According to court documents filed in Baltimore, Maryland, 59-year-old Joyce Ferguson is suing the Johns Hopkins Health System for what she says was a botched diagnosis.
Documents show that Ferguson visited the emergency room of the Howard County General Hospital on three separate occasions and each time, she complained of having severe pelvic pain.
During the third visit, Ferguson was about to be discharged when she was found incoherent and cold to the touch. It was at that point when doctors found infected uterine tissue, the lawsuit said.
Ferguson said that she recovered from sepsis and organ failure, but the lack of blood flow caused gangrene to her hands and feet. As a result, her legs were amputated above the knee and her arms below the elbow.
Ferguson alleges the doctors failed to order a full pelvic exam after seeing fluid during ultrasound exams, which would’ve indicated that she had a uterus infection.
“In our view, this case is an example of a tragedy — with a capital T — that was entirely avoidable,” Howard Janet, one of Ferguson’s attorneys, told .
Howard County General Hospital is part of the Johns Hopkins Health System, which as declined to comment.
