Pataki's Appendix Seriously Ruptured His illness appears Worse Than Previously Thought

Doctors for the first time disclosed that Governor George Pataki has a seriously ruptured appendix that has sent the infection throughout his abdomen.

Eyewitness News Reporter N.J. Burkett is at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Washington Heights with the latest.

At a news conference this afternoon, doctors revealed that the governor's medical condition is somewhat worse than previously believed. Yes, he is said to be in good spirits, but is fighting an infection that will keep him hospitalized here indefinitely.

His doctors revealed that his appendix was so badly ruptured that the infection spread throughout his abdominal cavity. Dr. Spencer Amory is one of Pataki's surgeons.

Dr. Amory: "He had a ruptured appendix, which is spread throughout the intestinal tract in the abdomen."

Doctors say the governor has had a fever since he was first hospitalized two weeks ago. Although his digestive function has not returned to normal, Pataki has been able to digest small amounts of solid food for the first time.

Dr. Marc Bessler: "He has had slow return of digestive function, which has returned and that is part of the reason he is here."

Today's news conference ended a virtual media blackout. John Cahill is the governor's chief of staff.

Cahill: "If there is one thing I can do it's pull his Blackberry away from the governor once and a while and cell phone because he does need to get some rest."

The governor has been hospitalized now for 12 days. That is essentially 10 days longer than expected. His staff tonight is clearly trying to put a good face on this.

In western countries the mortality rate for acute appendicitis is less than 1:10,000. But a ruptured appendix is an entirely different animal than acute appendicitis. A ruptured appendix is a ruptured colon with open egress of fecal contents into the peritoneal cavity. Older people commonly have acute diverticulits (what old-timers used to call left sided appendicitis). When a diverticulum ruptures, almost universally the proceedure is resection of the ruptured colon with a barrel colostomy (unless the perforatin is diagnosed very early on after rupture).

Even today in some westernized countries the mortality rate for a ruptured appendix approaches 5%.

Now as a political matter, we were initially told that Pataki had appendicitis, not a ruptured appendix. It is quiet possible that if the appendix was treated with laparoscopic appendectomy without drainage, the perforation might have been diagnosed by the pathologist after the surgery, and not by the operating surgeon. I do not know the specifics of what the surgeon reported, but it might be an informative piece of journalism to ask what proceedure was performed on the patient,...was the peritoneal cavity copiously irrigated?...was rupture diagnosed at the time of surgery?...was the peritoneal cavity drained with passive or acitve draingage proceedures?....Were abcesses found at the time of surgery?...and many more.

Remember, a ruptured appendix is what took the life of Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.