It's actually a really common problem, at least in my neck of the woods. I used to work for a medical malpractice firm, and I saw a bunch of lawsuits about it. It also happened to my grandmother too, except her appendix did burst and she nearly died. She also suffered a stroke in the aftermath that was likely tied to it. She went to the ER as an active, independent senior who was competing in golf tournaments and walking her dog at least three miles a day, and she came out barely able to walk and needing to move into a retirement community and hire home health aides to help her get through the day.

We talked about suing the hospital and the attorney I worked for thought we had a really good case (and he is one of the top med mal attorneys in the region and an MD himself, so if he thought we had a case, we probably did), but ultimately we didn't need the money and thought it would be too stressful for my grandma. She can barely handle answering questions at a doctor's appointment nowadays, much less giving testimony in a deposition or trial. But it really sucks and is so infuriating.