A mother-of-six in the US who lost her hands, legs, and lips after a routine surgery went badly wrong is seeking $98 million in damages.
Trisha Stevens’, 46, nightmare ordeal began when she underwent a hysterectomy in October 2024 from which she suffered life-changing complications after contracting sepsis.
In her near $100 million lawsuit, seen by the Daily Mail, Ms Stevens names three doctors and two Portland hospitals for allegedly delaying crucial treatment and failing to properly diagnose sepsis symptoms which required urgent surgery.
Two weeks after her hysterectomy, Ms Stevens says she experienced a sharp pain in her abdomen followed by severe vaginal bleeding and a blood clot “the size of a baseball.”
Immediately worried, she called the hospital clinic and reported her continued bleeding, fever, diarrhoea and stomach cramping and was advised to “rest and hydrate,”
But as her symptoms worsened over the next 12 hours, her husband was forced to rush Ms Stevens to their local emergency department in Oregon.
There she was diagnosed with eritonitis, an inflammation of the abdominal lining; lactic acidosis, a build-up of acid in the blood; and acute kidney injury.
Medics later found bacteria in her bloodstream, with the infection having spread throughout her body causing several of her organs to fail. She had gone into septic shock — a rare and often deadly condition.
A week later Stevens’ legs were amputated above the knee, followed by her right hand, left thumb, and portions of her left fingers.
Tissue necrosis — the death of cells due to infection — also took away portions of her lips and tongue, while spinal cord damage left her paralysed from the waist down.
The lawsuit claims that the doctors and hospitals involved prior to surgery were negligent for delaying treatment of the abdominal infection.
“I came home having lost both of my legs and my right hand,” Trisha told local Television station KGW.
“My left hand was left unusable after the necrosis. I lost parts of my lips and tongue, and I live with paralysis in a body that no longer responds the way it once did.”
The mother to six young children went on to explain that the impact on her life has been profound.
“I was a wife who could reach for husband’s hand without thinking and a mother who could walk down the hallway when one of my children called my name,” she continued.
“I could climb into bed beside them after a nightmare, wrap both arms around them when they cried, and make them feel safe simply by being there.
“I could drive, cook, clean, care for my family and carry my share of our life. I never knew those ordinary things were freedoms until they were gone.”
Before the life-changing ordeal, Mr Stevens worked as a firefighter — but now he is a full time carer for his wife.
Ms Stevens’ attorney, Rhett Fraser, said his client cannot even eat independently and requires daily wound care for her ulcers.
“Before becoming ill, she was a full-time mother and an active, independent partner in her household,” Mr Fraser told Oregon Live.
“She cared for their family, managed daily life at home, drove, cooked, cleaned, attended the children’s activities, and was fully engaged in the life she and her husband had built.”