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Harry S. Goldsmith, MD
Boston (Mass) University School of Medicine

JAMA. 1991;266(14):1936.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—My patient is a 14-year-old boy who had an appendectomy and was discharged from the hospital on the second day after his operation. On the morning of his fourth postoperative day, I received a call from the patient's mother, who claimed that her son was very sick. On readmission to the hospital, I found him in distress with signs and symptoms of partial small-bowel obstruction, which was confirmed by roentgenogram. Intravenous fluids were started, but just prior to insertion of a nasogastric tube, I was called away. On my return, 20 minutes later, I was surprised to see that the patient's condition had improved markedly, which he attributed to the recent passage of a large amount of feces and flatus. A nasogastric tube was not inserted, and, by the following day, the patient was asymptomatic and was discharged from the hospital. I heard nothing further from him . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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