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 should have said infectious diseases are rare causes of death now.
FMCDH(BITS)
How do we know that she was initially "misdiagnosed"? It could be that she had a simple cold or the flu when she initially went to the doctor, and then got a pneumonia afterwards. Usually, pneumonia is PRECEEDED by a viral respiratory illness. Jim Henson got pneumonia, RAPIDLY became ill, and died before they could successfully treat the infection (the bacteria causing his pneumonia got into his blood stream).
FMCDH(BITS)
I am with taxcontrol on this. I come down with pneumonia every couple of years and it usually takes multiple trips in to get it diagnosed. Now I am smart enough to tell them I have a history of pneumonia and I am suffering the symptoms.
But the first time I was diagnosed with pneumonia I went in to the dr with a 102 degree fever and he sent me home. I ended up in an emergency room 2 days later.
My reasoning actually relates to a personal experience: Some time ago my wife was admitted to the hospital with flu-like symptoms. They found a shadow on her lung. They said it could be a blood clot, lung cancer or phnemonia. 24 hours later - after treating her for the more urgent blood clot - they diagnosed phnemonia
We don't have any facts in this case...just an article with someone's opinion.
She may have had any number of underlying medical conditions, there may have been drug use involved.
The list is endless.
difficult to treat and diagnose pneumonia? uh...no.. my friend has had it several times.. being poor and having excellent health care (wierdo california for ya), she's had no problem getting proper care.
Exactly. See post #63.
Well, my sister needed 2 trips to the doctor to get a pneumonia diagnosis last year. It happens.
The only thing I posted about was John Ritter, what are you talking about?
I carry streptococcal pneumonia bacteria supposedly. Doesn't take much of a flu to set it in motion.
This is also true.
Someone should call John Edwards.
When a young person dies from pneumonia, the infection itself is often not the killer. They develop an inflammatory condition in the lungs - Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) - which can kill rapidly. It sometimes occurs even if the pneumonia is treated adequately. This is what Jim Henson died from.
Also, in the early stages, pneumonia sometimes doesn't show up on a chest X-Ray.
Diagnosing pneumonia is based on 2 main things: listening to the lungs and hearing "crackles" (rales), and a chest x-ray. It's not particularly difficult to diagnose, if you know what to listen/look for.
I thought Henson died strictly from strep throat infection?
No, you can stop throwing info around you can't back up.
I had a friend in high school who at age 17 went from feeling slightly bad to having a 105 degree fever and severe pneumonia in about a 12 hour period. Had he not gone to the emergency room he may well have been dead by morning.
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