Whew, that was a close one...

So we've had a patient for a while now, came in about a week ago for a acute exacerbation of chronic asthma. He seemed to be doing fine, so we discharged him late Thursday night. Friday morning at rounds, I find out that he was admitted at 4am that morning. ER complaint showed acute shortness of breath, the regular. But to the admitting doc, he complained of a small amount of abdominal pain as well. He's a pretty large guy, so the exam was negative. At the rounds meeting, we determined that he might be drug-seeking, and that we wouldn't give him any IV narcotics. The doc decided to do some tests and get a CT of his abdomen anyway, just to cover his bases. Defensive medicine, as it's called.

Turned out her had a perforated diverticulitis...that was a close one.

-AMiB