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Man faints, dies after seeing epidural

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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-08-05 02:32 AM
Original message
Man faints, dies after seeing epidural
Edited on Fri Jul-08-05 02:46 AM by SoCalDem
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California woman is suing a hospital for wrongful death because her husband fainted and suffered a fatal injury after helping delivery room staff give her a pain-killing injection.

incredibly long link

Jeanette Passalaqua, 32, filed the suit against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Southern California Permanente Medical Group Inc. in San Bernardino County state court last week. In June 2004, Passalaqua's husband, Steven Passalaqua, was asked by Kaiser staff to hold and steady his wife while an employee inserted an epidural needle into her back, court papers said.

The sight of the needle caused Steven Passalaqua, 33, to faint and he fell backward, striking his head on an aluminum cap molding at the base of the wall.Jeanette Passalaqua delivered the couple's second child, a boy, later that day. Steven Passalaqua, however, suffered a brain hemorrhage as a result of his fall and died two days later, the lawsuit said.

snip.....

Because Passalaqua was solicited by Kaiser to assist in the epidural, the lawsuit said, the hospital "owed him a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent foreseeable injuries resulting from his participation."

A spokesman for Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente called the death "a tragic accident."

snip.....
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BikeWriter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-08-05 02:36 AM
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1. Damn, that really sucked!
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NoSheep Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-08-05 02:41 AM
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2. I'm sorry to hear this. But I am reminded of a conviction I have always
held: I don't care if the snake isn't poisonous, OR, if it is more afraid of me than I am of it...it's the heart attack that will kill me!
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RummyTheDummy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-08-05 02:42 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. This is why I don't want to be in the delivery room
If my wife and I ever have children. I believe Im a high risk for fainting in that situation, or my heart exploding.
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ForrestGump Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-08-05 03:07 AM
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4. Very sad
But I can't help thinking that this would make a good opening for (and may well be adapted by, at some point), an episode of Six Feet Under. Just illustrates how you never know what might take you out, or when, and how fragile our surprisingly resilient bodies can be if the wrong spot is hit.

What a time, though, to lose a husband and father. I don't know what the chances of winning in court might be (sounds a bit tenuous, to say the least, and I'm generally not a fan of the sue-sue-sue mentality rampant in the US), but I'm sure that any money award would be helpful with a new baby in the house. Sad.
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