Zebra

“WE WERE ALL REALLY, REALLY SHOCKED,” RECALLED HAFEZ, 32, LEAD AUTHOR OF A REPORT ABOUT THE CASE IN A RECENT EDITION OF THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE.

“No one involved had even seen this before.” From emergency room to a large children’s hospital where a medical team labelled the boy as a “zebra”–slang for a diagnosis that is surprising and usually exotic—-this roll out of medical diagnostics and treatment is not an exception. It was not a look at the whole context of illness. “Had [a dietary] history been obtained earlier on,” Hafez said, “we could have spared him this exhaustive workup,” which included painful and expensive tests. This piece [July 25, 2016 Washington Post] is as fascinating as it is frightening. Natural health practitioners and integrative medical doctors who look at “root cause” will find this story validating.

Read the complete Washington Post article by Sandra G Boodman here