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Updated: 03/14/2005

Name: Nicole DeHuff

Birthday: January 6, 1975

Birth Place: Oklahoma

Date of death: February 16, 2005

Nicole, who played Teri Polo's sister in "Meet the Parents", died February 16th after two doctors misdiagnosed her pneumonia, recognizing it only after it became untreatable.

CREDITS:

CSI: Miami - Carrie Delgado - Wannabe (2004)

CSI: Miami - Carrie Delgado - Stalkerazzi (2004)

Monk - Vicki Salinas - Mr. Monk and the Paperboy (2004)

L.A. Dragnet - Claudia Hellman - The Magic Bullet (2003)

Without a Trace - Kathy Dobson - Underground Railroad

(2003)

The Court (2002) - Alexis Cameron

The Practice - Michelle Farrell - Dangerous Liaisons

(2001)

CSI - Tina Kolas - Alter Boys (2001)

See Arnold Run (2005) - Barbara

Suspect Zero (2004) - Katie Potter

Meet the Parents (2000) - Debbie Byrnes

I second from occupied ga.

So what?

What are you trying to say? That those of us who disagree with the stupid premise of this post are wrong because people have died due to mismanagement by their health care providers? Especially one who is so young and attractive?

Do us all a favor please. If you are going to take part in a discussion, do it with some skill. You obviously took the time to find these cases and post the pictures, but you need some logic to back up your premise.

Your premise is that because people have died due to mismanagement or negligence by the medical community, then the assertion that health care in America causes more harm than good is true.

Do I understand your position correctly?

Very impressive...But meaningless. Should I put my picture up so you can see a success story? With no risk factors, that is, Low blood pressure, resting pulse of 61, not overweight, no sugar problems, great genes on both sides, and a blood and/or platelet donor for 30 years. Do I sound like a candidate for heart disease? When I complained (once)of pressure on my chest, the Doc not only took it seriously, but found the birth defect that caused the problem and FIXED it. BEFORE I had a heart attack, or lost any cardiac muscle. Not bad for a profession that only lives to push pills and collect bonuses from drug companies.

Maybe I could post some pictures from 50 years ago of people that didn't make it because the drugs and diagnostic tools simply weren't available. But you wouldn't count any of that, because it doesn't fit that ax that you are determined to grind.

I sincerely hope that you never have need of modern medicine, but if that day ever comes, I would council you to relax and consider that you live in a day that has the best medical care in human history.

Not all the facts are in from this case, methinks. I'll have to wait for the official autopsy report. Autopsy are usually required in cases of unexpected death. Especially in an otherwise healthy 30 years old individual. I wonder if in those 2 visits to 2 different doctors, did she have a chest xray done? Was she placed on antibiotics by any of these 2 docs? What were her vital signs like? Did she have a fever? Was she short of breath or in any respiratory distress? How was she oxygenating on room air? How far apart were these 2 visits? Did she follow discharge instructions to return for re-evaluation if she gets worse or not feeling better in so many days? There are too many unanswered questions and without all the facts, so let's not jump to conclusions.

Perhaps she did not die of pneumonia. Perhaps she died of a pulmonary embolus. Just because someone has a cough and a low grade fever does not always mean they have a pneumonia. Healthy individuals without any past medical problems or co-morbidities are discharged from ER's and clinics everyday to take oral antibiotics at home after they are diagnosed with pneumonias. One just don't simply flop over and croak/die immediately after a diagnosis of pneumonia. There are criterias for admission to hospitals and criterias for IV antibiotics (some antibiotic have the same bioavailability in oral form as in IV form). Age (very young and very old), co-morbidities (any thing or existing medical problems that can cause a patient to be immuno-compromised), decreased oxygenation/hypoxia, abnormal labs (very high white blood cell count, electrolyte abnormalities, etc...), dehydration, inability to take oral antibiotics such as persistent vomitting, etc...are all examples of positive criterias for inpatient admission to a hospital for agressive treatment of pneumonia. For an otherwise healthy individual such as Ms. DeHuff (and I'm assuming she has no serious past medical history since she's only 30 years old) sending her home on oral antibiotics for pneumonia isn't uncommon at all if she meets no criteria for inpatient admission. She may have died from a pulmonary embolus, often misread on chest xrays as pneumonia. If she indeed died that quickly only several days after contracting the disease, she must have died from some extremely agressive strain such as SARS. Who could have predicted that? The point is...let's wait for the autopsy report and all the facts to come in before we judge.