Doctors failed to spot burst appendix symptoms (From Bucks Free Press)

Doctors failed to spot burst appendix symptoms

7:20am Thursday 26th November 2009

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HOSPITAL staff failed to spot warnings of a youngster’s burst appendix, a mum says – with one doctor dismissing it as a pulled muscle.

Furious mum Maria Grou said she felt “let down” after 11-year-old son Bradley was taken to Wycombe Hospital twice.

One doctor said it was a pulled muscle and advised her to use Deep Heat pain relieving cream – while a receptionist told them two days later staff did not treat stomach pains.

The next day she took the Wye Valley School pupil to his GP who immediately sent him to Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Aylesbury, for an operation the same day.

She said the GP was angry he was turned away by the hospital and had told her the warning signs should have been spotted on the first visit.

Care for children’s illnesses was cut from Wycombe last month along with birthing services.

Bosses launched a high profile advertising campaign urging parents not to take youngsters to Wycombe with “minor and serious illnesses and serious injuries”.

The 38-year-old said: “You put your faith in the hospital that they come to the right conclusion because they have all this training.”

She said: “I’m so sad, I have lived in Wycombe all my life and I can't even take my son to the local hospital. It’s stupid.

“He was in extreme pain – as a mother I feel really awful about it.”

And she said: “Stoke Mandeville is a long drive but I think I would take him straight there in future, I don't think I'd bother with Wycombe now.”

A doctor “poked around a bit” on the first visit, on October 23, she said, yet carried out no tests and blamed it on a pulled muscle.

The receptionist told them to go to Stoke on October 25. Instead, she saw the GP the next day.

Information for the public from the NHS says appendicitis is a “medical emergency” and a ruptured appendix can cause serious complications. It can kill but this is “very rare”

The Bucks Free Press put her story to Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust which released the following statement: “We are sorry if Mrs Grou was unhappy with the care her son received.

“Mrs Grou has been in contact with the hospital; we are currently investigating her concerns and will be back in contact with her.

“Due to patient confidentiality we are unable to provide any more information.”

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