I took my 27 yr. old son to a walk-in med. center after he was sick for 3 days with what I thought was a virus. He presented to a P.A.C. with abdominal pain, vomiting, severe dehydration, profuse sweating, and constant belching. After my direction, she ordered a urinalysis, an I.V., and bloodwork, but never an x-ray. He was never given a proper re-bound exam (I suppose because he was a-typical and his pain was deferred). His lab readings came back with slightly elevated w.b.c and twice the creatinine level he should have for his age (which she circled and expressed concern for).
Despite all these red flags, she sent him home with a diagnosis of viral gastroenteritis, anti-nausea meds, instructions to give him more fluids and if he was not improving, bring him back the next day. The M.D. saw him at this next time and knew just by visually looking at him, that something was very wrong (he never physically examined him). He sent him by ambulance to the e.r. They drained a quart of black bile from his stomach and then it took an hour before they gave him an ultra-sound for his gall-bladder; no problem there (why not look at his appendix too!)
They then proceeded with the c.t. scan (another 2 hours of waiting). Finally after the scan results (approx. 4 hrs later) the e.r. doctor rushed in and asked my son, "I thought you said your pain was all around your mid abdomin? Are you sure you don't have any pain here?" and he pressed his right side with the re-bound exam and my son jolted with pain and said, "well yes when you do it that way". That statement from my son made me realize in all that time and seeing all those doctors, no one did the proper re-bound exam until it was too late and may have contributed greatly to his death. As he was being rushed to emergency surgery, I asked the e.r. doctor what about the gall bladder and he stated "the gall-bladder threw me a curve; your son has a ruptured appendix".
The surgeon said after the surgery that he found the rupture to be fresh. My beautiful only child perished one day later in March of 2011 from a ruptured appendix which but for a series of blunders, didn't have to happen. I did not know when I took him to that med. center that he wasn't with an M.D. I also didn't know that patients don't always see medical doctors who would most likely recognize such important symptoms, perform crucial proper examination, and refer immediately to the e.r. where my son would probably have been saved that first night. I want to know if I possibly have a case in there somewhere. My son was all that I had and I am utterly destroyed.