A new government report found more than 7 million incorrect diagnoses are made in US emergency rooms every year. CNN's Jake Tapper shares his personal experience from when his 14-year-old daughter Alice almost died as a result of a misdiagnosis.
#CNN #News
I very much appreciate Alice and her Parents for WANTING to share this story about misdiagnosis and how in fact many can become fatal calls too.
@CNNOTHING BURGER LETS GO BRANDON!!! one more time than you then. Keep on trolling.
Glad she’s alright. Maybe this might stop Mr Privileged Jake, from fighting against “MEDICARE 4 ALL”…. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes people to go through similar effects before they themselves can show Empathy/Sympathy.
@CNNOTHING BURGER LETS GO BRANDON!!! It must be hard to imagine for an incel like you.
@Adarll Kelly “Medicare for all” is the complete opposite but just as awful a national healthcare philosophy as complete “privatization of healthcare”.. neither would be good for the citizens as one is high quality low quantity of patients served and the other is low quality high quantity of patients served.. somewhere in the middle (where we are) is sufficient and the best we can do. Remember: as tempting as pie in the sky policies seem NOTHING in life is free..
@CNNOTHING BURGER LETS GO BRANDON!!! grow up
I’m so sorry to hear about Alice’s experience! Thankful she survived and can share this with others!🙏❤️
This happens when doctors convince themselves guessing becomes reality.
@cutiepie11 n by in
Yawn……
All patiences need medical advocacy!!!
Glad she’s alright. Maybe this might stop Mr Privileged Jake, from fighting against “MEDICARE 4 ALL”…. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes people to go through similar effects before they themselves can show Empathy/Sympathy.
It is horrible that she had to go through it. But so glad she is okay now! What a horrible situation.
This happened to me, with my gallbladder. I had to go to several hospitals before someone would listen and believe me, and they then referred me for a HIDA scan which showed I had less than 13% function. I was unable to keep food down for days, it was hard to even keep hydrated so my blood looked like tar. Another few days and I would have died, but instead I was treated like a drug seeker.
@Joanne FitzpatrickSorry to hear of this.
@Oline Wright that’s okay, more of making the point of how having the correct diagnosis dictates your care, and the inability of some Er folks to assess people on a continuum, I’ve had some unfortunate experiences like this where I really could have sued but my goal is to educate rather than punish
@Gobig Orange That is so true. When the ER doesn’t have an instant diagnosis they decide “drug seeker”. Granted, legit drug seekers tend to use the ER, not every patient who shows up with pain symptoms is a seeker. Pain motivates most people to get treatment.
Glad she’s alright. Maybe this might stop Mr Privileged Jake, from fighting against “MEDICARE 4 ALL”…. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes people to go through similar effects before they themselves can show Empathy/Sympathy.
Me too! My gallbladder caused me to have pancreatitis. I was hospitalized for almost a month. I had been to the doctor several times. One b***h had to nerve to suggest I had an std.
My brother almost died from this in 2005, he was 22 YO. Doctors said it was food poisoning because there was no way he could still be alive if it was appendicitis (he had severe abdominal pain for 3 days straight) If it weren’t for a random lady in the emergency waiting room convincing my mom that it was MIGHT be appendicitis he would have died. P.S. PLEASE be forceful and respectful when it comes to your loved ones in an emergency room situation. Doctors and nurses are human beings and they can be wrong.
They can be wrong but when they allow their ego to interfere with their humanity it is not a “mistake” anymore.
@Aíram-SJ It happens every day and goes largely unpunished
@Darwin Award Committee that’s horrible I couldn’t imagine.. my appendix almost ruptured like hers but we got to the hospital just in time and they rushed me back it was scary bc I was a little fella 😅 they just thought I had stomach problems at first
Too many doctors think they’re God, though. Especially specialists.
@Darwin Award Committee I had a friend who had that, when I was little. The doctor called it a “grumbling appendix”. They just left in until it finally ruptured about 6 years later. Stupid.
Wow, what a terrible thing to go through. I’m so glad she is happy and healthy now and looking forward to her life.
Jake gained a TON of respect from me by sharing this. I learned also from my medical experience that doctors are just wrong sometimes, and you should question & verify what they say if it does not match your symptoms or if their treatment is not working. It’s not rude to question a doctor for clarification if something doesn’t seem right. If a doctor is offended by you asking questions, RUN to a 2nd opinion! Like Jakes’s wife said, this is no time to be polite.
@Jokotade Alatishe-Adenusi I had stomach pain 5 years ago. After a few days, I had an emergency doctor’s appointment. She called an ambulance. A scan at the hospital showed a very bad appendix infection. Spent 3 weeks there as the infection was brought under control. Home for 2 weeks before they operated. I have a 14″ scar from my naval to my side as the appendix had attached to my intestines. Another week in hospital before being released. I’m so grateful to my doctor and the hospital.
I always thought that appendix pain was severe. That’s not the reality. It is the high temperature and general malaise which also play a big part. I’m so glad Jake’s daughter and your son came through okay.
Trouble is, sometimes a doctor is so insulted by your questioning their opinion or asking for a second opinion, that they put something on your medical record out of spite, so you won’t be taken seriously by another doctor. This has happened to two people I know.
Glad she’s alright. Maybe this might stop Mr Privileged Jake, from fighting against “MEDICARE 4 ALL”…. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes people to go through similar effects before they themselves can show Empathy/Sympathy.
@R
This is so real & so scary… they need to check their egos.
@Adarll Kelly
He’s against Medicare?
Doctors think all patients are “cookie cutter” and everyone presents with the same symptoms… It drives me nuts! It a miracle Alice survived!
When I was twenty six, my appendix exploded. I wasn’t misdiagnosed like Alice there, but from the moment that I suspected that something was wrong, to just before I was about to have surgery, things went from zero to one hundred miles per hour for me in maybe 24 hours, in terms of the extreme pain that I would begin to experience. This was back in 1985, and I was very lucky I suppose, that the hospital was the Massachusetts General, and the surgeon was very good, along with the team, and the nurses. And I had a drain, just below where they cut me open, and I’ll tell you – having a tube snaked through your nose and into your gut is not pleasant!
🙏🏽❤️❤️❤️
I am glad to hear that your daughter is getting better and I am so glad that you were bringing this into the light thank you.
So sorry for what happened to this lovely child but grateful that she is okay again. Wishing a long and beautiful life to this darling child.
My deep gratitude to Alice and her parents for sharing her/their story. I had a similar situation when I was in my mid 30s. I had had six children by that time and the doctor just felt that the pain I was experiencing was probably some thing dealing with me getting older and the number of children I had. He gave me a shot of morphine and sent me home. (I also had to do the jump test). My pain never centralized. 12 hrs later the pain was unbearable so the doctor did a blood test. That simple blood test showed my white cells were off the charts. My husband drove me to the hospital. There they did an emergency appendectomy. Unfortunately, my appendix had already ruptured. Recovery for me took over six months. Misdiagnosis can be deadly. I am so grateful that Alice is doing so well! Again, thank you for sharing her story.
Morphine for pain not important enough to test further? I’m sorry you had to go thru that.
😠 I hope you recovered 100% from that ordeal.
This happened to my brother, he was told numerous times that he had diverticulitis. Then suddenly the pain was overwhelming, the ER doctor assumed appendicitis, he was taken to surgery without CT or ultrasound. His colon was ruptured from a huge tumor. Stage 4 colon cancer at 26. He had gone to the doctor numerous times in the months leading up to this event. It’s sad when doctors write off what patients say.
Pretty common, though
@Ann Conforti colon cancer at 26 isn’t very common, ruptured colon vs ruptured appendix would be difficult to determine without pre-op testing.
I hope the best for your brother.
after I moved to Australia and married my husband the first doctor I went to was more of a push-button doctor (put the symptoms into the computer and come up with a diagnosis. She had been treating a sinus infection as asthma eventually I got her to treat me for a sinus infection. She was treating me for diabetes using Metformin and I told her the medicine was causing diarrhea/ loose stools and if I took meds to treat that symptom I would end up not going for three days and it would be back to the loose stools. She told me that it didn’t work that way. Personally, I think I did better diagnosing myself than she did. The last straw was when she said my body did not work well with medicines.
Since I grew up in the States I was not used to not being able to just go to a different doctor because of the cost of healthcare there. One very good thing here is the medicare system which allows for ease of getting a second opinion.
This is scary. My oldest daughter was 18 months old and was diagnosed with gastroenteritis. What she had was Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome. She had renal failure and was on peritoneal dialysis for 3 weeks. Her kidneys did start functioning and she made a full recovery. ALWAYS question doctors if you have a gut feeling that something is not right.
Thank you so much for sharing your daughter’s story. I’m so sorry for what happened to your family. A lot of Doctors don’t listen to their patients I’m speaking from experience. They ignored my symptoms when I tried to explain to them what my symptoms were. They looked at like I was crazy. One of the Doctor’s that I saw stated that I needed to see a neurologist. Everyone’s symptoms and experience are different. I hope this brings awareness to Doctors and patients. Thank you again for sharing.
If this can happen to people of means and influence who WANT to pay for tests even as a caution, I shudder to think what happens to regular, or worse poor folks.
Kudos to Jake for using his resources and name to help save his child, any parent SHOULD. And to mom for being an absolute warrior.
Thank you all for highlighting this critical issue. All the best to Alice going forward.
Yes, that’s why mortality rates are higher for poor people.
Jake’s pissed. He didn’t mention any names, but everybody from the janitor up in the hospital that treated his daughter will know who he is.
@CuriousCat Only in part, other things poor have is worse food (so nutrition,) housing things like lead etc…exposure to toxins etc…
I’m so sorry to hear what Alice and your family went through. She’s brave and kind to share her experience to help others.
So glad she survived to tell her story! The story is likely to save someone’s life!!! Blessings to you all!!!
What a kind act, to share something so personal and traumatic, *to help others.* Thank you very much to Jake, Jennifer, and your daughter Alice.
My great-grandfather died from appendicitis in his 20’s, leaving his wife to raise two small children on her own. All these years later we think it no longer happens. Thanks, Jake, Jennifer and Alice for highlighting that we can’t take health for granted. Or leave it up to doctors.
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