22 replies to this topic

[yaniv]

Well.....Even Doctors Make A Mistake Sometimes...

In This Case....They Did NOT Care.

They Took Her To Hospital Only On The Third Or Second Day She Was Feeling Bad.
And All They Did Was Give Her Medicine That Kept Her Alive For A Short Time.

I Trully Believe That She Could Be Saved!

[LiveWire]

I just dont get how every single one of the doctors missed her illness.  Maybe it was her time, and God couldnt save her, alltho I wish he did, cuz then we would have had alot more movies of heather we could enjoy and her mother wouldnt have had to go threw what she did.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is sad They were looking for horses when they should've also been checking for zebras, I guess.

[Paul]

I dont get how all those doctors couldnt see what was wrong with her the first time? was it so small the couldnt see it? Or maybe they rushed threw it, like how could they all miss it?

By all accounts, the "first time" that Heather ever had any intestinal trouble was at the age of 11 while she was living in Big Bear (Lake), California, and became ill with what was first thought to be the flu, but was identified as an infection by a microorganism called "Giardia", an intestinal parasite. Heather was given a medication called "flagyl", and was completely cured. When she died 13 months later in February of 1988, it was from complications of an "acute bowel obstruction" which was a "sudden illness" (not a condition directly related to her previous infection) that is believed to have resulted from a birth defect which was not discovered until the emergency operations on the day that she died.

They Took Her To Hospital Only On The Third Or Second Day She Was Feeling Bad.

Neither Heather, nor her family had any idea of what was wrong with her, since she had never had an acute bowel obstruction before. According to her sister, Heather seemed to be allright on the weekend and even up until Monday morning, when she herself planned to go to school. Only after she collapsed, was the ambulance called and by that time, Heather was already in shock from the infection of her blocked intestine, which by then, had burst. By the time that she arrived at the hospital, she was in cardiac arrest and unconscious.

All They Did Was Give Her Medicine That Kept Her Alive For A Short Time

Heather's emergency treatment consisted of resuscitation, advanced life support, medication, and surgery. Heather was resuscitated at the hospital where she was first taken (close to her home) and treated for "septic shock", and then airlifted to Children's Hospital of San Diego where two emergency operations were performed. She died from the multiple complications (from infection and shock) of the bowel obstruction.

If you are really interested, here are links to more information

Giardia
bowel obstruction
cardiac arrest
septic shock
Heather's Death Certificate

[Paul]

I dont get how all those doctors couldnt see what was wrong with her the first time?

...what "first time" are you referring to?

was it so small the couldnt see it? Or maybe they rushed threw it, like how could they all miss it?

...what exactly could they not see? what is the "it" that you are referring to?

I just dont get how every single one of the doctors missed her illness.

...what illness did they miss?

They were looking for horses when they should've also been checking for zebras, I guess

...what should they have been looking for?

Yeah,plus I think she only went to a few doctors,which would better explain why no one was able to see what was really wrong,

...what was "really" wrong?

I think she had only seen 2,or 3 different doctors over her whole life,which would be more understandable that none of them could see it

...see what?

which doesn't excuse the fact that no one was able to see the real problem

...which was...?


The answers to all of these questions (and more) can be found in the Death Certificate, the Article Database section, and in the links below...please read them.

Giardia
bowel obstruction
cardiac arrest
septic shock
congenital intestinal anomalies

[Paul]

Your answers are fine, but let me state the reason for the post in the first place...

Because of what Tammy posted here, we will never really know what caused the "acute bowel obstruction" that took Heather's life. Neither do we know for certain, all of the previous conditions that led to her death. What we can know (thanks to Heather's family) is: what were Heather's hopes, her dreams, and how she spent her time on this earth, and that to me, is more important than trying to find someone to blame for her death.

The links were posted by me to make it easier to access relevant information in the hopes that people would actually read about Heather's medical conditions, both alleged (what she supposedly had), and documented (what is listed on the Death Certificate and in Tammy's posts), and draw their own conclusions based on information and not what was printed in the tabloids.

Now, in regards to the latest post...

...the doctors Heather went to thought that she had Crohn's Disease...

They didn't just think it...she was diagnosed with it and treated for it.

...the stenosis being what was "really wrong" with Heather...

Heather supposedly had the "intestinal stenosis" her whole life, but we don't know that for certain since it was only discovered during the emergency surgery. "Stenosis of small intestine" appears on her Death Certificate only because it was listed as a "condition contributing to, but not directly related to the cause of death".

Here is one ARTICLE of several (all with equal credibility) that raises some interesting questions about the "intestinal stenosis" and how it relates to Heather's medical history.

...the 'real problem' Heather had was not Crohn's Disease...

Again, we don't know that for certain. Remember, only the lawsuit (and the tabloids), allege that she did not have Crohn's disease, but since the suit was settled out of court (i.e. it never went to trial), then it was neither proved nor disproved whether she had Crohn's disease or not.

The bottom line is, we don't really know and we never will.

Edited by Paul, 30 March 2005 - 11:38 AM.

[redrosecross]

By all accounts, the "first time" that Heather ever had any intestinal trouble was at the age of 11 while she was living in Big Bear (Lake), California, and became ill with what was first thought to be the flu, but was identified as an infection by a microorganism called "Giardia", an intestinal parasite.  Heather was given a medication called "flagyl", and was completely cured.  When she died 13 months later in February of 1988, it was from complications of an "acute bowel obstruction" which was a "sudden illness" (not a condition directly related to her previous infection) that is believed to have resulted from a birth defect which was not discovered until the emergency operations on the day that she died. Neither Heather, nor her family had any idea of what was wrong with her, since she had never had an acute bowel obstruction before.  According to her sister,  Heather seemed to be alright on the weekend and even up until Monday morning when she, herself, planned to go to school.  Only after she collapsed, was the ambulance called and by that time, Heather was already in shock from the infection of her blocked intestine, which by then, had burst.  By the time that she arrived at the hospital, she was in cardiac arrest and unconscious.    Heather's emergency treatment consisted of resuscitation, advanced life support, medication, and surgery.  Heather was resuscitated at the hospital where she was first taken (close to her home) and treated for "septic shock", and then airlifted to Children's Hospital of San Diego where two emergency operations were performed.  She died from the multiple complications (from infection and shock) of the bowel obstruction. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

heather 's death is a tough call i blamed the doctors at first but when you look at all the facts and how fast it happened there was not much they could do. the family had every right to sue them. but it was hard to detect esp when she had symptoms like the flu vomiting stomach pains. like one time i had got sking at park city utah altitude is 6, 000 ft for the base and just after i got into my ski boots which normally are tighly around your feet to keep snow and stabilty i felt tremendous pressure on my feet like pressure points so i thought at first i had outgrown my boots since it had been a year and half since i used them and have had them since i was 16. so thy feet were really huting a ten on the pain scale that could concentrate on sking. so i was like this does not feel right. i had drank plenty of water and duirectic pills. so i went back to the condo and vomited in the tiolet for the rest of the day could keep anything down and stomach hurt too. i had altitude sickness so was bed ridden for the rest of the vacation. my relatives were not effected. atltude sickness can be faltel esp if you retain fluids around the heart so i was thinking of heather going through that since her feet swelling was the first sign of something wrong. so i do do well after 6,000 feet i do have a heart murmur so they might have something to do with it. so mine did nto escalate as fast as hers. my bf had some surgery on his stomach and a fews weeks he was vomiting for a few days rushed him to the hosp and they said he was dehydtred and had a bowel obstruction the bowel had floated in body fluids into a position where it had kinked itself so they wanted to wait before they operated to removed so kept him a few days and it worked it self out so he has not had anymore problems. so heather problem could just as easily been a routine thing that unfortornately just went fast through her system before they could catch on. it just tragic that it went down that way. but at least she could say buy to her mom as ghost or hallucination.

Edited by Paul, 06 February 2005 - 01:42 PM.

[HO_fan]

Awww..the Death certificate is sad.

[Jafo-man]

Awww..the Death certificate is sad.

You know, the death certificate sounds me too cold and technical. Seems like the one who did it didn't really care. Maybe I'm wrong because written paper can't explain very well inner feelings, even less when there's such a protocol. But I guess the worker should have stared one moment at those data and felt maybe sad.

When Heather first died I heard it was a heart condition and now learned it was intestinal obstruction, some ppl I knew said it was her liver. I was born in 1975 alike Heather and felt a connection even though only seen her in Poltergeist and HD. I was in grade 8 when I heard she'd died and read she'd made an Best Friends charm heart in Industrial Arts and given one half to her mom shortly before her death and I cried. Miss her she was such an angel.

Excuse me, what does "When Heather first died" exactly mean? How many times did Heather die? I can understand it's a type mistake, but please correct it, we're worried .

[Tim]

Excuse me, what does "When Heather first died" exactly mean? How many times did Heather die? I can understand it's a type mistake, but please correct it, we're worried .

I believe it means, "At the point in time which Heather passed away."

[Jafo-man]

I believe it means, "At the point in time which Heather passed away."

I know what means, except 4 the word "first", it doesn't really suit there: U know, Heather, like every1 else, died only once, mayB lOnewolf meant when she 1st learnt 'bout it, but it ain't too clear. In fact, I know there were 2 funerals, but not 2 deaths .

[tealkitykatt]

How did she get the parasite i cant remember where but someone her said it was from a camping trip her family took????

[Lurker]

teal, I believe it was when Heather's family was in Big Bear, California, where she got Giardia. Paul's posts are pretty extensive though.