I read here that there was an article in Cosmo and then googled it and found the article (below). I think it clears up
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Nicole DeHuff
sonopolly — 19 years ago(December 23, 2006 02:05 PM)
I read here that there was an article in Cosmo and then googled it and found the article (below). I think it clears up a lot of questions about her death.
The 2000 comedy Meet the Parents, starting Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, has many funny scenes. But one is especially memorable: when Stiller's character, bumbling Gaylord Focker, breaks his girlfriend's sister's nose during a water volleyball game the day before her wedding. The actress who played the bride-to-be was Nicole DeHuff, and the role was her film debut, landing the gig so early in her career helped Nicole snag parts on TV dramas like Monk and CSI, plus auditions for l111carger film roles.
Then, just as she'd achieved her lifelong goal of being an actress, everything changed. One night last February, Nicole began experiencing shortness of breath so severe, it compelled her to go to the ER. Doctors at the L.A. hospital, and the one she visited the next morning, sent her home after examining her. The following day, her condition worse, Nicole went to a third hospital, where she died the next morning. She was 30.
Below, Nicole's husband, family, and friends recount the events of those last few days, and ER physicians weigh in, in an effort to understand how a healthy young woman could die so suddenly.
Small Town, Big Dream
Nicole DeHuff was born in tiny Antlers, Oklahoma. Growing up, she dreamed of becoming an actress. "From the time she was 2, she was always actingfirst in skits at home with her older sister, then in school plays," recalls Patsie DeHuff, Nicole's mom. Her father, a doctor, also encouraged her goal.
After high school, she headed to the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, the city where she met her future husband, Ari Palitz, in 1995. "She was working the register at a store that sold incense, and when I saw her, I frozeshe was so beautiful," says Ari. "I asked her out, and by our second date, I was in love and certain I was going to spend the rest of my life with her." Ari says he was attracted not only to Nicole's free spirit and sense of wonder but also to her acting ambition. "It inspired me to become a director," he says. "We made a pact: I would direct movies and Nicole would star. That was the plan."
A Blockbuster Break
Following Nicole's graduation from Carnegie Mellon in 1998, she and Ari moved to New York City and pursued film careers. Within a month, she made two commercials; a year later, after a single audition, she scored the role of the sister in Meet the Parents. "Nicole's favorite actor was Robert De Niro, and now she was going to be in a film with him. It was thrilling," says Patsie.
For the next three months, Nicole went back and forth to Long Island, New York, shooting the flick. De Niro, who played her father, was incredibly kind to the young actress, says Ari. Nicole also jelled with Ben Stiller and on-screen sister Teri Polo. Released in 2000, Meet the Parents went on to gross an astounding $330 million worldwide.
That fall, she and Ari married in a quickie Las Vegas ceremony; soon after, they moved to Los Angeles and bought a house in the Hollywood Hills. Over the next four years, Ari pursued directing, while Nicole landed TV parts, including a starring role in a 2002 series called The Court, with Sally Field.
"Nicole was in the best shape of her life," says Ari. "She had taken up painting and often hiked with her two dogs in the canyons near our home. Things were perfect, and we felt so lucky. We had even shot a film, Unbeatable Harold. Just as we'd planned in college, she was the star and I was the director."
A Troubling Symptom
But their good fortune changed on Friday, February 11, 2005. That day, Nicole told Ari that she was experiencing shortness of breath. "Since she'd had asthma attacks in New York that required trips to the ER, we figured her asthma was acting up again and weren't too alarmed," says Ari. Nicole called her momshe spoke to her parents dailyand told her that she wasn't feeling well but it wasn't anything major. But she awoke the next morning with the same constricted breathing, plus body aches. So she spent the entire day just taking it easy.
Still, her breathing difficulty persisted. On Sunday, Nicole told Ari and their houseguest, Garrett McKechniea close college friendthat her chest hurt. "She also told us that the slightest movement was painful," says Garrett. Adds Ari: "That night, I offered to pick up some hot soup, but Nicole said, 'No, let's go to the hospital.' She hoped to get antibiotics so she could feel better in time for an audition the next day."
Ari drove Nicole to Providence Saint Joseph, a major medical center in nearby Burbank. But the waiting room was packed, so they tried Cedars-Sinai, one of Los Angeles's most p111crestigious hospitals. There, Ari says, they didn't get the top-notch care they expected. "We waited two hours, and the doctors who finally examined her seemed overwhelmed and confused," he recalls. "After taking blood and chest X-ra -
EndorasBox — 18 years ago(December 11, 2007 11:11 PM)
That article was heartbreaking. And even though everyone on this board seems to be saying that it was "natural" since there's no cure for pneumonia, this is definitely the fault of several doctors. I have asthma and I have also had pneumonia, but I am still alivewhich means had they diagnosed her properly and given her the correct treatment she would be too. It's absolutely disgusting.
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robyn-white-1 — 17 years ago(May 20, 2008 05:57 PM)
How very sad for her husband, family and their friends. I hope they make the doctors that misdiagnosed her to the cleaners cause they need to be responsible for the lives that are put in their hands. You trust what the doctor tells you, but from personal experience, trust your own body and if you are not getting the treatment from one place go to another and another and so on.
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jothan_zev — 16 years ago(October 22, 2009 08:32 PM)
Wow relax, I was just saying that a private physician would've done more exhaustive testing. The fact that she kept going to ER's was in itself very detrimental to her proper diagnosis. Her death would've been preventable with timely and proper diagnostics.
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LizzieVuitton — 15 years ago(January 06, 2011 11:09 AM)
This article was heartbreaking, and the events were so sad. Yet it is good to know she had felt complete before she passed away, but her condition should've never been allowed to go that far especiall5b4y by such prestigious doctors.
R.I.P Nicole -
mlmerit — 14 years ago(April 15, 2011 01:16 AM)
Thank you for posting the article.
A lifelong asthma suffering person myself I can promise you that things can go bad in a hurry. I'm very sorry for the families loss. I too have been in the hospital after just getting the flu one day and the next needing to be wearing an oxygen mask and wishing my lungs would clear up. It's very sad that given her history and request for help someone didn't act a little more boldly in her treatment. Hours count when you already have a breathing disorder of most any type. -
Reichen4Eva — 10 years ago(February 17, 2016 08:57 PM)
Wow im currently binge watching all the seasons of Without a Trace just finished her episode 12 season 1. Stunned that she died and at such a young age, and such a preventable death should have been diagnosed properly at an early stage.
