Nothing is more disheartening for a parent than when their child falls ill. Parents want to do all they can to keep their children safe, and in times of sickness that includes doing whatever it takes to help them get better.
When a parent makes the urgent decision to take their child to the ER, they trust that something is terribly wrong and have faith in doctors’ abilities to help.
Sadly, what many do not realize is that emergency room physicians routinely misdiagnose patients – a staggering 7.5 million annually in the United States alone! According to one study, this alarming trend leads to severe illness and death for thousands of people each year.
Misdiagnosis can have disastrous repercussions. Not only does it mean that the patient is receiving treatment for a non-existent illness, but also that their actual problem remains unattended.
Jake Tapper, the renowned news anchor for CNN, has endured the perennial effects of a misdiagnosis first-hand. His daughter Alice was wrongly diagnosed in an emergency room and it took months to return her back to good health.
Despite Jennifer’s and the pediatrician’s warnings that Alice may be suffering from appendicitis, the doctors in the emergency room wouldn’t listen. Despite her intense stomach pains, they dismissed any notion of appendicitis as a cause and refused to take proper action. Despite their intuition that Alice’s pain wasn’t indicative of appendicitis because it wasn’t located in her lower right area, and further reinforced by the fact she passed a jump test, the doctors were unfortunately mistaken.
Are you worried that your child might be misdiagnosed in the emergency room? Watch the video below to learn more about what Alice’s experience was like, how she received an accurate diagnosis, and which steps parents can take to attempt to prevent their own kids from facing a similar situation.
Are you surprised to find out that Alice was misdiagnosed by the doctors? It may be even more shocking that over 7.5 million individuals are incorrectly diagnosed in hospital emergency rooms per annum. Have you ever experienced this unfortunate situation yourself?
