Woman Becomes Quadruple Amputee After Giving Birth {Not a Joke}

wftv.com ^ | January 20, 2006

[TASMANIANRED]

They aren't with holding her own information.

She wants other peoples information.

[LukeL]

It was a 6 hour operation so losing about 1.5 pints an hour is reasonable when I was only 4'0 tall and about 80 pounds.

[TASMANIANRED]

You are assuming incorrectly.


Being a nurse and having taken care of a patient with the flesh eating STREPTOCCUS...I was scared to death as was everyone else that took care of them.

We scrubbed meticuluously, gloved gowned and left everything in the isolation room.

We didn't want it ourselves and didn't want to take it home to our families.

MRSA...Staph...is endemic in the hospital.

Flesh eating Strep is not...It is community acquired and statistically she is far more likely to brought it in with her.

[TASMANIANRED]

It is not staph. It was caused by Strep.....

[Hildy]

If that's true and I don't have any reason not to believe what you're saying, then the hospital should not have any qualms about sharing if anyone else had it at the hospital.

[Hildy]

If that's true and I don't have any reason not to believe what you're saying, then the hospital should not have any qualms about sharing if anyone else had it at the hospital.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Tas- whoa! This story is so scary. Why the heck are these things so prevalent in the hospital. I did not realize that.... what can we do. This is a horrible story all around.

[TASMANIANRED]

Not under HIPPA....I have heard of nurses fired for looking at a chart for a patient they weren't taking care of.

Patient information is protected under Federal Law. You cannot share it with any one without written consent.

You cannot share any details that could identify a patient.

I worked in new born nursery years ago. Loosing a mother or having an incident like this happen is big news.

When we had a field delivery and the baby was admitted to the nursery, the baby went in isolation. When they were discharged the room was scrubbed from head to toe. Ceiling, walls, floor and every piece of equipment in it.

I guarantee after this woman had this incident they shut down the entire delivery room and scrubbed everything .

If there had been 2 cases risk management would have shut down labor and delivery and all cases would have gone elsewhere .

You can't make enough money delivering babies to cover 2 mega million dollar lawsuits.

You assume hospitals are cavalier about this stuff. They are not.

Streptococcus is a very aggressive organism. There are a couple of varieties of it.

Streptococcus from strep throat is responsible for virtually all cases of rheumatic heart.

It is aggressive as hell and you can go from well to septic and needing open heart surgery in 24 hours.

[TASMANIANRED]

Diva. There is no evidence that it was hospital acquired.

Streptococcus is a very common vaginal bacteria. She probably had it before coming to the hospital...

[allen08gop]

"George or Jeb? Or both?"

My god! They're both at fault!

[Hildy]

Thank you. I just learned something new. Let me ask you then...you think this woman brought it in to the hospital? What's the incubation time...Would it be possible for her to have a normal delivery and then two days later have this happen???

[latina4dubya]

She was told she had streptococcus

our friends' son caught this after he went to the hospital for splitting open his knee... they billed them for the knee treatment and also for the streptococcus treatment... our friends' refused to pay for the streptococcus treatment since he caught while in their care... they backed off...

[latina4dubya]

She could just as easily have walked in infected as caught it in the hospital. People do get gangrene outside of hospitals.

oh please... then why not do a full investigation to find out whether or not she caught this in the hospital or came in with it? that's the least they could do... saying that "perhaps" she already had the disease is not good enough... she ought to be able to find out as much as she can...

[Chickensoup]

Most all hospitals have Mersa and other hospital borne infections.

[oceanview]

they ought to report their story via the website I linked to earlier in the thread. this is going on in hospital all over the country apparently, and is being hushed up.

[bubbleb]

I just went back and read post #16.
You're right this was not staph but sounds like streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.

[TASMANIANRED]

Viruses have incubation periods bacteria do not.

Bacteria are present everywhere. Your skin is covered with them. You have multiple varieties. You also have varieties of fungus.

They keep each other in balance...Your intact skin is the barrier that keeps them out.

Body cavities have mucus to trap and drain them out.
Stomach has acid.
Then there is the Immune system with White Blood Cells that eat this stuff.

You can't live without E.Coli in your gut.

A bacterial colony was to overwhelm all your natural defenses and build up a colony count before you become ill.

The reason yeast infections (fungus, candida) are so prevalent after a course of antibiotics is because you knock off the bacteria that keeps the yeast in check.

2 days would have been plenty of time.

[Hildy]

Interesting. So what happens in cases like this? Is there an investigation by outside agencies? How would the hospital ever be able to prove they weren't at fault?

[TASMANIANRED]

Clostridium is profoundly rare as an infection.

It is profoundly common as an organism. It exists as spores in the earth. As a spore it floats through the air.

It is an anerobe. Cannot live and reproduce in the presence of oxygen. It is very common in the gi tracts of all warm blooded creatures.

You probably did not contract it in the hospital.

Clostridium Tetani is the one that causes tetanus or lockjaw..

Clostridium botulinum is the one that causes the deadly food poisoning.

Clostridium Dificile is the one you can't live without but there are strains of it that are deadly.

Clostridium perfringens is the one that causes gas gangrene.This is the one that you had. You probably brought it with you.

I only ever saw 2 cases of it. It is profoundly rare and there would not be a reservoir of it in the hospital especially in Labor and delivery to have passed it to you.

Your doctor was extremely good and very quick with treatment. You are very fortunate to have lived.