husband faints, dies after seeing epidural..

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I couldn't believe this story when I saw it. It's soo odd and sad. I've never had an epidural, had both my kids "all natural," so I'm not sure what exactly it entails. But this poor guy must have been so nervous or afraid of needles that he fainted....

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MSNBC.com

Man faints, dies after seeing epidural

Wife sues California hospital for wrongful death

Reuters

Updated: 11:18 a.m. ET July 8, 2005

LOS ANGELES - 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.

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.

The suit seeks unspecified damages related to Steven Passalaqua’s death and to Jeanette Passalaqua’s emotional distress at being widowed with two young children.

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.â€

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

“Some of the allegations in the lawsuit are simply that --allegations. The legal process is under way and we should respect that,†said Kaiser spokesman Jim Anderson.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

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© 2005 MSNBC.com

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Originally Posted by Nicolet

I couldn't believe this story when I saw it. It's soo odd and sad. I've never had an epidural, had both my kids "all natural," so I'm not sure what exactly it entails. But this poor guy must have been so nervous or afraid of needles that he fainted....
msnbc_ban.gif
MSNBC.com

Man faints, dies after seeing epidural

Wife sues California hospital for wrongful death

Reuters

Updated: 11:18 a.m. ET July 8, 2005

LOS ANGELES - 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.

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.

The suit seeks unspecified damages related to Steven Passalaqua’s death and to Jeanette Passalaqua’s emotional distress at being widowed with two young children.

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.”

“Some of the allegations in the lawsuit are simply that --allegations. The legal process is under way and we should respect that,” said Kaiser spokesman Jim Anderson.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

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© 2005 MSNBC.com

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I just read this to Reija who is pregnant right now. She was like ooOOOo damm, that is terrible Reija also had our first one(Cameron) with no medication whatsoever. She also plans to do the same with this new one due in Jan
 
that is terrible, it's sad enough to lose a spouse but at the same time your child was born!! ... I'm sure I'll be having an epidural when we have kids someday (I have a very low pain tolerance!) so I guess hubby ought to be careful!

 
Originally Posted by Charmaine Tony, you better be careful! You too, Reija...

I dont think this had anything to do with the epideral,the poor guy had really bad luck for where he fell!!!This is so sad,i think hubbys who are afriad of needles should stay out of the way.when i had my first child i had some demoral,but with my second it was natural,luckliy my hubby was not scared or grossed out by anything.

 
i feel very sorry for the husband, his wife, and his family, especially the newborn, but yeah, let's sue a hospital because that'll make your husband come back to life.

i think the case where the mom who sued mcdonald's for making her children obese makes more sense than this.

 
One thing I found interesting about this story is that the wife (who I'm sure is extremely distraught) is suing the hospital because they asked the husband to help steady his wife while they inserted the needle in her spine. During both my experiences delivering in hospitals, I remember the staff also asking my husband to assist here and there. And, most everyone is asked if they would like to "cut the cord." Now, for liability issues, perhaps they won't be including significant others to be involved hands-on during the birthing process. That would be a shame.

The saddest part of this story is that the child will never know who his father was. That's really sad.

As for Tony - Even if Reija decides to go with the epidural, I'm sure you're not the fainting type!

 
Originally Posted by Jennifer i feel very sorry for the husband, his wife, and his family, especially the newborn, but yeah, let's sue a hospital because that'll make your husband come back to life.
i think the case where the mom who sued mcdonald's for making her children obese makes more sense than this.

I think the point of the lawsuit was that the doctors asked the husband to help with the epidural, rather than having a nurse or something help, which ultimately put them at fault (according to the wife). Granted, I guess the husband could have said no, but how many people would say no to a doctor in a situation like this? Of course the doctor couldn't have predicted what would happen either!
But I think this makes a little more sense than McDonalds because you certainly don't *have* to eat at McDonalds -- Ronald McDonald didn't come to the gal's house and invite the children to eat at McDonalds every day!
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Anyways, regardless of whether the lawsuit make sense, it's still a sad story ...
frown.gif


 
Originally Posted by Nicolet One thing I found interesting about this story is that the wife (who I'm sure is extremely distraught) is suing the hospital because they asked the husband to help steady his wife while they inserted the needle in her spine. During both my experiences delivering in hospitals, I remember the staff also asking my husband to assist here and there. OK, I didn't realize that asking the husband to help was common practice when I wrote my previous post ... I knew they often cut the cord but otherwise I didn't realize the husbands helped. (hehe, obviously I haven't had any kids yet!) So maybe the lawsuit is a little sillier than I realized ... but my goodness, the poor woman is greiving, I can't fault her for trying to sue!
 
but don't husband's usually help calm their wives? it's not like they told him to inject the needle.

 
Originally Posted by Liz but don't husband's usually help calm their wives? it's not like they told him to inject the needle. He was asked to "steady" his wife, while an employee inserted the needle. They say the sight of the needle made him faint, thus hitting his head. I guess the wife feels if they didn't ask him to help steady her, he'd still be alive.

Why couldn't he just looked the other way while he held her!!!

 
Originally Posted by girl_geek OK, I didn't realize that asking the husband to help was common practice when I wrote my previous post ... I knew they often cut the cord but otherwise I didn't realize the husbands helped. (hehe, obviously I haven't had any kids yet!) So maybe the lawsuit is a little sillier than I realized ... but my goodness, the poor woman is greiving, I can't fault her for trying to sue! yeah, grieve, but don't sue! i'm sorry if i get a little weird about this, but i just hate how this guy's dead and all she's worried about is sueing. let him rest in peace.
 
lol! lucky that it was so short though.

Originally Posted by Naturally I had an epidural for my first born ..mostly because I had already been in labor for 24 hours and it was for my own health mostly. I think it's sad yes ..that he died ...but I think it's even sadder because she's suing ...it was an accident ..nothing the hospital or staff was responsible for and I think we've become TOO lawsuit happy.
For my son's birth I didn't have anything ..didn't have a chance to because it all went so quick. From the time I got to the hospital to when he was born was an hour and a half. In the pushing moment I busted a blood vessel in my nose and blood came gushing out ..and hubby was off into the bathroom. They asked if he wanted to cut the cord ..but he wimpered "NO". He was pastey white when he came out! LOL

 
Wow, I wish I had it that easy! With my daughter, who was first, I was in labor for about 12 hours. However with my second child, who is my stubborn little boy, I was in labor for an exhausting, "I'm going to shoot someone if you don't get this child out of me" 54 hours. Yes that's right I said 54 hours before they FINALLY decided to induce me~!

 

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