Harry Truman's Complicated Cholecystectomy

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, developed right-sided abdominal pain the year after he left office. Misdiagnosed with appendicitis, Truman underwent an appendectomy before a cholecystectomy treated the underlying cholecystitis. This error was concealed at the time from the American people. His postoperative course was closely followed by Americans through newspapers and was complicated by a bout of Clostridium difficile colitis. Truman survived this episode to die of heart failure decades later.