[Waterluvian]

I'm not sure I'll debate your source. It looks legit. But wow is that hard to believe. Is appendicitis really that prevalent?

It feels like it's an overreaction to a specific event.

[vkou]

> Is appendicitis really that prevalent?

It's not incredibly prevalent, but it's a death sentence if not treated immediately.

[maxerickson]

Sepsis from a burst appendix is.

There have been studies where a large percentage of cases of appendicitis were successfully treated with antibiotics (which is treatment of course, but not immediate surgery).

[refurb]

It’s seems like an excessive requirement considering antibiotics were found to be non-inferior to surgery in acute appendicitis.[1]

Sure, antibiotics don’t work for every case, but doing abdominal surgery just in case sounds risky. [1] https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2014320

[tialaramex]

For the individual patient the risk numbers look very different if they're the only medic at an Antarctic research station compared to say, a medium sized Australian town. I'm confident my risk of dying from acute appendicitis in a major city in an industrialised country with universal healthcare is negligible, but if I was in the middle of the Antarctic (actually I'd guess Amundsen-Scott has more than one medic, but not say the Russian base Vostok) and there is nobody qualified to operate? Not so much.

Also, the PR is very bad, and while ethically that's no reason for a medic to recommend this surgery to their patient it might be enough reason for a government to make it policy anyway.

[refurb]

Well I misread that. This is for the doctor stationed there. That makes more sense in terms of risk level. I read that as anyone stationed there.

[psyklic]

Apparently 20-30% of cases have an imminent rupture requiring surgery.

Of those who take antibiotics, 40% require it to be removed via surgery within 5 years.

Source: https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/news/20180925/anti...