Nov 22, 2008 8:49 am US/Eastern
NYC Woman Loses Hands, Feet In Hospital 'Mistake'
32-Year-Old Suing Brooklyn Hospital Center For Millions After Gangrene Takes Over Her Body, Attacks Optic Nerve
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Tabitha Mullings, 32, is suing Brooklyn Hospital Center after her hands and feet were amputated in what her lawyers call a "medical mistake."
CBS
She was a vibrant young mother who went to a Brooklyn hospital for what she thought was a kidney stone. She wound up leaving without her hands and feet because of what her lawyers call a "medical mistake."
Now, Tabitha Mullings is suing for $100 million.
The 32-year-old suffered an infection and ended up a quadriplegic with impaired vision.
"Because of this hospital, this emergency room, with back pain and side pain, and she leaves here on a stretcher with no hands and feet and legally blind," said Sanford Rubenstein, Mullings' attorney.
It was on Sept. 14 when Mullings came to the hospital suffering from abdominal pain, and had a kidney stone, and a condition with a known propensity for infection.
But Mullings' lawyers say there was no blood test. She was sent home, and when her fiancé brought her back the next day, an infection was raging. It choked off the blood flow to her extremities. After gangrene set in, her hands turned black, her feet turned black, all four limbs had to be amputated.
"What happened was, the infection attacked not only her hands and feet, but also the optic nerve which is why she went blind in one eye and half blind in the other eye and is now legally blind as well," Rubenstein said
On Friday, Mullings was moved to a rehab center after two months at Brooklyn Hospital Center. She will be fitted with prosthetic hands and feet which she'll have to learn to use.
"My goal is to walk out of this hospital with my hands and my legs, walk out of here before Christmas so I can spend it with my beautiful children and family. And that's my determination," an emotional Mullings said as she left the hospital.
"I just want to know why, why it happened to us. We never did nothing wrong," said Michael Mullings, Tabitha's brother.
Incredibly, Tabitha said she wasn't angry about what's happened to her.
"It's not anger, it's just a disappointment, and I don't want this to happen to anybody else. That's why I'm coming out with this now. It's just a disappointment," she said. "I don't sleep as good, but I do have my nights. It's a struggle, it is a struggle."
Calls to Brooklyn Hospital Center were not returned. Mullings' attorneys expect she'll be paid millions by the hospital.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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