Alicia Tatum

Alicia Tatum is a patient who had mysterious symptoms and was ultimately diagnosed with porphyria.

History
Alicia came into the hospital with a fever and pain three months after an oophorectomy. Her workup showed gallstones and wall thickening, so she had laparoscopic surgery to remove them. She was hoping that would relieve her pain, which was constant. During her surgery, they noted that high-fat diets can cause gallstones, but Miranda Bailey informed them that she was vegan. She'd started a vegan diet when she realized it helped with the acid reflux she'd had for most of her life.

A month later, Alicia came back to the ER with symptoms consistent with appendicitis. However, when she opened Alicia's abdomen, she found a healthy appendix. Despite this, she removed it and closed. Nicole Baylow wrote her off as a drug seeker and wanted to get her a psych consult, but after Richard Webber questioned that treatment plan, she went by what Bailey had suggested and tested for lupus and other rare disorders. The tests were all negative, so Alicia was sent home again.

Alicia came back to the hospital a few months later. Baylow thought she had an obstruction and wanted to take her in for surgery to take a closer look, but Bailey noticed that her urine was intermittently dark and had other symptoms consistent with porphyria. She only had a pseudo-obstruction. They started her on hemin for the porphyria, which improved her condition.

Romantic
She had an ex-boyfriend who was a vegan chef. He broke up with her after her oophorectomy.

Notes and Trivia

 * Miranda Bailey lectured about her case at Lecture Day.