Nicole DeHuff, an actress who played Teri Polo's sister in Meet the Parents, has died of causes related to pneumonia. She was 30.Posted on 03/11/2005 12:23:10 PM PST by crushelits
Nicole DeHuff, an actress who played Teri Polo's sister in Meet the Parents, has died of causes related to pneumonia. She was 30.
The actress died Feb. 16 in Hollywood, four days after she reportedly checked into a Los Angeles hospital, was misdiagnosed and sent home with orders to take Tylenol.
When her condition worsened, she returned to the hospital and was prescribed antibiotics for bronchitis and again sent home. Two days later, paramedics were called to her home after she collapsed, gasping for breath. By the time she reached the hospital, she was unconscious and passed away soon after.
Meet the Parents marked DeHuff's feature-film debut. She played Deborah Byrnes, the sister whose wedding prompts Gaylord "Greg" Focker's (Ben Stiller) visit to girlfriend Pam Byrne's (Polo) childhood home to attend the ceremony and, as suggested by the title, meet the parents. Hilarity ensues.
In one of the movie's most memorable scenes, a Speedo-clad Stiller spikes a volleyball into DeHuff's face, breaking the bride-to-be's nose and cementing his own unpopularity.
DeHuff also appeared in 2004's Suspect Zero with Ben Kingsley and in an independent film called Killing Cinderella.
She also starred in the as yet unreleased independent film Unbeatable Harold, directed by her husband, Ari Palitz, and costarring Dylan McDermott and Gordon Michaels.
On the small screen, DeHuff had roles in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Court, The Practice, Dragnet, Without a Trace and Monk. She also appeared in the TV movie See Arnold Run.
A native of Oklahoma, DeHuff graduated from the Carnegie Mellon University acting program.
She is survived by Palitz, her husband of four years, as well as her sister, her mother and her father.
I have an asthmatic son who tends to get pneumonia roughly once per year. One time, he'd had a cold, but didn't seem to have much of a cough so I wasn't concerned. He started complaining of a stomache ache. I kept him home one day and he never threw up or anything so he went back to school the next. Off and on for several days he complained about his stomach.
I finally took him in and the Dr informed me that he had pneumonia. Apparently, if it is in the lower part of the lung, which is close to the stomach, it can actually irritate the tummy.
Such a young lovely woman, what a tragedy. I guess that goes without saying. This is the kind of thing that malpractice is meant for. Years ago, my grandfather died of pneumonia 4 days after my grandmother took him to the doctor and flooded his office with calls. They were sure he had pneumonia, as he had survived numerous other bouts of pneumonia, the doctor patronizingly sent them home. He died just a week after his 92nd birthday. That doctor was later fired as this wasn't the only time he had misdiagnosed seriously ill people directly leading to their deaths.
This could have been me 5 years ago. One month after a minor, out-patient surgery (gall bladder) I was struck by a sudden, intense pain in my chest. Upon reflection, I realized that it only hurt (and hurt a lot) when I inhaled. I went to the doctor on a Sat. morning where they took a chest X ray, pronounced me sound, and sent me home saying to take Advil. The doctor said that I must have "strained a muscle". I went back to the doctor 2 days later because I was still in sever pain. This time I saw my own doctor who said that the other doctor was right and for me to go home and continue with the Advil.
Gradully the pain cleared, but I noticed that I was very short of breath when climbing stairs. Never mind, I continued on my way. ONE MONTH later I received an urgent call from my doctor to get right back to the office for another chest X ray with dark hints that I could have lung cancer (at least that's how I interpreted her remarks). 2 more weeks, and an X ray, and a CT Scan, and a Nuclear Scan later, they diagnosed me with a pulmonary embolism that I had been walking around with for about 6 weeks. The doctors confessed that they had read the WRONG chest X-ray on my first visit! They read my pro op X-ray, rather than the one that was taken the day I came in in pain.
They put me on blood thinners and thinned my blood so well that I was in danger of bleeding to death had I fallen, or had cut myself. At that point I switched doctors and found one who got me stablized. After the blood thinners were out of my system, he did a some blood work and found that I am missing 2 factors in my blood that make me prone to clot a little easier than most folks. I am prone to DVT.
All this could have been avoided with a proper pre-surgery work up (including a blood scan) and doctors who had listened to me rather than trying to get me out the door in 15 minutes.
You know you are in trouble when your pharmacist is telling you to get a lawyer and the nurse who is doing your weekly blood work is whispering "find another doctor!"
May this poor woman RIP.
Wow...How awful. "Take some Motrin, you'll be fine!"
I agree with your attitude - I've fired Dr's before too. One misdiagnosed Spinal Meningitis as a sinus infection - hospital misdiagnosed it as hepatitis because my liver enzymes were elevated. The put me in a private room and 2 days later when I hadn't turned yellow they figured they should check for something else. Luckily the neurologist they called in knew his stuff and took excellent care of me. Not a fun experience.
So much BS, so few facts...
I know, I know, If your kid dies due to the gross negligence of a doctor, you'll be happy just to see they guy's license yanked.
So much BS, so little experience.
Like it!...Are those eyes, or what I think they are?...hahahaha!
FMCDH(BITS)
Through a stethoscope, pneumonia sounds like a coffee percolator.
Reasons for the complete breakdown in medical care standards:
1) Vast numbers of illegal invaders demanding and getting free care.
2) No income due to cheating managed care, Medicare and MediCal (California Meidcaid).
3) A massive exodus of all decent specialists due to the (obvious) massive liability risk and factors (1) and (2) listed above
LOL. I can see him channeling the victim during his closing arguments!
Sounds like an occupational hazard, and therefore one for which you should be prepared at all times.
Not that ER "doctors" are anything to brag about in Houston. The last time I went to an ER was about three years ago for a kidney stone. The hospital had my file detailing my history of kidney stones. Every symptom you can have that might indicate kidney stones, I had. Yet the intern or resident or whatever was on call that night decided he wasn't TOTALLY POSITIVE I had one, so he wanted to admit me for observation. (I guess he was planning to observe me in the bathroom to see if a stone actually materialized.)
I told the "doctor" that no way in hell was I being admitted, and that either he could treat me the same way I'd been treated for the last three stones or I'd go to Ben Taub (our local charity hospital). BT's level of uncare is legendary . . . I wouldn't actually have gone there, but I wished to convey to the "doctor" that I was fairly sure BT could do a better job than he was doing.
About half an hour later, I was on my way home with a scrip slip and a sore back.
I mean, really. That unnecessary overnight "observation" would have cost Aetna at least a couple grand. As it was, Aetna and I between us shelled out about $75 for Vicodin, I had an uncomfortable sleepless night, and voila - stone gone.
I am always amazed at people who refuse to take responsibility for their own health and the care and feeding thereof.
Over half the people that die in hospitals do so because if drug interactions and misprecriptions.
Wow. How very sad.
ouch this sucks....
Malpractice is putting it mildly.
My wife just had Bronchitis. It sucks too, but Pneumonia is similar but any trained Doctor is supposed to know the difference.
My significant other dragged me to see the sequel. We broke up shortly thereafter.
$500K to the family. PLUS revocation of the doctor's license, plus a pretty good censure of the hospital's ER. You know, a large ugly sign saying "WARNING: x PATIENTS HAVE DIED IN THIS HOSPITAL DUE TO MISDIAGNOSIS".
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