Woman Files Suit After All Limbs Amputated

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SANFORD, Fla. – A woman who contracted flesh-eating bacteria and had to have all her limbs amputated sued a hospital for medical malpractice.

Claudia Mejia’s lawsuit Monday against South Seminole Hospital, filed in state circuit court, seeks unspecified damages, the Orlando Sentinel reported. It claims the hospital failed to detect early signs of an infection after she gave birth to a boy in April 2005.

Mejia developed a form of streptococcus that resisted conventional treatment, according to medical records.

She went into shock, gangrene set in, her kidneys began to fail and doctors amputated her limbs to save her life.

The lawsuit names the hospital; its parent company, Orlando Regional Healthcare System Inc.; two doctors; a nurse; and two midwives.

An attorney for Orlando Regional, Jennings Hurt, issued a statement Monday saying the company determined Mejia did not get the infection at the hospital.

“The investigation also revealed that the care provided by its nurses was appropriate and reasonable,” the statement said.

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