Attorneys for nurse Jean Law and her husband said mistakes in an emergency room examination at Baptist Medical Center South in Jacksonville, FL, caused doctors to send the 40-year-old wife and mother home with a pain prescription while a bacterial infection was overwhelming her body and making her blood septic. That error, they said, cost Law precious hours when antibiotics could have been used to control an infection that eventually caused flesh in her extremities to turn black and die. Law’s legs were later amputated below the knee and eight fingers were cut off to stop the spread of sepsis. A part of her nose was also lost. A complaint was filed with Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, the lawyers said. They said a malpractice lawsuit will be filed once a required 90-day notice period expires. “When she depended on them for her life, they failed her,” lawyer Thomas Edwards said. “This is a case that should never have happened.” A Baptist spokeswoman said hospital staff weren’t to blame.
