Perforated intestine

[soworriedtn]

My brother-in-law started having intense abdominal pain on Monday Nov. 2nd. He went to see his GP immediately. His general practitioner then sent him to the hospital to have further tests done. The hospital turned him away because his insurance card had expired, even though he has coverage. He went home, and on Tuesday Nov. 3rd, he started running a fever of 103 and the abdominal pain continued. At 3:00 in the afternoon he went back to the ER and was finally admitted. Test were done and he was told he had a hole in his intestines and an infection had developed. The hospital started him on IV antibiotics and put him in CCU. He was not seen by a surgeon until 11 am today, Nov. 4th. I should mention that my brother in law is extremely overweight. He weighs about 400 pounds. The surgeon says the hole is no longer leaking because it is being compressed by all the weight and the inflammation. He says that they will not do surgery at this time because the hole sometimes heals on it's own, and he doesn't want to operate because of the infection and because of his weight. He is now being moved to a regular hospital room. His temp is down to 100.4. My question is, wouldn't it be better to go ahead with the surgery to fix the perforation and wouldn't that help alleviate the infection? I am so concerned because this hospital doesn't have the best reputation and the family seems content with this answer from the docs.  I am so frustrated with them and could just shake them!Shouldn't they get a second opinion at least? I am worried they are just letting him lie there getting sicker!!! It's been almost 48 hours since the perforation happened! Sorry this is so long. If you have any advice it would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you

[mammo]

You're absolutely right on this!!!  A hole in his intestine can kill him and will NOT heal on it's own.  Plus, it needs to be determined what caused the hole to begin with.  He will die if they do not fix this leak, stomach contents and bile, everything is leaking out posing a very dangerous situation.  Go to the hospital administrator about this, I lost a son and grandson due to medical negligence, they wouldn't listen to me.  Now I don't stop until someone listens and reacts.  It's sad how much trust people put in doctors, and sad that they can't trust them.  Someone need to act fast on this!