First Wives Club author dead--Anesthesia related death?

[Toby's mum]

CNN's website had the following news release about Olivia Goldsmith who died apparently due to complications from anesthesia (she was undergoing plastic surgery). There are few details.

It just drove home the reality of having someone's life in your hands during even routine operations (if any operation can be called routine!). Reading about this very unfortunate outcome made me realize what an incredible responsibility it must be to be a CRNA--and it is not something to undertake lightly. I can only imagine that something unexpected must have happened in this particular situation.

--------------------------------------------

'First Wives Club' author dies at 54

NEW YORK (AP) --Olivia Goldsmith, a best-selling novelist whose book "First Wives Club" was made into a movie starring Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton, has died. She was 54.

Goldsmith had been in a coma since last Wednesday after complications resulting from anesthesia during plastic surgery, according to her lawyer, Steven Mintz. She died at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan on Thursday, he said.

Goldsmith was a management consultant who became one of the first women to be a partner at the firm Booz Allen Hamilton before she began writing her distinctive edgy, humorous fiction.

Her debut novel, in 1992, was "First Wives Club," the tale of three women whose husbands leave them for younger partners. The movie of the same name came out in 1996.

Among her other novels were "The Bestseller," "Flavor of the Month," "Young Wives," and "Switcheroo."

"She wrote these wonderful, celebratory satires, which seamlessly wove her moral convictions and instruction into these popular entertainments," her literary agent, Nicholas Ellison, told The New York Times for its Friday editions.

She was born Randy Goldfield in New York City. She changed her legal name to Justine Rendal and wrote under the pen name of Olivia Goldsmith. She grew up in Dumont, New Jersey, and attended New York University.

She is survived by her mother, and two sisters, Kate Goldfield and Barbara Turner.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/books/01/16/obit.goldsmith.ap/index.html

[Rhon1991]

It would be interesting to know what happened. Any best guesses? The first thing that came to my mind would be something like malignant hyperthermia... however a lady that age, I doubt this was her first surgery? We will probably never know what happened, right? Yes, its sad, especially since it was an elective surgery.

[Tenesma]

she arrested upon induction last week - has been in a coma since then.... the most common complication is cardiac (malignant hyperthermia is way down on the list of likelihood).

[gaspassah]

we were discussing a case today in the OR where a patients' family failed to mention periods of syncope that the patient was having because they wanted the surgery to go through. to make a long story short the patient had aortic stenosis and eneded up dying after coding and having a balloon pump etc just after induction.

not saying this is the case but ya never know.

d

[Tenesma]

i have had more people code from aortic stenosis than i would care for --- most of the time you can resuscitate them, but it is still a pain

[yoga crna]

I don't know what happened, but from the article in the New York Times and her picture, I wonder if she was not the anesthesia horror of unable to intubate, unable to ventilate. The article included a statement that there was an inability to get oxygen into her lungs. In her photo, she appears to have a very large jaw and full neck.

One of my plastic surgeons trained at Lenox Hill and he said that there was a good chance that she did not have an anesthesia professional with her. He said many of those cases are performed with the surgeon dictating RNs give the sedation.

He is planning to make a few calls and see if he can find out anything. My plastic surgery patients are very concerned.

I'll let you know what I find out.

YogaCRNA

[smiling_ru]

This was the initial story in the new york times. Other articles say that she had a heart attack.

The lawyer, Steven Mintz, would say only that Ms. Goldsmith went to her doctor for "personal elective surgery" on Wednesday morning, but two different friends of Ms. Goldsmith said it was an operation to remove loose skin under her chin. Her heart reacted badly when the anesthetic was introduced and she has remained unconscious at Lenox Hill ever since, Mr. Mintz said.