she died!!!
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rinkdink2 — 21 years ago(March 10, 2005 03:39 PM)
it doesn't seem like people this young should die of pneumonia! my best friend's mom is a nurse and said if it was a bacteria and got into her blood stream it could caused a shock and all her organs shut down. Like toxic shock syndrome. it makes me scared about hospitals that assume people are not that sick and send them home with tylenol. it happened with my sister's mother in law. she went to doctors with headaches and they said she had depression. then she finally died and they found she was filled with bone cancer that no one ever found in two years of complaining to doctors! they gave her prozac and sent her away. so they tried to sue but the judge said she was depressed so it wasn't a misdiagnosis and he also said doctors are not gods either.
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kwa1063 — 21 years ago(March 10, 2005 05:50 PM)
Nicole's passing is very, very sad and tragic and my heart goes out to her loved ones. That said, there is a lot of misinformation on this board. People of all ages die of pneumonia all the time; it depends on the strain you are infected with. It is not a benign illness. It is not uncommon for people to die from it "these days"; as a matter of fact there are more virulent forms now than ever before due to drug resistance and the like.
And the person who said that septicemia is usually due to a hygienic issue after having tooth surgery or extraction is mistaken. It can be due to that but does not have to be at all. I took care of many people in the ICU (I'm a nurse) with sepsis and none of them had anything to do with teeth.
Also as far as I know there is no blood test for pneumonia. The white cell count would be elevated (indicating infection) on a CBC but that is not a definitive diagnosis; many things elevate the white count. Patient symptoms (cough, color of phlegm), a chest x-ray and listening to lung sounds are usually the methods of diagnosis.
Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to defend whomever misdiagnosed Nicole at all but for two physicians to miss pneumonia seems unusual so maybe there is more to her case. This is a tragic occurrence and I hope the family finds out the whole story, if they haven't already. My thoughts are with them. -
jsjbdc — 21 years ago(March 11, 2005 10:16 AM)
My heart goes out to Nicole's family. You are in my thoughts and prayers. I too am a nurse (from Oklahoma), and I agree that there are a lot misconceptions regarding pneuminia. However, I think the person who was referring to a "blood test" was referring not to a test for pneumonia, but a blood test for septicemia. True, there are many things that will elevate your white cell count, if you are septic, you will have an unusually high white count and anyone presenting with signs and symptoms of a respiratory infection should have a CBC drawn. This will indicate whether there is infection present, how severe it is and whether or not it is bacterial. A culture can be done to determine what kind af antibiotic therapy should be used to treat the infection. Even though the culture may take 24 t5b4o 48 hours to manifest, a strong broad spectrum antibiotic can be used to treat and control the infection until it is clear which antibiotic therapy is specifically indicated for the particular strain of bacteria causing the infection.
I don't know all of the specifics surrounding this case nor the diagnosis given Nicole by the two or three hospitals before she passed away, but from the info at hand, I would suggest to the family, hire a medical malpractice attorney (preferably one who has a background in the medical field, one who is a nurse or Dr. that also practices as an attorney) to investigate this incident, and if there is sufficient evidence of medical malpractice, sue. Go after whomever is responsible.
I know this will not bring Nicole back,but if you win, you can do something great in her memory. Make Doctors all over the world think twice about how much time they spend evaluating their patients and listening to what they are saying. The patients are more important than the golf game they can get to if they hurry and finish with all of these people.
May God Bless and Keep you in this time of sorrow. -
kindacts — 21 years ago(March 11, 2005 02:00 PM)
rinkdink, that's just awful how your sister's mother-in-law died!!! I'm so sorry to hear that. There's so much incompetence in the medical profession (there Are some really good docs out there too), it's just so sad and actually disgusting!! And how sickening and callous of that judge just who blamed it on the fact that she perhaps also had depression, Loser!! I wonder if there was any other recourse. How sad. Please take good care, Aimee
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TermlnatriX — 21 years ago(March 10, 2005 05:36 PM)
what a friggin shame! and she was so beautiful too. This shows how poor doctors in America are! whats next, let in a bum to an M.D.'s position? geez. They can't even tell the diagnosis. COulda treated her, and she would've lived. How sad.
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black_wolf_1970 — 21 years ago(March 20, 2005 12:40 PM)
Every one is yelling at the docotors for not doing there job, I hate to tell you but her death is just as much your fault as their's, or mine. It is our health care sysytem not the workers. You forget that we have gone from the family docotor's of the days past to a coperate machine of HMO's who tell the doctors what to look for and treat in their pateints now days, the patients are given often a very few moments with the doctor's because of the guidelines that the goverment has allowed to be enacted and we did not fight. The MD's are overwhelmed by a pressure from these same HMO's and Goverment heath care guidelines to turn patients into numbers, from individules to just mechandise on a convayer belt. I dont blame the doctors. I blame how we have let our heatlth care ssystem fall into the gutter. I work in EMS, and in both the out patient and inpatient sides of hospitals and in the emergency rooms. If the images of "ER", Chicago Hope", "Emergency", etc come to mind then you are blind to what we face in health care since the late 1990's and it is getting worse.
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ChgoExtra — 21 years ago(March 11, 2005 12:29 PM)
This is just shocking, and tragic. Saw the announcement on Foxnews. Dying from pnuemonia is rare but happens. In 1991 Jim Henson, the Muppet creator, died of pnuemonia. Shortly after he died I got pnuemonia as well, and I was 24 years old. Had a moron doc that putzed around with treatments, and I was sick like that for 3+ weeks. I was fortunate that my pnuemonia, while really bad double pnuemonia, did not hit the bloodstream. If the infection hits the bloodstream, it will kill you in a short amount of time, with organ failure, etc, as in the case with Jim Henson too. Both wonderful talents cut short. RIP Nicole. Meet The Parents is one of my family's all-time favorite movies, we have the DVD and video, and watch it quite often for laughs. Her life will go on in film at least. How sad, so sorry to hear all this, her family is in my prayers.
