I have a son who had complained of severe headache with blurry vision. He went to an EMR on a Sunday (day 1) and was refered to a Neurologist the next Friday. He went back on the Tuesday (day 3) complaining that his pains were getting worse and that his vision was so blurry that he could not read very well for a school test the Monday. He was reminded to continue to take tylenol and wait to see the Neuro on the Friday. The Thursday (day 5) he was rushed to emergency where a CT scan showed that the brain stem was soaked with blood. He was airlifted to another hospital where he had 3 cranium openings to have brain surgeries. He was in a coma for 6 weeks, could not speak for 6 months and has been bed-ridden for the past 10 months, partially paralyzed on one side and undergoing rehab.
During the 2 visits (days 1 and 3) to the HMO's emergency, and the final visit to the EMR on day 5 followed by admission to the Surgery/ICU, I was out of the US on a govt related job assignment. I have on occassions felt that his conditions/injury could have been less severe if I were in the US to push for CT scan during the days 1 and 3 visits.
My question is, "Could an earlier CT scan have detected the injury for pro-active action to reduce the severity of brain injury? Thanks.