Woman Becomes Quadruple Amputee After Giving Birth

Can you say "cover-up"... I can.

Woman Becomes Quadruple Amputee After Giving Birth
POSTED: 5:59 pm EST January 19, 2006
UPDATED: 4:06 pm EST January 20, 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. -- 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 want to know what happened. I went to deliver my baby and I came out like this," Mejia said.

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.

"Yeah, I want to pick him up. He wants me to pick him up. I can't. I want to, but I can't," she said. "Woke up from surgery and I had no arms and no legs. No one told me anything. My arms and legs were just gone."

Her 7-year-old son, Jorge, asks his mother over and over what happened to her. Neither she nor her husband has the answer.

"I love her, so I'll always stick with her and take it a day at a time myself," said her husband, Tim Edwards.

The couple wants to know how she caught streptococcus, during labor or after. She doesn't know. She knows she didn't leave the hospital the same.

"And why, I want to know why this happened," she said.

Her attorney, Judy Hyman wrote ORHS a letter saying, according to the Florida statute, "The Patients Right To Know About Adverse Medical Incidents Act," the hospital must give her the records.

"When the statute is named 'Patients Right To Know,' I don't know how it could be clearer," Hyman said.

The hospital's lawyers wrote back, "Ms. Mejia's request may require legal resolution." In other words, according to their interpretation of the law, Mejia has to sue them to get information about herself.

That's the sticking point, the interpretation of the Patients Right To Know act, a constitutional amendment Florida voters passed a little more than a year ago.

Mejia's other attorney, E. Clay Parker, said the hospital is not following the law

"We were forced to file this and ask a judge to interpret the constitutional amendment and do right," Parker said.

Mejia hopes the right thing is done. She said not knowing exactly why it happened is unbearable. She only hopes she'll be able to soon answer her little boy's question, 'What happened?'

"He told me everyday, 'What happened,' and I don't have any answers for that," she said.

ORMC said Mejia is requesting information on if there were other patients or someone on her floor with the streptococcus. They said, if they release that to her, that would be a violation of other patients' rights.

Copyright 2007 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

I promise you what happened was that she got someone else's amputation.

[Ibby]

Oh man, she is going to totally own that hospital in a year's time, and maybe more than that...

[Trilby]

What a horrific story. I can't even begin to imagine...just WOW.

[monster]

This story is a year old now. Has any light been shed on what happened?

Not that I have seen.

[monster]

yup settlement and cover-up then

[Clodfobble]

Okay, just to separate out the real facts from the "she can't hold her baby!" irrelevance...

She was told she had streptococcus, a flesh eating bacteria, and toxic shock syndrome, but no further explanation was given.

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.

The couple wants to know how she caught streptococcus, during labor or after.

ORMC said Mejia is requesting information on if there were other patients or someone on her floor with the streptococcus. They said, if they release that to her, that would be a violation of other patients' rights.

Looks to me like she legitimately needed the amputations. It's not like they chopped off her limbs as an afterthought in the delivery room, she was kept for almost 2 weeks after because there were known complications (i.e., the infections.) The only thing the hospital isn't telling her is if they know how she caught the infection.

But yes, either way, the hospital certainly settled out of court, they do it all the time. Hospitals are teeming with infection and doctors make mistakes, you will never be able to avoid either of those things.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Hospitals are teeming with infection...

My kids were both born in a hospital, but if I er... Pete had to do it again we'd find a birthing center.

I don't call that irrelevant.
None of what the hospital states means anything without the records to back it up.

[monster]

"Yeah, I want to pick him up. He wants me to pick him up. I can't. I want to, but I can't," she said. "Woke up from surgery and I had no arms and no legs. No one told me anything. My arms and legs were just gone."

This was from the original report I read.

http://www.wftv.com/news/6253589/detail.html

This sounds like it's more than just how she caught the infection. Did they do it under a blanket consent form? Did the husband consent? Is the infection really so fast acting that they did not have time to get specific consent?

[Clodfobble]

Here's a more recent article with a current update:

http://www.wesh.com/news/9148849/detail.html

Twelve days after giving birth to her son Matthew, doctors gave her a choice no one would ever want to make.

"If I want to live, they want to cut off my arms and legs. If I don't, I'll keep my arms and legs but I'll die. Is this a dream?" Mejia said.

She did consent after all. What happened to her is still horrible, but her original comments were misleading.

[monster]

agreed. lots of spin going on here.

Video and another article...
The hospital is still refusing to release her records.
They are covering something up, even if it is how she got the bacteria.
Something is very wrong here, she has a right to those records.
http://www.wftv.com/news/6253589/detail.html

[glatt]

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

Something is very wrong here, she has a right to those records.

She has a reasonable right to the records after all personal identifying information about other patients is redacted from them.

[DanaC]

The only thing the hospital isn't telling her is if they know how she caught the infection.

The condition ‘necrotizing fasciitis’ is caused by the same strep that causes strep throats. Kind of hard to guard against. Very rare but women giving birth are amongst the listed risk categories.