What she did was tasteless and beyond her position to make that decision, but the primary physician who allowed the dead lump to remain attached to the poor guy is the one who should have been in court for malpractice and negligence.
That foot staying on him too long is most likely the cause of death, where the body had a circulatory dead end to struggle with while overtaxing the heart.
She probably got a pair of scissors and cut the few inches of dead skin and the tendon pulled off the bone.
The smell of the dead foot must have been pretty bad.