7-Year-Old Girl's Appendix Ruptures In Hospital After Waiting 8 Hours For Surgery

A 7-year-old girl was in extreme pain and agony after her appendix ruptured at a hospital in Australia as she waited for doctors to attend to her in the emergency room.

Annabelle and David Oates arrived at the hospital along with their daughter Audrey for her urgent treatment after she was diagnosed with acute appendicitis, the Guardian reported. However, the girl had to wait for over six hours for the doctor to examine her.

A doctor, who checked her, said she needed surgery. She was given pain relief; however, her condition soon deteriorated, and 30 minutes later her appendix burst. She was given another pain relief and 1.5 hours later, she was operated upon. The incident took place on March 1, 2021, the Guardian reported on Monday.

"She was arching her back and gritting her teeth and screaming – she was in extreme pain. There was no staff around when it happened. I think it put her health at risk. I think it was dangerous," Annabelle told the local website In Daily on Monday.

"She just wasn’t given the care that she needed at the time. Going through extreme pain is one (thing), but you don’t know whether she could have died or whether she could have had permanent injuries as a result," Annabelle said.

A doctor then told them that "it was a nasty surgery."

"He said her appendix had a hole in it, it had ruptured, and around the bladder area there was an infection there as well so they couldn’t just do an easy surgery. They had to do a fair bit to get all of the infection out of her body. Then she had this drain as well," Annabelle said, adding, "This could be anyone in the state that this happens to."

The couple said the emergency department was overcrowded and there was no place to sit.

"There was no place for people to sit. There were families of babies who were standing. There were people out in the corridors sitting there. All the seats were taken. There were families leaning up against walls. I counted 60 people in the waiting area of the ED and that’s not including people in the corridors. According to a sign the COVID limit was 30. There were lines all the way down the corridor just to get to the first window," Annabelle said, In Daily reported.

The mother said she "felt really sorry for the doctors and nurses and staff because there weren’t enough of them to deal with the amount of people coming in."

"Audrey was able to get the surgery even though there was a delay in it. But you can imagine some family just turning away or not understanding things and you know their child could have died," she said, In Daily reported.

The couple filed a complaint, following which the head of the emergency department apologized to them and said they are investigating the matter thoroughly.

In a statement, the hospital said a senior doctor is in contact with the family and has apologized for the delay in treatment.

"An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the care of the child was launched several weeks ago and is still underway. It could have been way worse than what it was – if we had gone home," a hospital spokesperson said.