Father Says School Initially Ignored Son's Need For Appendectomy

ELK GROVE (CBS13) — A father says his son was sick at school and told to go back to class, only to need his appendix removed the same day.

Wrapped up in a blanket, Anthony Burks Jr. is home from the hospital. His father, Anthony Sr, says his son's school has some serious explaining to do.

"He was denied his rights for medical attention," he said.

He says his son, a seventh-grader at Smedberg Middle School in Sacramento went to the office on Tuesday complaining he was sick. Instead of calling his parents, he was sent back to class.

Because he was late, he was sent to get a late pass before going back to class where he still felt sick. He went back to the office and his parents were notified. The whole episode took about half an hour.

"Sending him here there and everywhere, and, you know, exaggerating what he was feeling, the pain," his mom Tessa Burks said.

Anthony really was sick and it wasn't just the flu. It turns out his appendix was inflamed and he had to have it removed.

His father says the principal told him this:

"'I've been here 20 years and I've never had this kind of emergency problem like this before,'" he said. "I said well someone dropped the ball, because my son could've died."

Elk Grove Unified School District spokeswoman Xanthi Pinkerton calls the situation "unfortunate," saying the seventh-grader was initially examined, but wasn't obviously in pain or feeling nauseous.

"In this particular situation, the student didn't show signs that required emergency services or anything like that, and so we followed our standard protocols," she said.

But Anthony's dad says the bottom line is the school should have taken his son more seriously from the get-go.

"These kids come in every day, so, this is another one of these kids coming in claiming sick so go to class no that's not. That's wrong, that is very wrong," he said.

In the end, Anthony needed surgery to remove his appendix, and he'll miss the next couple of weeks of school.