Lindsey Hubley lawsuit: Halifax new mother contracts flesh eating bacteria after birth in what lawyers claim was caused by hospital negligence.
Lindsey Hubley a 33 year old Canadian woman has launched a lawsuit against a hospital after losing all four limbs after having given birth to a baby boy.
According to CTV News at the time of giving birth in March, the woman experienced no complications only to return four days later at the Halifax, Nova Scotia, hospital where she had given birth after having incurred a dangerous flesh eating disease.
Shortly after the woman was told she had contracted a flesh eating bacteria which forced doctors to amputate all four limbs, her arms and legs to stop the infection.
Hubley, come Wednesday launched a lawsuit against IWK Health Center and several doctors, alleging negligence had elicited her disease, arguing the condition was wrought after the hospital failed to properly remove her whole placenta.
The basis of Hubley’s lawsuit contends that the hospital should have never allowed her to leave with her new son, prior to properly check the new mom’s health.
Having gone home after giving birth, Hubley returned back to the hospital the following day complaining of stomach pains. The first time mother also exhibited signs of skin discoloration.
Doctors, however, blamed Hubley’s stomach ache on constipation and sent her home.
But then it got worse.
Lindsey Hubley lawsuit: Why wasn’t the new mother properly assessed before being released?
The next day, Hubley was rushed to the hospital and into emergency surgery for what was later diagnosed as an infection called necrotizing fasciitis.
The mother had gone in septic shock and multi-system organ failure due to an infection that was quickly progressing throughout her body.
Hubley has since undergone multiple surgeries, which included having her legs and arms amputated and a total hysterectomy. The new mum has since been forced to spend the first seven months of her new born’s life bedridden in hospital.
Told Hubley’s fiance Matt Sampson via CTV News, ‘Having her watch the two of us leave and her sitting there for the rest of the night by herself in the hospital is absolutely tortuous,’
Adding, ‘If it was just feet, it would be one thing. If it was just arms, it would be another thing. But there’s about nine different things we’re dealing with.’
Hubley’s legal team in the suit is claiming that the traumatic episode was one that could have been avoided.
‘Our allegations are that had she been properly assessed when she presented at the hospital… a substantial part of the damage, if not all of it, could have been prevented,’ her lawyer Ray Wagner told the Canadian Press.
Added the lawyer, ‘Lindsay is lucky to have even survived.’
Understanding what necrotising fasciitis is and the importance of immediate treatment:
Underscoring the seriousness of the flesh eating disease, also known by its scientific name, necrotising fasciitis, a report via the dailymail describes the malignancy as a rare but serious bacterial infection that can destroy the skin, fat, and the tissue covering the muscles within a very short time if left untreated.
Adding, ‘It can start from a relatively minor injury, such as a small cut or insect bite when bacteria enters a wound. The disease can be caused by several types of bacteria. Cases where people have caught it from the ocean have been infected with saltwater containing a Vibrio species.
As well as being found in warm sea waters, these organisms and are often present in raw oysters, shellfish, and other seafood.
It is an extremely uncommon cause of necrotizing fasciitis and more likely to affect people with compromised immune systems. The infection gets worse very quickly and can be fatal if it’s not recognised and treated early on.
The sooner treatment begins, the more likely the patient will recover from the infection and avoid serious complications, such as limb amputation.’
While flesh eating bacteria infection is rare, a study via HealthLink BC asserts the disease kills one in four people who contract it.
A report via the dailymail cited Kate Boyle, as part of Hubley’s legal team saying doctors did not remove the new mum’s entire placenta after giving birth and that there was still a small tear in her uterus.
A retained placenta, meaning the organ wasn’t completely birthed during labor, could be life threatening to a new mother told the lawyer.
Went on to say Boyle, ‘It has to be completely removed otherwise it will result in extreme blood loss and infection, which can eventually cause death.’
Yet to be necessarily understood is how the five doctors identified in the suit and the hospital could have overlooked Hubley’s post birth status and preempted a condition which has since left the woman a quadruple amputee. Which is to wonder what procedures had been in place and how not only one, but five doctors overlooked protocol?
With Hubley’s fiance now taking permanent care of the moribund new mom, and requiring ongoing rehabilitation, including a kidney transplant, Hubley’s sister-in-law Susan created a GoFundMe page to help the family pay for the growing hospital bills and inability for Mike to work.
The page has raised as of Friday evening, EST, $92K.
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