A tragic story

A quick post to link to a very sad story which appeared in the UK press a few days back reporting the death of a 14-year old girl with autism from acute peritonitis and acute gangrenous appendicitis after being mistakenly diagnosed with gastroenteritis by her family doctor.

There are so many issues which this tragic story covers: communicating pain and discomfort, touch sensitivity affecting the ability to make a diagnosis, the role of healthcare providers when seeing patients with autism spectrum conditions. It reiterates the need to remain vigilant and attuned to the fact that a diagnosis of autism is seemingly protective against nothing, as well as observing that pain and discomfort experienced by some people with autism may not necessarily present in the way one would expect.