Kidney stone leads to quadruple amputation

Health Conditions Comments (0)

A woman in Davie, Fla. was working at the mall when she felt a sharp pain shoot through her back. She’s had a history of kidney stones and suspected this was just another. When her fever spiked at 106 degrees, she decided it was time to go to the emergency room.

Unfortunately, the ER turned out to be a fiasco where one person’s ignorance (or just plain laziness) lead to a series of events that looked like an episode of House when it was over.

There was never a mention on her paperwork of the kidney stone she came in complaining about. Instead, the woman ended up with unnecessary surgery for a gall bladder condition, which only deteriorated her system further, until it was discovered (finally) that she did, in fact, have a kidney stone. That stone lead to a septic infection, which then lead to necrosis in her fingers and toes.

After getting her arms amputated at the elbow and her legs below the knee, she sued the hospital for negligence.

But the jury sided with the hospital.

The verdict came as a real surprise due to the sheer amount of substantiated evidence against the hospital. The judge overruled the jury, calling for a retrial. (Let me not forget to mention that judges do this in fewer than 1 percent of all cases, and only in the most absurd cases.)

There’s no doubt that accidents happen, and when permanent disability comes into play, someone needs to take responsibility. Charging a woman $850,000 in medical bills for unnecessarily lost limbs just isn’t that.

Rob @ June 6, 2009