Brooklyn ma in 'endless pain' after simple operation goes awry, leaving her without both her legs
BY William Sherman
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, November 19th 2010, 4:00 AM
A Brooklyn mom sued a Long Island hospital Thursday, claiming doctors botched a simple procedure that left her a double amputee.
Since undergoing the gynecological operation two years ago at Winthrop University Hospital, Stacey Galette, 30, has lost both her feet and endured "endless pain."
"I have prosthetics, and I'm just starting to walk. It's very painful, but I'm trying. It's very hard," said Galette, insisting she was perfectly healthy before going to the Mineola hospital.
Galette, a trained medical technician, claims doctors punctured her intestine during the procedure, triggering an infection, blood poisoning and gangrene in her lower legs.
"With the gangrene, they had to amputate," Galette told the Daily News, adding she has not been able to work and is now on "total disability."
"I have a 10-year-old daughter, and it's very difficult to take care of her," she said.
She was supposed to be in and out in one day, but has since spent countless days in the hospital and in physical therapy.
"It's horrifying," said her lawyer Sanford Rubenstein. "She will be spending the rest of her life with a below-the-knees amputation, all because the doctors didn't follow accepted medical practice."
Surgeons Paul Byrne and Frederic Moon, who initially treated Galette, were among the doctors and medical personnel named in the Brooklyn Supreme Court medical malpractice suit, which is seeking unspecified damages.
"As a matter of hospital policy, we don't comment on pending litigation," said hospital spokesman John Broder.
Galette said doctors discharged her after the initial operation.
"But the next day, my stomach started to swell, and I went back in," she said.
Doctors performed subsequent surgeries but failed to stop the cascading damage.
During her second visit to the hospital, she went into cardiac arrest, and had to be put in a medically induced coma for three weeks. She also suffered permanent partial hearing loss and was put on 18 different medications.
Before the procedure, she was married, living on Long Island and working full time. Now she's going through a divorce, living with her mother in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, and struggling to learn how to walk again.
Despite her troubles, she said she's battling to stay upbeat. "I'm trying to make progress," she said.
wsherman@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local..._wrong_amputee_sues_hosp_o.html#ixzz15kK0W7u0
