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OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - Printable Version

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OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - JJJ - 07-22-2017

Apparently, he had just had back surgery at Stanford Med Center. RIP.

Quote:Hollywood actor John Heard, 71, best known as the dad from "Home Alone," died in a Palo Alto hotel room on Friday afternoon, according to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office.

Heard was reportedly staying at the hotel to recover from back surgery he underwent at Stanford Medical Center two days earlier, according to a report from celebrity news website TMZ. A maid discovered the 71-year-old actor in his hotel room and called police, who pronounced him dead at the scene, according to the report.

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2017/07/22/hollywood-actor-found-dead-in-palo-alto

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - 81alum - 07-22-2017

Wow.  That doesn't sound at all good.  Obvious questions about being discharged too early?

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - oldalum - 07-22-2017

more likely a pulmonary embolism

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - CowboyIndian - 07-22-2017

What hotel?


Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - PAsportsfan - 07-23-2017

(07-22-2017, 10:50 PM)CowboyIndian link Wrote:What hotel?

Sheraton

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - BobK - 07-23-2017

Hope not my next room
There

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - CowboyIndian - 07-23-2017

(07-23-2017, 12:07 AM)PAsportsfan link Wrote:[quote author=CowboyIndian link=topic=17076.msg195835#msg195835 date=1500789004]
What hotel?

Sheraton
[/quote]

Whew! Thanks. We usually go to Stanford Park.

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - dabigv13 - 07-23-2017

(07-22-2017, 10:44 PM)oldalum link Wrote:more likely a pulmonary embolism

This seems most likely.

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - BostonCard - 07-23-2017

I wouldn't speculate.  PE is certainly possible, but so is respiratory depression from narcotics, MI, etc.

Lots of bad things can happen in the aftermath of a major surgery.

BC

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - Langdude - 07-25-2017

For some weird reason, listening to you physicians do medicine-speak (which I do like) made me recall this exchange...

Surgeon: It's a bypass operation, Johnny.
Johnny the Snitch: So?
Surgeon: The guy has a history of sinus bradycardia.
Johnny the Snitch: I wouldn't know anything about it.
[the surgeon gives Johnny a dollar bribe]
Johnny the Snitch: You got him on atrophine?
Surgeon: Of course.
Johnny the Snitch: Do a midline thoracotomy, strip the saphenous vein, be careful not to puncture the myocardium.

-m.

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - oldalum - 07-25-2017

(07-23-2017, 11:15 PM)Boston Card link Wrote:I wouldn't speculate.
BC

Just curious, why not? Constructing a differential and ranking the list in order of probability is a fundamental task in medicine. And lots of fun!  ;D

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - BostonCard - 07-26-2017

A differential diagnosis that consists of "more likely a pulmonary embolism" isn't a differential.

BC

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - oldalum - 07-26-2017

(07-26-2017, 11:54 AM)Boston Card link Wrote:A differential diagnosis that consists of "more likely a pulmonary embolism" isn't a differential.
BC
Sorry I guess my point was not clear, my bad. I did not mean to suggest that a single potential diagnosis is a differential. Your post said that you wouldn't speculate and then you provided a nice differential that was also entirely speculative (i.e., based on almost no evidence). I was simply supporting your speculations by saying that constructing differentials is a fundamental part of medicine and can be fun, especially in the art of long-distance diagnosis based on almost no information whatsoever (I once managed to correctly predict multiple sclerosis in one of the American hostages in Iran during the Carter presidency, when the Iranian doctors were stumped). In this case I do think PE is the most likely diagnosis (based on almost no information), but we shall see.



Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - dabigv13 - 07-26-2017

I think BC's other two mentions are pretty plausible as well, definitely near the top of the list.

I still think PE most likely, based on the expected immobility, time after surgery, no anticoag after spinal surgery, apparent suddenness etc.

Obviously this is a bit of a morbid parlor game, but I don't think Heard's family is reading this board.

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - BostonCard - 07-27-2017

That's a fair response oldalum, but my point in putting up a couple more highly plausible alternatives was not to come up with a differential, just to point out that speculating on any single cause isn't really constructive (even though I agree with everyone else that PE would be the first thing out of my mouth).  Although everyone here is smart, there are both physicians and non-physicians on this board.  While the physicians here know what you were doing, it would be easy for someone from outside the field to take the statement as a diagnosis.

BC

P.S.  For fun...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAgYMSUUYAM&feature=youtu.be

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - oldalum - 07-27-2017

The intention of my original post was actually not to make a diagnosis but to respond to a post speculating that a premature discharge was the problem;  I should have responded that a number of sudden unpredictable medical problems could have caused the death without having to invoke an incorrect discharge decision.


Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - TreesAndBirds - 08-16-2017

ET reports heart attack

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/apos-home-alone-apos-star-212200111.html

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - Langdude - 08-17-2017

I just saw John Heard in that seminal piece of cinema verite: "Sharknado." He knocked out a land shark with a bar stool, but saved a life in the process.

-m.

Re: OT: "Home Alone dad" actor John Heard found dead in Palo Alto - Snorlax94 - 08-17-2017

Gotta say, hats off the Boston Card for his caution.

I do not have a medical background, saw the original story in a local paper, was curious about what might have happened, and appreciated being able to see some informed discussion on this board.

In any case, it saddened me wherever he may have received treatment.

A follow-up question, would certain causes (heart attack vs PE) have been relatively more  reflective of a mistake or early discharge?

Could the heart attack have possibly been avoided with a different doctor or hospital?

A previous housecleaner of mine, under 40, had an unusual case of strep throat, ultimately was hospitalized for a week, and I think had kidney failure. The day she was discharged (from a local Bay Area Kaiser hospital), she went  home and died of a stroke. This case reminded me of that, and this thread resurfaced questions I had as to whether she received the appropriate care.