Woman Claims Salon Shampoo Session Caused Her Stroke: Lawsuit

[Suburban_Guy]

I'm sure the initial reaction of some on here, upon reading the headline, is yet another example of a litigious society gone amok.

Yet it is indeed a very real risk. I don't usually get shampoos with haircuts, but the few times I did I noticed how incredibly uncomfortable the whole setup is, the position and the way the sink cuts deeply into your neck.

Woman Claims Salon Shampoo Session Caused Her Stroke: Lawsuit

A California woman is suing a hair salon on the basis that getting her hair shampooed there led to her stroke two weeks later. Elizabeth Smith claims her neck was “hyper-extended” during a shampoo at the Blowbunny: Blow Dry & Hair Extension bar in December 2013. Eight days later, she felt weakness in her arms and legs, along with other odd symptoms that disappeared, according to KGTV San Diego. A week after that, Smith suffered a massive stroke.

“I vomited, my head became hot and I couldn’t stand,” she told KGTV. “I had weakness in my arms and legs. They didn’t think I was going to live.”

What Is Beauty Parlor Stroke Syndrome?

[JerseyGirl415]

If the position is uncomfortable, I always say something. I ask to readjust my head or neck, or even sit on a cushion to elevate my body a bit more so my neck is less strained. The people who wash my hair are always accommodating and even ask themselves if I'm okay, rather than wait for me to say something. I always adjust myself to be comfortable, anyway, because the position can put pressure on the neck. This just sounds like a very rare and unfortunate incident and I don't see how suing this salon will accomplish anything. If this is a true widespread issue, then maybe regulations for salons should change nationwide.

The article says going on roller coasters or even falling can lead to a stroke. So what - will people sue the parks for the roller coaster that they CHOSE to ride? Will they sue themselves for clumsily falling, as long as they didn't slip on some water or something on the floor in a public, maintained place, or something?

Sorry, but I still think it's a stupid lawsuit. I mean, I'm now aware of something I had previously never heard of, but I would never sue for this. I choose to go to the salon and get my hair done and washed and colored. I choose to let them wash my hair in the sinks. I don't see how she has a case unless she asked them to accommodate her discomfort and they refused or something. This type of suit will likely only damage the salon, which IMHO did nothing wrong. Depending on how far this case goes and how much money and business it costs them, they may have to shut down - all because of a very rare phenomenon that may happen to a person who has their neck hyperextended from any cause.

Anyway, this info from your second link pretty much says it all for me:

Aneesh Singhal, M.D., associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and vice chair of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, says this kind of thing can also happen to people when they’re at the dentist, playing tennis, undergoing chiropractic neck manipulation, and even doing yoga.

While this can really happen to anyone, it’s not extremely common, and Gloviczki says it’s often found more in people who have some kind of connective tissue disease or underlying weakness, which, unfortunately, they might not be aware of...

Clifford Segil, D.O., a neurologist at California’s Providence Saint John’s Health Center also recommends making sure your neck is supported when you have your hair washed and asking a salon employee to pad the area where your neck will be positioned over the wash basin with a towel.

And an afterthought: can they even prove with 100% certainty that the salon chair caused the stroke? For all they know, there could have been another cause. Nowhere does it say they were able to definitively pinpoint that as the cause.

[Delahanty]

Without getting into the specifics of this particular case, I've heard of this happening before.