“Where is your husband right now, Mrs. F?” the physician asked.
“Out of town,”she replied.
“Why don't I just wait until he returns, and I can ask him about the lost pills,” Dr. D suggested. “Have him call me when he gets back. In the meantime, take ibuprofen for your discomfort.”
Four days later, Mrs. F was brought to the emergency department (ED) complaining of shortness of breath and continuous pain in her arm. Noting “inflammation and a foul-smelling drainage,” the ED physician diagnosed necrotizing fasciitis and rushed Mrs. F into surgery for an aggressive debridement. This procedure was followed over the next two months by several others that left Mrs. F with a disfigured, largely useless right arm and constant, debilitating pain.
She then consulted a plaintiff's attorney about suing the clinic. The lawyer believed she had a strong case but warned that because the clinic was on a military base, she would have to sue the federal government rather than the individual clinicians.
By the time the case went to trial several years later, Mrs. F had divorced. Now a struggling single mother, she was unable to get a job because of her damaged arm and the amount of medication she was taking.
At the plaintiff's request, the trial was conducted before a judge but without a jury. The first witness was an expert in primary care who described necrotizing fasciitis. Early detection is essential, she said, because the infection is often deadly. This physician listed early symptoms as “pain in the general area where the infection was introduced; flulike symptoms, such as nausea, fever, general malaise; and intense thirst.”
“Could vomiting and dehydration be considered early symptoms?” Mrs. F's attorney asked.
“Oh, yes,” the expert replied. “Those symptoms are followed shortly by swelling and discoloration, along with a putrid fluid discharge and then by toxic shock. Once it reaches this stage, the infection is considered advanced.”
“Was the plaintiff's infection advanced?”
“Yes, and treatment almost always involves removal of tissue and/or amputation of affected areas, as was done in your client's case.”