Actress dies at 30... twice misdiagnosed

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by Link: So young, so talented? Please don't lift her too much above the crowd, will you? Everybody has talent. Don't take me wrong -- of course it's a shame this happened, I blame the doctors for it as well.

Great point you make. Lets not play into the media's mindset and think of it as a tragedy because she was young, beautiful, and at least semi-famous. Let's look at it as another life lost due to an unfortunate event that we feel could have been unavoidable if the right strategies could have been used in her diagnosis.

I think that says it the nicest way possible. Maybe.

[pritchke]

My wife's best friends father died as a result of a misdiagnosis. They thought he had one thing gave him some medication for it, and he died a few months later as he had a minor cancer that could have been treated but the medicine they gave him acted as an accelerant to the cancer.

[ 03-15-2005, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[RevRuby]

chewbacca-as with everyone else please pass on our (mine and morgie's) well wishes for your sister.

wellard-oh goodness, how scary! i'm glad your wife put up a fight. even if the head surgeon knew what was going on, everyone should know.

on topic-i'm not sure what the arguement about mal-practice is. it hought most malpractice happened because of incompetance, and the arguement (from what i skimmed through) seemed to be about the difference between them. either way one more life is lost because of a mistake. it is so hard to trust dr's when things like this happen.

[Violet]

That's pretty odd, pneumonia is fairly cut and dry --- fluid in the lungs, thick green phlegm, x-rays show shadowed areas in the lower lungs where fluid has settled.
I've seen people with barely a high school education recognize it.
I don't see how she could have been mis-diagnosed or even sent home without so much as a prescription for cough medicine.
Odd.

Chewbacca,
Amazing story! My best wishes to your sister

[Morgeruat]

Originally posted by RevRuby: it is so hard to trust dr's when things like this happen.

She says right before going to the Dr.

[pritchke]

Originally posted by Violet: That's pretty odd, pneumonia is fairly cut and dry

That is what I would think as well. Unless it also has something to do with the environment, meaning that pneumonia rarely occurs in the areas were she lived, thus the doctors brushed it off since they rarely see it. A cousin of mine just had it, it is not normally something you think will kill you. You go to the doctor, get medicine, and it is over after a time.

[ 03-15-2005, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[Violet]

Being "brushed off" would certainly constitute negligence on the part of the medical personnel who attended to her. I doubt her family members would just sit back and take it as well as they did.

It's my guess that she had other problems that caused the pneumonia to be overlooked (like a drug addiction).

Normally death by "complications from (or of) pneumonia" means that someone drowned in the excess of phlegm that pneumonia creates - respiratory distress that results in heart failure.

There can't be that many areas in this country where pneumonia is rarely ever seen. It is a fairly common ailment in the elderly nationwide and as recognizable as it is - - - - :shrug:

[Cloudbringer]

Chewie, I hope your sister recovers completely from all that! Wow, that is scary! Ptooey on your job for not caring about family and not paying you, though. sheesh! That's so common though, that you have to wonder how these companies expect workers to be at their best when worrying about a loved one's health and not being with them.

An elderly friend of mine died from an aneurism that burst, so I know how dangerous that is!

[Link]

Originally posted by pritchke: quote: Originally posted by Violet: That's pretty odd, pneumonia is fairly cut and dry

That is what I would think as well. Unless it also has something to do with the environment, meaning that pneumonia rarely occurs in the areas were she lived, thus the doctors brushed it off since they rarely see it. A cousin of mine just had it, it is not normally something you think will kill you. You go to the doctor, get medicine, and it is over after a time. [/QUOTE]Well that's not entirely true. Pneumonia is pretty dangerous and responsible for a lot of deaths. More than you would think, anyway. Also, it's quite easy to get, and if you've had pneumonia before you should be even more careful becauses it catches on even quicker. I've had pneumonia myself while on vacation in France and this was in the middle of the summer - that just to illustrate there's no real "pneumonia free area".

Violet is indeed right when she says that pneumonia is fairly cut and dry. I myself became really tired, and breathing in deeply was painful. Later on I became feverish (really high temperatures at some point; I even started being delirious. It really strikes me that someone can dismiss this as a minor flu. And even the actress herself accepting this is weird IMHO.

[Luvian]

I'd sue, but not for money, just because someone that can't do his job and is putting the life of others at risk because of that should get sanctions.