Jake Tapper’s Daughter Nearly Died From A Very Common Illness, All Because Doctors Wouldn’t Listen To Her!

CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s 15-year-old daughter, Alice, wrote an opinion piece for CNN about her recent health emergency that nearly turned very serious.

In the piece, Alice talked about how last year, she developed stomach cramps, a low grade fever and started vomiting. But this wasn’t a typical stomach bug. She did not get better, so her parents decided she needed to take a trip to the emergency room.

Soon it became clear I needed to go to the emergency room. By the time I got there, I had low blood pressure, an elevated heart rate, intense abdominal pain and a high white blood cell count. I was given IV fluids, but they weren’t helping.

She was then transferred to another hospital, where her parents and her pediatrician suggested they check her for appendicitis, which is when your appendix becomes infected and inflamed. But at the time, doctors refused to check because she was tender all over her abdomen and not just her right side, which is where the appendix is located.

The doctors concluded that what I had must be a viral infection and would eventually just go away. At one point, my skin turned a pale green, but they still didn’t recommend anything but Tylenol.

Alice’s mother asked doctors why they couldn’t do a sonogram to check and they insisted it wasn’t necessary. Jake asked why she couldn’t be given antibiotics, and doctors told him that they wouldn’t help a viral infection.

As her condition worsened, doctors finally rushed her for an emergency ultrasound where they determined she had a perforated appendix.

When I learned my diagnosis, I was almost relieved. At least the doctors now had a plan. It breaks my heart to think about the boys and girls who don’t have parents who can get the phone number of the hospital administrator—who can’t make their voices break through. I still can’t believe this happened to me—and I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.

According to the statistics, doctors miss up to 15 percent of appendicitis diagnosis in children, and it’s likely because a lot of them believe pain can only be felt on the right side of the belly, which is just simply not the case.

It’s a bit wild that they wouldn’t simply check to see, especially considering Jake presumably has great healthcare.

What would have been the harm in checking? They didn’t want to fire up the machine? Strange, strange stuff. By the way, if you’re wondering how someone dies from an appendicitis, if it goes on long enough, the infected appendix will burst inside you and spread nasty bacteria inside your belly, which can lead to death.