The 15-year-old daughter of CNN anchor Jake Tapper "almost died" after she was misdiagnosed.
In November 2021, Alice Tapper was hospitalized after developing "severe abdominal pain" and a fever. Quickly, her parents wondered if Alice was suffering from appendicitis, but doctors dismissed it, chalking it up instead to a viral infection.
Alice detailed her health struggles in an op-ed for CNN, writing about vomiting, having stomach cramps, a low fever and chills. Alice assumed she'd get better after doctors told her she had a viral infection.
"I got sicker and my skin started turning a pale green. As Monday turned into Tuesday, I was only given Tylenol for my pain. My mom asked the doctors why I couldn't get a sonogram to see what was happening inside my abdomen; they said it wasn't needed," she penned. "My dad asked why I couldn't get antibiotics; the doctors said for a viral infection they could do more harm than good. My parents kept pushing for a gastroenterologist who might have more insight about my condition to evaluate me, but one never came."
The teen said she was vocal about her pain, but hospital workers didn't listen. At one point, she was being treated with merely a heating pad.
With his daughter begging for "recognition," Jake eventually obtained the phone number for a hospital administrator and placed a call. Afterward, the administrator ordered an X-ray. No viral infection was found.
"In the middle of the night, I was rushed to get an ultrasound that revealed I had a perforated appendix that was leaking a poisonous stream of bacteria throughout my internal organs. When I learned my diagnosis, I was almost relieved. At least the doctors now had a plan," Alice said.
Alice went into emergency surgery.
"I had sepsis and we would later learn I was going into hypovolemic shock — which can cause organs to stop working," she said. "Once I was well enough to leave the ICU, I stayed in the hospital for another week, bedridden with uncomfortable drains in my body and horribly sharp cramping pains, for which I was given morphine. I could barely walk. I didn't recognize the helpless, hunchbacked, green, exhausted girl I saw in the hospital mirror."
Alice ended her piece by insisting that her situation — at least the delay in X-rays and sonograms — was preventable and shouldn't have happened to her or anyone else.
"Hospitals need to change the way they assess and diagnose appendicitis because it can frequently present in atypical ways," she said.