We should look at complaints again

摘要

Twenty years ago I was called to the casualty department to see an unconscious 38 year old man with a rigid abdomen. He was scarcely breathing. His blood pressure was unrecordable. After several hours' resuscitation the duty surgeon opened the abdomen and repaired a perforation. The patient survived but was left with irreversible neurological damage. During the 24 hours before admission he had been seen on two occasions by different doctors working for the emergency service.