Posted on 11/19/2010 4:04:27 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBS 2/1010 WINS) — A simple surgery has turned into a living nightmare for a Brooklyn mom.
She was supposed to be in and out of the hospital on the same day. Instead, both her legs had to be amputated because of an alleged medical mishap and now she wants justice.
“It’s hard. Knowing before this happened, I was normal. I didn’t have anything — but, now, I won’t be able to walk unless I have prostheses,” Stacy Galette told CBS 2’s Pablo Guzman.
Galette went to Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola one year ago for what she said was supposed to be a minor gynecological procedure. However, something went wrong and both of her legs were amputated.
Galette said she’s been left with unimaginable anger.
“Knowing that I’m not the same person that I used to be. I’m not walking,” Galette said.
Mother and 10-year-old daughter are still close, in spite of everything. Galette claims that during surgery at Winthrop Hospital, her intestine was punctured, which ultimately led to gangrene and the amputation of both legs below the knees. On Thursday she and her lawyer filed suit against the hospital.
“It’s horrifying. She will have to use prostheses for the rest of her life, for a double below the knee amputation — because of medical malpractice!” attorney Sanford Rubinstein said.
Over the phone, a spokesman for the hospital told Guzman: “As a matter of policy, we don’t comment on pending litigation.”
Dr. Tracey Zivin-Tutela, from St Luke’s Hospital’s infectious disease unit explained what might prompt an emergency amputation.
“In a routine operation something would have gone wrong to cause a blood infection. A blood infection can cause an inflammatory response and cause damage to any organ,” Zivin-Tutela said.
Guzman asked Galette what she can’t do with her daughter now that she misses.
“Walking … doing her hair,” she said.
Since losing her feet, Galette has not been able to work. She had been a medical technician.
Since the double amputation, Galette has lost more. She is also going through a divorce.
Gratuitous comment alert: I can’t imagine what even Dummycrat women see in him. Isn’t he entirely too smarmy? And his teeth, veneers or dentures, look fake.
Sadly Obamacare or not doctors will still be operating their, well, what they fittingly call “practices”.
You don't know that. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't. That's why they have trials, supposedly, to get at the truth.
I cannot imagine that she was not informed. I was informed in a consultation, and in a written pamphlet. I was asked by personnel at the hospital about it. Its a very very well known risk.
Having surgery is a choice. A choice between leaving things as they are, and that of taking the RISK to change them. Its a risk. Statistically speaking, for some it does not pay off. Thats harsh, but its also reality. Now if it was an emergency procedure, that is altogether different. At that point, its about life or death. This does not sound like that sort of situation. She made and informed choice. If she was NOT informed, then she has a case. I just strongly doubt that is the case.
what kind of minor gynecological procedure? Why are they being coy?
The journolist is being coy about what procedure she went in for. If it’s a lawsuit, hipaa no longer covers privacy. There’s always a reason for coyness.
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