CMU School of Drama


Saturday, February 01, 2014

Opera singer out of work after surgery left her unable to sing due to chronic flatulence

Weird News - News - The Independent: Amy Herbst, who previously performed with the Nashville Opera Company, claims that a nurse-midwife at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, performed an episiotomy during labour without her consent.
Ms Herbst, 33, and her husband, Staff Sgt. James Herbst, are seeking $2.5m compensation for negligence, as well as pain and suffering, embarrassment and loss of income.

5 comments:

rmarkowi said...

This article is a (slightly amusing) example of disabilities in relation to jobs. Clearly, this woman is having a disability that she cannot control, and my question is: is it fair to fire her? This touches on a lot of controversial issues about someone no longer being able to do their job. If an electrics person gets put in a wheelchair and can no longer climb ladders, what should a boss do? Clearly it's not worth it to the company to keep them around from a financial standpoint, but by the same token that person shouldn't suffer or loose their job because of something they a) can't control and b)was completely unexpected. I hope this woman wins her lawsuit because I think it's understandable why she might loose her job, but absolutely deserves compensation. I think that if a person were put into a wheelchair or something to that effect, this conversation would be much different.

Becki Liu said...

... That just sounds awful. Could you imagine? You have to quit your job due to excessive flatulence... I don't understand how the nurses thought it was ok not to get her consent before conducting a procedure (I thought it too grotesque to say cutting her open... even though that is basically what happened) She is such a young woman with a great future, this whole situation is terrible for her career and her self esteem! She better win this case!

Katie Pyne said...

As humorous as the article title is, this problem is very disconcerting. I understand the child's life was at stake, but they did this procedure without her knowledge, and that's what's wrong. Furthermore, I feel horrible reading this article because her career could potentially be ruined after this one thing. I agree with Ruben in that I hope that she wins her lawsuit because the medical staff at the birth of her child basically put her out of a job. Flatulence aside, this story is heartbreaking, especially because they might not be able to fix the problem fully.

Thomas Ford said...

From the outside this article seems really funny, but once you read it you see that it's kinda messed up. What happened to the woman that the article is about is terrible, and the actions that the hospital staff took are unacceptable. The fact that the risky procedure having some adverse side effects is somewhat excusable, but the fact that it was performed without consent of the patient is completely inexcusable. I hope that the woman wins her lawsuit, and hopefully at some point she'll be able to perform again.

Unknown said...

I really support this woman and her body. There is always the time to ask patient what they are risk for. And even if the child was stuck and needed assistance, I agree that there are other ways of getting it done. But on the other hand, I can hear the doctor saying,"no good deed goes unpunished" It is sad that the result of her child birth was extreme flatulence, but her baby was delivered safely. That was the main issue and it was taken care of. She can go on and fix the after affects. There are many women who are on bed rest for months to a year for the damage done from child birth. Again, I do support this woman and her body, but it also good to know that it wasn't done out of a malicious or secretive act.