Teen endures 24-hour ordeal for appendicitis surgery

A 17-year-old boy suffering from what turned out to be acute appendicitis was subjected to a nightmarish ordeal for over 24 hours, before finally getting the surgery he urgently needed, it emerged on Wednesday.

The distraught mother reported having to drag her son, while he suffered through intensifying pains, through three different hospitals where the pair were repeatedly told to wait and were ignored.

The teen’s mother filed a complaint with patient watchdog association (Osak) saying she did not intend on “punishing” anyone but wanted to raise the alarm about state hospital conditions.

The youth started feeling unwell with severe stomach pain at 7am on Saturday morning, the mother reported, according to Philenews, whereupon the family doctor recommended for the boy to be taken to emergency services.

Upon arriving at the hospital’s A&E department, the pair waited for an hour without being seen or screened.

“The [boy’s] pain was intensifying [so] we left to go to a private hospital [covered by state health services]. However, they did not accept us since [the hospital] had no emergency department,” the mother said in her statement.

Following this the mother took her son to a third [private] hospital which did offer emergency services. The youth was then screened by a doctor who told the family there was “no cause for concern”.

The young man was given intravenous pain medication and sent home with the diagnosis that he was suffering from a virus.

Shortly after returning home, given that the pain did not subside, the mother once again took her son to the public hospital’s A&E, where they had to wait another hour and a half to be triaged.

Despite the fact that the boy had been questioned on his pain level, which was extreme, they were required to wait an additional five hours until, finally, in the late afternoon, the 17-year-old was examined by a doctor who diagnosed him with appendicitis and ordered an ultrasound.

The diagnosis was confirmed but the doctor subsequently said the case was “not an emergency”, however, he gave the family the option of admitting the youth to the surgery department to be given antibiotics.

Again the family waited for hours, until around 10pm, the boy’s pain became unbearable. The specialist in charge did not bring the boy forward in the queue but administered painkillers which did nothing to help.

Finally, at 7am the next day the surgeon ordered an immediate operation, however, a case deemed more urgent interceded, and the boy was again kept waiting for several hours more.

After the surgery was at long last carried out, the doctor informed the family the boy had to have 5 litres of fluid and pus removed, and required hospitalisation of several days, for further treatment. The diagnosis given, at 12pm, was “acute appendicitis with purulent peritonitis and rupture of the appendix.”

In statements describing the entire saga as a nightmare, the mother asked how it was possible that there was only one operating room available and why decisions were taken by just a single doctor.

“I am not asking for any justifications, nor apologies, just don’t let it happen to anyone else because next time it might not end fine,” she said.