Emergency surgery, acute care surgery and the boulevard of broken dreams

Excerpt

The scenario sounds familiar. Last night I returned home very late after a full day of emergency surgeries. While I was having my usual cold dinner in front of the television with my entire family asleep, I received disturbing news; a famous Italian actor had undergone emergency surgery in Honduras. the actor had been participating in a "reality show" and experienced severe back pain. For this reason, he was treated for one week with a NSAID. Suddenly, he developed acute abdominal pain and was taken to the nearest hospital. The diagnosis was acute appendicitis and he underwent immediate laparotomy via a Mc Burney incision. Unfortunately, the surgeons were mistaken. The problem was a large perforated duodenal ulcer and the actor then underwent a midline incisioThe patient was subsequently transferred to a Miami acute care hospital. …