Orlando Woman Checks in to Deliver Baby, Doctors Amputate her Arms and Legs Without Explanation!

I read this story and I just imagined myself in this woman's position. She checked into the hospital to deliver her baby, and when she wakes up, she's a quadruple amputee with no explanation! Oh..my..God. Can you imagine?

www.wftv.com...

A Sanford mother says she will never be able to hold her newborn because an Orlando hospital performed a life-altering surgery and, she claims, the hospital refuses to explain why they left her as a multiple amputee.

The woman filed a complaint against Orlando Regional Healthcare Systems, she said, because they won't tell her exactly what happened. The hospital maintains the woman wants to know information that would violate other patients' rights.

Claudia Mejia gave birth eight and a half months ago at Orlando Regional South Seminole. She was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center in Orlando where her arms and legs were amputated. She was told she had streptococcus, a flesh eating bacteria, and toxic shock syndrome, but no further explanation was given. The hospital, in a letter, wrote that if she wanted to find out exactly what happened, she would have to sue them.

I'm pretty disgusted by the actions of the hospital in this case. They were in charge of taking care of this woman during her delivery, and they let her down.

I can't imagine them being so callous about this! They took her arms and legs for Christ's sake! I know we've all been hearing a lot about the drug immune strep showing up in hospitals - all the more reason to take care of yourself and leave hospitals to the stupid and wealthy.

She could have delivered the baby at home, and I'm fairly sure she wouldn't have contracted the flesh eating bacteria doing so. Ya never know, but that's my suspicion.

Sounds like a malpractice coverup to me...they probably operated on the wrong person.

Poor woman, what a horrible thing to happen!

Look, the link won't work for me for some reason but when a story like this is reported I always feel as if we're not being told everything. This case sounds so extreme that it doesn't make sense.

Waiting to hear more.

Peace

accidents where an organ or a limb are removed happen from time to time and it is tragic. How can they take all four limbs without noticing the lack of flesh eating bacteria?

doctor, these arms and legs look pretty damned healthy to me.
oh crap, dispose of everything and act really really dumb.

Sounds like a cover up to me also. Making them sue will give the hospital more time to cover themselves.



[edit on 1-20-2006 by groingrinder]

oh my God!!! what are they doing now, selling arms and legs for transplant? maybe it was a training excersise?? what the heck??
I don't buy the "flesh eating bacteria", if that's what it is (I haven't read up on those little bugs) well, just what flipping biological weapons lab did they escape from!!

I bet this hospital finds itself lacking in customers in the future!! I wouldn't even be outside walking down the sidewalk on their side of the street!

This is crazy!!!
BEFORE she had surgery, she should have been told of the procedure that was to come. It is a horrible abuse of the Law and of the Medical Profession.
I hope they lose their 'pants' in this one.........SO SO SO SAD

dj
That was my thought originally, I too remember all those stories of people getting the wrong leg lopped off.

It appears though, that they infected her somewhow, something having to do with another patient (which would raise the privacy question), and now they're hiding behind patient privacy to protect themselves.

I'm still waiting to hear more about this though.

Dr. Love
Heh, read the news long enough and nothing will surprise you. This is hardly the wierdest thing ever printed. I checked the link, and it works fine for me, so all I can suggest is for you to adjust your browser settings or do a news search with some choice keywords and try to find the story from another source.

I haven't seen it anywhere else yet, so I suppose it could be a fake.

I agree with djohnsto777,
I THINK they did operate on the wrong person and are trying to cover it up. Buying time to process and switch labs and docs.....I know 3 people that have been 'abused' by the medical profession and it is apalling......no accountability.

Doctors should be DRUG TESTED, they hold people's lives in their hands, I wouldn't want my doctor on Xanex, or Vicadin.....WOULD YOU>?

Experiment gone bad? If i were her... i would do everything in my power to make sure the child was mine as well. Those doctors need to swallow their pride and admit to being wrong or at least.. justify to her the reason.

Originally posted by Crakeur
...How can they take all four limbs without noticing the lack of flesh eating bacteria?

Crakeur's quote is why this story makes no sense. Don't you stop after one limb if you don't see anything? On top of that the woman's about to pop with baby!

What, do they have a new device that slices off all four limbs at once?

Peace

Don't you stop after one limb if you don't see anything? On top of that the woman's about to pop with baby!

I don't think the question is whether or not she had the bacteria (that seems a clear yes). Also, I think they amputated after delivery, just a minor point to remember.

I think we have to assume something happened and infected the woman during her stay at the hospital. Nasty, nasty bugs hang around in hospitals. If you think about it, the harsh environment (filled with cleansers and anti biotics and astringents and so on) speeds up the mutation of powerful strains.

I can't honestly imagine why anyone would want to go to a hospital, except under the most dire of circumstances. For example, if you already lost all four of your limbs in some accident, you don't have anything to lose by going in to the hospital.

I shouldn't say that...

You could wake up missing your eyes and a liver...

"Mejia said after she gave birth to Mathew last spring, she was kept in the hospital with complications. Twelve days after giving birth at Orlando Regional South Seminole hospital, she was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center where she became a quadruple amputee. Now she can not care for or hold her baby."

www.wftv.com...

it sounds to me that she gave birth, developed complications (flesh eating disease or whatever), was then transferred to a different hospital and then operated on.....she gave birth last spring, 12 days later, it says she was transported to the other hospital...and it sounds like they took all four limbs in one operation??? IT's not reallly clear as to how long after she was transported that they did this operation. And, I get the impression that the lady didn't have the impression that this was what the operation was for when she went into the operating room? Maybe she was too sick and the husband is now too chicken to tell her that he okayed it?? or was he totally surprised also? whatever went down, it's still scary!!! cripes.....if I ever go into the hospital I am gonna have to clue my doctor in, if anything like this happens, just ummm....make sure the guy controlling the drugs makes sure he gives me enough so I never wake up!

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
I read this story and I just imagined myself in this woman's position. She checked into the hospital to deliver her baby, and when she wakes up, she's a quadruple amputee with no explanation! Oh..my..God. Can you imagine?

Awfull, however, much like she does she does, we do not have all the information.

Acording to the article, she was kept in the hospital for 12 days before she had the limb amputation. So she did not just wake up after the delivery in this state.

Several Questions:

Who consented her for the surgery. If she was that dire he husband would have given the okay.

If she did have a nasty strep infection, then why is the hospital trying to squelch discussion of it?

SHe has a right to her medical records, why are they reluctant to release them?

etc etc etc. We simply do not have the information needed to make an educated conclution in this matter. Both the hospital and the family need to state thier cases in clear terms. However since they have a lawyer already, it may be some time before we see the evidence.

It is uncommon to have to amputate 4 libs at one time but not unheard of. Meningiococemia is such a condition that I have seen it occur.

Many years ago, I was in the hospital to have rhinoplasty to correct a deviated septum that resulted from a car accident. The night before the surgery a nurse came in and asked me to roll up my sleeve, which I did. When he pulled out a razor, I asked what he was doing and he said he was going to shave my arm. I asked him why and he responded, "You're having surgery tomorrow, aren't you?" And I said, "Yes, but they're operating on my nose." He rechecked his paperwork and left the room. I guess I'll never know just how wrong things might have gone, if I hadn't bothered to ask that question, or if I was unable to ask the question.

It would seem to me that the patient would have the right to know all the details of her surgery and I have to wonder why she was not informed in advance, as I have been each and every time I have had surgery. The waivers I have had to sign in the past were voluminous.

slight difference between a nurse shaving your arm and a doctor removing all of your limbs.

If she had a birth, and sufffered infection, they would tell her what procedure was to be performed and it was seem they did. The issue is in the lawsuit which would require access to patient records who were onthe same floor, howeer these records are confidential.

I empathize with this women, but there is more to this than we know. I think the headline should be Women preparing lawsuit blocked by legal issues, this was not a hack job during labor.

perhaps they removed the limbs and they were wrong about the flesh eatng bacteria?

strange story

Originally posted by FredT
It is uncommon to have to amputate 4 libs at one time but not unheard of. Meningiococemia is such a condition that I have seen it occur.

I was wondering what possible reason there would be to amputate all 4 limbs on anyone.

Still, you would think that people in an operating room would know what meningiococemia looked like, or what tests needed to be done to check for it. Why the heck would they operate on somebody without confirming it first? I've worked in a hospital before, and I've seen nurses and doctors work. I have seen nurses who, before giving somebody a unit of blood, stand there and read off the patient's full name, birthdate, health care number and blood type on the patient's wristband and then confirm that information on the bag of blood. You'd think that before performing major surgery, they might do the same sort of checks...