Five hours after I checked into a hospital in Alexandria, Louisiana, on June 20 I was on a gurney rolling down the hallway to the operating room.

I obviously had some sort of blockage in my small intestine that caused fluids and gasses to build up in my stomach, but it could have been something as simple as constipation.

I thought they would give me an industrial-strength laxative and send me home. But my condition had turned out to be worse than that. I had to have an operation to straighten out my twisted intestine.

The first thought that popped into my mind is that patients can die during a...