doctors treat a fever with everything but cold until it's a last resort. I wasn't a particularly happy kid having been dunked in a cold bath all night, but I'd certainly have been more uncomfortable for a lot longer in hospital, but I had a nurse with over 20 years of experience (a considerable amount more experience than the junior doctors they leave on staff at 3am). Personally I believe, a paediatrician shouldn't have got into the job if he didn't expect panicked phone calls all hours of the night. So anyone with a half-decent paediatrician and concerns, I'd say call away. The bastards get paid way too much and if they don't want to deal with their patients complaining they should have become a mortician.