Not necessarily. He could have felt just as light headed and faintied if the nurses had positioned / held the patient and he been standing in the corner. Staffing is a legitimate issue at most hospitals around the country. I know others disagree, but I don't see where staffing or his helping hold his wife in any way really plays into this scenario. As I mentioned in another reply, often people feel less lightheaded if they have something to do - a task to focus on (like holding his wifes hand etc), rather than the procedure. The real underlying question is should family members be in the room during any procedure - even if they think they want to and/or insist?
I was wondering how they figured out he fainted because of the needle. Couldn't it have been like you said--he was standing around and his knees locked? I've heard of this happening to people in weddings. Could it have been from lack of eating and getting light headed? Could it have been from the excitement of his wife having a baby? Even if he was known not to like needles, how do we know the sight of the needle caused him to faint?