Woman Claims Hospital Negligence Leads To Double Amputation
A 33-year-old single mother and medical technician is claiming that hospital negligence resulted in the double amputation of her legs below the knee. The patient, Stacey Galette, has filed a lawsuit against the Long Island hospital with the help of a medical malpractice lawyer and is seeking compensation for both the physical damage she endured as well as the emotional trauma surrounding the incident.
Hospital negligence allegedly causes double amputation
Ms. Galette’s story begins when she visited Winthrop University Hospital in Long Island in 2009. She believed that she was to undergo a procedure to remove an ectopic pregnancy. However, problems developed quickly after the surgery, including an abnormal heart rate, a high fever and extreme pain, which she reported to her physicians.
Ms. Galette ended up in intensive care in the Long Island hospital because of her complications, where she spent 73 days struggling with blood poisoning and gangrene. Powerful antibiotics prescribed by physicians caused her to lose her hearing, undergo skin grafts and a have colostomy. In the end, the patient’s legs were both amputated below the knee, leaving her to get around in a wheelchair and on prosthetic legs.
She believes that the serious injuries she endured were caused by hospital negligence and claims that doctors failed to detect a 5-millimeter hole in her colon after the procedure despite the fact that she immediately began to show symptoms.
Proving hospital negligence in New York
To prevail in her lawsuit and obtain compensation for the alleged hospital negligence at the Long Island hospital, the plaintiff will need to prove that a reasonable care provider would have correctly diagnosed the hole in the colon and provided appropriate treatment. She will need to show that her complications and her condition, including the amputations, would not have occurred if she had received proper treatment.
The hospital denies the allegations and maintains that the physicians acted responsibly in light of the medical information available to them. The doctors who provided her care following her surgery have said that they performed a CT-scan, which did not show a punctured colon, and that they acted appropriately based on the results of this scan. When care providers argue that their actions were in line with New York medical care standards, it will be up to the plaintiff and her medical malpractice lawyer to find expert witnesses who can testify that the care provided fell short of what a reasonably competent physician would have done in the same situation.
The hospital is also arguing that the complications after the procedure were caused by an underlying bowel condition that the plaintiff had. This is another common tactic in medical malpractice cases- care providers argue that the patient would have experienced the same health outcome no matter what the physicians would have done. Again, it is up to the plaintiff to show that her health problems were caused by the doctors’ actions.
The stakes are high in this medical malpractice case, as they are in so many claims, because the patient’s family indicates that she has now gone through a divorce and suffers endless pain and total disability. They believe that those responsible for causing these extreme medical problems should compensate the plaintiff for the full extent of her damages.
Those who experiencing injuries due to medical malpractice in the area are encouraged to call a Long Island medical malpractice lawyer. The Sanders team of attorneys can help obtain the necessary evidence to hold hospitals and care providers responsible for negligent care. For more information, contact The Sanders Firm at 1-800 FAIR PLAY today for a free case evaluation. Resources
- NY Daily News – Hospital malpractice claims drop, http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/hosps-131m-errors-malpractice-costs-drop-article-1.1456979
- Health NY, Analysis of Key Medical Malpractice Issues in NYS, http://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/docs/bob_hunter_presentation.pdf
