When persistent pain invaded Gary Stern’s gut, doctors at two local hospitals focused on the digestive-tract disease he’d had a decade earlier. They didn’t listen to him insist this felt different, and they didn’t order a standard test to check for an ulcer. The misdiagnosis triggered a cascade of surgeries and suffering that took his life.
David Black wrote the book Ripped Apart to tell the story. Gary’s wife Carol never left his side, "Doctors need to realize it’s ok to make a mistake. But don’t cover it up. And that’s what they did with Gary. And that’s what ended up being his demise.”
And neurologist Dr. David Newman-Toker of the Johns Hopkins ‘Center for Diagnostic Excellence’ tells how patients can guard against medical misdiagnosis.
Original air-date: August 3, 2021.
