Missed diagnosis costs woman her hands and feet

A Brooklyn mother of three went to her local hospital complaining of pain. She was treated in the emergency room, where she was diagnosed as having kidney stones, was given a painkiller and sent home. The next day, still in pain, she called 911 but the New York Fire Department did not send an ambulance. The day after that, her fiance took her to the hospital himself. The woman, Tabitha Millings, was diagnosed this time with sepsis that had become gangrenous. She lapsed into a coma. When she awoke, she found that her hands and feet had been amputated and she was legally blind in one eye. That was in 2008. Recently, Brooklyn Hospital and the city agreed to settle Mullings’ lawsuit for $17.9 million. Mullings, now 35, expressed anything but joy over the huge settlement in an interview with the New York Daily News. “The reality is, I’m going to be like this the rest of my life. I’m always going to have to have help to do everything, using the bathroom, using a toothbrush. I can’t do anything on my own,” said Mullings, adding, “I dream about running and jumping rope double Dutch and then I wake up and it’s not like that. Waking up is a nightmare.” Learn more about medical malpractice lawsuits.