Calif. man faints, dies after seeing epidural

Reuters ^ | 7-7-05 | Anon

[HairOfTheDog]

Why blame the lawyers? Blame the family of the victim who seek to blame the hospital for an unforeseeable accident.

Because someone needs to be the informed grownup who says NO to these people.

[P-Marlowe]

Sad, but I don't see how this was a foreseeable injury. Guess that's why I'm not a lawyer.

Well, I am a lawyer, and quite frankly if the hospital actually requested that the husband help in the procedure, they will most likely be held liable. They have to assume that non-medical personnel might faint at the sight of a spinal needle being inserted. It is not unforseeable.

[Jazzman1]

'kill ALL the lawyers'--W. Shakespeare

[cjshapi]

Doesn't suprise me. We've seen a lot of poorly written stories lately. I've never been in that situation so had no idea what they would be asking him to do.

[Tax-chick]

It is a bit funny. My husband has watched the births of all our children, and helped with some, but I don't care to see a thing. The only good thing about being the one having the baby is I don't have to watch any of it!

[theFIRMbss]

>I wish all these lawyers would go to @#$#

I believe judges
have the power to throw out
cases if they choose . . .

[Minn]

I'm impressed they let you film that. The hospital told us no pictures during the actual moments of delivery for liability reasons.

Since it was an emergency procedure, I wasn't even allowed in the room until after the blessed event. They just took a while to stitch her up. Guess they figured that, since she was under anyway, may as well have a smoke break before finishing up.

[RichInOC]

It's tragedy, and I even sympathize with the man a bit, but if you can't stand the sight of blood and needles, you probably should not be in the delivery room in the first place.

[libstripper]

So true. I remember taking an Army physical many years ago. A very petite black woman was one of the nurses and she was in charge of taking blood samples. All of a sudden she started saying, in an alarmed but controlled voice, "Will someone please help me. Will someone please help me." She'd just taken a sample from a guy who weighed about 170 lb. He'd gone stock stiff, passed out, and his eyes were the size of saucers. Fortunately, people arrived to help her before he hit the floor. Husbands passing out at the sight of blood are a definite risk in delivery rooms. "Birthin' babies" is a MESSY process that a lot of men, including the late General Patton can't stand to watch.

[ArmyTeach]

Interesting. That was my first thought. I guess that we shold be careful what we ask for...

[GretchenM]

Because Passalaqua was solicited by Kaiser to assist in the epidural, the lawsuit said, the hospital "owed him a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent foreseeable injuries resulting from his participation."

It's the claim to this being "foreseeable" that stumps me.

[Tax-chick]

Generally the obstetrician, a labor-and-delivery nurse, and the anesthetist will all be helping, but if a functional husband is around, an extra pair of hands doesn't hurt.

[Ingtar]

I helped hold my wife, but I looked away. Not because I knew I would faint, but because I did not know.

[montag813]

Death by Wimpiness. I did the same thing with my wife and had no problem at all. I even told the nurse how to sew my wife's tearing after our 2nd child because the first one screwed up so badly. To faint when your wife needs you to be strong is pathetic.

[mikegi]

I got a little woozy myself watching that needle slowly disappear into my wife's spine.

It didn't make me woozy but it bothered me like no other procedure has before. Looked like it would hurt like hell. My back hurts just thinking about it now (six years later).

[armymarinemom]

As a physician, I once had a young woman hit the floor like a sack of rocks from me looking into her throat with a tongue blade.I feel for ya. I had a patients husband insist that since he was a mortician needles wouldn't bother him in the least and he wanted to watch the procedure instead of holding his wife's hand. The Anesthesiologist shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't care if he watched next to him. Well the husband started looking pale. I asked him to just sit on the floor. The poor man not only sat down but he crawled on all fours to an area beneath a sink and assumed the fetal position.

His wife tolerated the procedure swimmingly.

[Cobra64]

I saw my wife go through two C-sections. The worse part of the procedure was the initial incision.

[eddie willers]

When I watch Nip/Tuck, I cover my eyes at the "squishy" parts.

Don't faint, though.

[Darkwolf377]

Somewhere along the line we started buying the idea that you can sue the universe, in the person of whoever involved in a situation who has lots of money, for any bad thing that happens to you. The idea that the universe should run by "fairness" rules is ridiculous, but many people want the closest thing to it--that when something bad happens in life, it should be an opportunity for financial gain to balance out the loss.

I'm sorry, ma'am, but bad things happen. Your husband is the closest thing to a responsible party--if he didn't know this would happen, well, that's too bad and shows bad things just happen, but if he DID know he was nervous around blood, he shouldn't have been present in this situation.

[NativeSon]

It's the claim to this being "foreseeable" that stumps me

I guess knowing that this guy is squeemish is in the "foreseeable" realm. Truth be told, the sight of some types of blood does bother me - my own!, everyone elses can spill all over and it doesn't bother me.