Residents of Montana should be interested to know that a 59-year-old woman is suing a hospital for medical malpractice. She alleged that because the doctor failed to diagnose a routine uterine infection, she literally lost her arms and legs.

In the lawsuit, she alleges that the doctor’s failure to recognize her uterine infection for what it was allowed the infection to fester. As the infection spread throughout the body, it eventually caused septic shock, which eventually resulted in organ failure and widespread gangrene on her limbs.

Once she was diagnosed with gangrene, the only thing the doctors could do at that point to save her life was to amputate the gangrene infected portions of her limbs. After the amputations, she ended up losing both of her legs above her knees, as well as both of her arms below her elbows.

According to the lawsuit, the woman visited the hospital’s emergency room at least three times in 2012 complaining of severe pain, but the supervising doctors failed to diagnose her correctly the first two times. It was only on her third visit to the emergency room that she was successfully diagnosed, but by then, her infection had progressed to the point where it was too late to respond to any medication or any other treatment plan short of amputation.

Given the nature of her medical trauma, the 59-year-old woman indicated in her lawsuit that she will need expensive medical care. In addition, as a result, she will very likely become completely dependent on care from others for the rest of her life. She is seeking unspecified amount in compensation.

Source: Baltimore Sun, “Baltimore woman sues Hopkins after losing limbs,” Andrea McDaniels, Dec. 30, 2014