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.
Sounds inexcusable to me.
I think that's the standard procedure, although I understand that a lot of doctors prescribe antibiotics just to get their patients off their backs, or make them think they're "doing something." Not a good idea, really.
Another thing about the case we're discussing here that just occurred to me: this woman was an actress, and I can't help but wonder whether she was doing anything, such as severe dieting, that might have had an impact on her immunity. Hell, the fact that she was an actress might imply that she had ever social disease under the sun. I hate to bring that up, but we all know what Hollywood is famous for.
"I smell a malpractive lawsuit..."
And well deserved, but it won't do her any good.
You gotta slap these docs around sometimes. My really mild mannered boss once advised the really hot tempered me to "scream and yell" regarding my mother's health care. So how bad is it? It can really be that bad.
This poor young woman, may she rest in peace.
"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!"
Oh dear yes. But thank God for honest people like that!
I'm glad you are OK!
Sin is the leading cause of death in man not doctors.
I believe you. I must have had that other "comorbities" condition, (LOL)..
I have read a lot of posts about 'malpractice'.
Maybe yes, maybe no.
Please remember, we all die. In spite of the best efforts of the best doctors, you will die. Sorry about that.
Someday there will be no more LibKill (tm).
I can get along without me, but the rest of you will be in really bad shape, come that day. What will you do? What will you do without LibKill? :)
This same thing happened to a friend of mine 5 years ago. He went to the hospital feeling terrible. The doctor told him it was the flu and sent him home. The next day his roommates couldn't wake him up. THey took him back to the hospital where he was finally diagnosed with pneumonia. He died four days later. He was just 32.
Yes, because bacterial infection is always present. Staph for example is always around, but your body does a great job of fighting it off. Abuse antibiotics and antibiotic resistant staph is a common mutation. That's just one example.
sw
Sheesh. All these personnel, all these institutions standing ready to try to save people...sometimes I just wish they could shut their doors against the hatefulness they rec' in return.
Twice?
ACTORS HOSPITAL: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
True.
Hey LibKill you dog, I haven't seen the lyrics from "Poisoning Pigeons in The Park" for twenty years. I'll buy ya a beer if you're ever in town.
A man bearing striking resemmblance to Jack Lemmon speaks up. "I know the doctor looks guilty as hell, but maybe we should ask a few questions. You say the actress had been in the ER twice before? Was it the same ER? If it wasn't, did the actress tell the personnel that? What did the physical examinations show? What were her vital signs? Did she have any chest xrays? Were they compared? Was she already on other medications for other reasons? Did she have a history of adverse reactions to antibiotics? Was she by any chance intoxicated?"In the movie these facts turn up: the patient had indeed gone to multiple ERs and not told the personnel that she had done so. She had a long history of showing up at odd hours for headaches and back-pain, demanding opioids. Her vital signs were normal, not so much as a fever. Her lungs were clear. The chest xray was perfectly normal. She was once treated with Levaquin and almost died from liver failure. Her pneumonia was caused by an unusual and rapidly fatal infection.
In this fictitious hypothetical account, I would find the doctor not guilty of malpractice.
Yes. Now Iknow what it feels like and when I tell my doctor I have a pain in my chest I get checked immediately. This just happeneedto me about a month ago. They could find no reason, and all we can think is that there was a small clot that dissipated by itself.
The problem is that there is so much scarring on my lung from the previous episode that it is difficult to see a new clot now.
I'm no doctor, but having been stricken by a case pneumonia several years ago, unless the doctor orders an x-ray and confirms fluid in the lungs, it has all the symptoms of mild bronchitus or even a seasonal chest allergy, until it gets so bad it can lay you out.
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