NYC Mom Sues Hospital After Losing Both Hands, Feet in Medical 'Mistake'

[underpants]

New York City woman is suing a local hospital after her lawyer says a "medical mistake" led to the removal of both her hands and her feet, the New York Daily News reported.

Quadruple amputee Tabitha Mullings was released from Brooklyn Hospital Center Friday, where she originally was admitted two months ago for a kidney stone.

Mullings was given painkillers and sent home, but an infection that went untreated blocked blood flow to her hands and feet and she lapsed into a semi-coma for two weeks, according to the News.

When the 32-year-old mother of three awoke, she said doctors told her they had to amputate both her hands and both her feet, the paper reported. Mullings also lost sight in one eye.

Mullings is suing the hospital for $100 million dollars and said she was never given a blood test to check for the infection that led to her amputations.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,456428,00.html

[Xipe Totec]

1. What... the... FUCK!!

Unbelievable!

:nuke:

[underpants]

4. I don't know that have ever even had a nightmare THAT messed up

waking up to no hands or feet???

Unbelievable indeed

[malaise]

9. My identical reaction

No hospital will be making that decision without my permission.

[Heddi]

12. Kind of hard to give permission when you're in a "semi-coma"

as this woman was.

The article is seriously lacking information, though.

Sounds like whatever infection it was caused vasoconstriction which cut off blood flow to the hands and feet. It most likely wasn't a "oh do we cut her feet off...yeah, why not" kind of situation. The lack of blood flow most likely was causing gangrene and dead tissue, and if the hands/feet weren't removed, she would have become septic, the infection spread through her blood, and caused her to die.

I seriously doubt the MD's just cut her hands/feet off for the fuck of it.

And someone had to give consent if she couldn't. If no one was there to give consent for her (husband, child, parents, etc), then it would have been done under medical necessity (due to spreading infection, gangrene, etc).

I think this story is being over-sensationalized, especially with the glaring lack of facts (what kind of infection did she have, etc)

[Xipe Totec]

15. By the time the surgeons got there, the fuck-up was over and done with

I don't blame the surgeons (who saved her life) I blame the assholes who were caring for her BEFORE she went into a coma.

[malaise]

27. That's why we must all have living wills

stating what can and cannot be done by doctors if and when we are incapacitated. I'd choose death over losing all my limbs. Thankfully hubby knows my wishes and I know his.

[MadMaddie]

10. That's the first thing I thought!

[babylonsister]

2. I hope she gets every penny. nt

[madaboutharry]

3. This wasn't a "medical mistake." This really looks

like mismanagement of a patient but there are a obviously a lot of facts that are not in this article.

[tabatha]

5. Thgis is why people should be more educated about food

so that they don't get kidney stones in the first place, and put their lives in the the hands of others.

[libnnc]

8. I was 19 when I was treated for kidney stones

I weighed 107 lbs. What food should I have avoided?

[roguevalley]

16. apparently being sedentary helps make them. my couch potato

nephew spent two weeks in the hospital over this. My total sympathies with you, hon.

[libnnc]

20. Well, I was NOT sedentary.

I had spent the previous 4 years marching my butt off in band every afternoon for 3 hours.

I wasn't overweight either.

Again, what foods was I abusing at less than 110 pounds?

[tabatha]

25. some links

http://www.urologychannel.com/kidneystones/causes.shtml

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/kidney-stones/DS00282/DSECTION=risk-factors

http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/kidney/900.html

[libnnc]

29. mine were genetic

I was skinny, active and healthy as a horse

[tabatha]

38. some apparently are.

I have known two people who had them, changed lifestyles, and don't have them anymore.

[roguevalley]

37. I was relating my nephew's experience. I don't know you or your

life. My family has this problem and we were told tums and antacids and sitting around can make them.

[Sheepshank]

34. you should avoid tainted powdered milk products (melamine)

.

[Kceres]

18. Sometimes the condition is hereditary.

I know several kidney stone patients that were young, athletic, vegetarian or all of the above.

[pacalo]

6. Link with photo...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/11/21/2008-11-21_mom_who_lost_hands__feet_so_happy_to_be_.html

[rug]

28. "I know this is the place that is going to get me back on my feet," she said later.

The Daily News is nothing if not droll.

[pacalo]

32. But it had one thing the other didn't: a photo.

:hi:

[uppityperson]

7. Misdiagnoses? What "infection" was this?

Sounds like she was treated for a kidney stone, but had another problem? I'd like to know more specifics.

[underpants]

11. NY Daily News *has pic* with a slightly different take on it

When the pain intensified, Mullings dialed 911 twice in 24 hours, but medics determined she did not need to be hospitalized, she said.

On Sept. 15, Mullings' fiancé rushed her back to Brooklyn Hospital Center, where the sepsis infection became not only obvious but full-blown. The infection quickly choked off blood flow to her extremities and her right optic nerve, and she lapsed into a semicoma that lasted two weeks.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/11/20/2008-11-20_woman_blames_brooklyn_er_for_failing_to_.html

[Heddi]

13. well, then,

rather than suing the MD's who amputated her hands/feet (which undoubtedly saved her life), she should sue the medics who told her she didn't need to be hospitalized.

Sorry, also, but if you're in pain, and 911 tells you not to worry, but you're still in pain, GO TO THE FUCKING ER ANYWAY. Shit.

[Mabus]

19. The articles say she's suing the hospital not the surgeons. n/t

[underpants]

21. I agree

Some municipalities have their ambulance service as separate entities maybe they don't :shrug:

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

23. If it was NY it may have been the NYFD.

We can't refuse to transport patient no matter how full of crap they are.

David

[uppityperson]

36. Here is info on "sepsis".

It's wiki, but seems to be pretty good to me for a quickie look. She's lucky she is alive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepsis

Couple more links:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sepsis/DS01004

Definition

Sepsis is the body's response to infection — an inflammatory process marked by an elevated heart rate, rapid breathing and abnormal temperature. Even a minor infection, such as strep throat or influenza, can trigger sepsis. It's usually not life-threatening. But complications of sepsis can cause serious illness and death.

Severe sepsis occurs when your natural immune response to an infection goes into overdrive, triggering widespread inflammation and blood clotting in tiny vessels throughout your body. One or more organs may stop working properly or fail. Sepsis can lead to a dangerous drop in blood pressure (septic shock).

About 750,000 people in the United States get severe sepsis each year, and more than 200,000 people die of it. Those at increased risk include older adults, hospital and surgery patients, and people with impaired immune systems. Neonatal sepsis affects a small percentage of newborns, particularly low-birth-weight and premature infants.

Most commonly, bacterial infections lead to sepsis, but it may result from any type of infection — bacterial, viral, parasitic or fungal. Although sepsis often can't be prevented, getting prompt medical care for infections can reduce your risk.

AND
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/sepsis.html

Sepsis

Sepsis is a life-threatening illness. Your body's response to a bacterial infection usually causes it. Your immune system goes into overdrive, overwhelming normal processes in your blood. The result is that small blood clots form, blocking blood flow to vital organs. This can lead to organ failure. Babies, old people and those with weakened immune systems are most likely to get sepsis. But even healthy people can become deathly ill from it. A quick diagnosis can be crucial, because one third of people who get sepsis die from it.

Sepsis is usually treated in a hospital intensive care unit (ICU). IV antibiotics and fluids may be given to try to knock out the infection and to keep blood pressure from dropping too low. Patients may also need respirators to help them breathe.

[Ecumenist]

14. WHAT THE HELL??!! WAS SHE BLACK?

HOW DO YOU MAKE THAT KIND OF MISTAKE??!! BOTH HAND and FEET?? She'd been better off going to a veterinarian.. DAMN...

[underpants]

22. No she isn't

[NOLALady]

24. Are you sure?

[underpants]

33. No

I'm not

but then I really don't care :shrug:

[Ecumenist]

35. Um Excuse me Underpants but yes she is. She's just light skinned.

[doc03]

17. Another frivolous malpractice suit

:sarcasm:

[Doremus]

26. Can't be -- we have the BEST medical care in the world!!!

:sarcasm:

[dorktv]

30. Now that is going to be a nasty fight.

Settle probably for at least $5 million.

[anigbrowl]

31. Give her prosthetic gun fittings and let her practise on the people who messed up

Un-be-fucking-lievable. If that happened to me I would seriously fuck up the people in question once I had regained functionality with whatever prosthetics they have these days. I'd be chasing them down with my terminator hands.