Appendicitis Mistaken for Gallstones in Two Hospitals: "I Was in Big Risk"

Appendicitis mistaken for gallstones, which turns into peritonitis and almost causes septicemia in Maurizio Zedda, 57 years old , a physiotherapist from San Nicolò Gerrei, who only received the correct diagnosis at the third hospital and was operated on just in time.

On January 10, he shows up at San Marcellino in Muravera with very strong pain in his abdomen and lower abdomen: "Gall stones, come back in two days for a check-up," they tell him. But the pain becomes increasingly excruciating and the next day he returns to the same hospital. They transfer him to Santissima Trinità in Cagliari for a surgical consultation. Same diagnosis, no beds available in Surgery and the return by ambulance to Muravera. There are no beds there either, so he goes to Lanusei : "He doesn't need surgical treatment, but medical therapy and monitoring," the doctors write.

Diagnosis ignored by the Lanusei surgeon, Zedda's is acute diffuse peritonitis and he is operated on urgently. "No patient should risk his life for a simple appendicitis. And also from a human point of view I did not feel treated in the best way" .

All the details in the article by Paolo Carta on L'Unione Sarda on newsstands and in the digital edition