[finnman69]

I sense spin. Pataki must be in pretty poor shape.

[areafiftyone]

I believe so. I feel bad. Pataki is a nice guy. Not crazy about all his politics but a nice guy. Prayers for his speedy recovery.

[Texas Songwriter]

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.