Mom who lost hands & feet 'so happy to be out' of hospital
BY MIKE JACCARINO and JOHN MARZULLI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Friday, November 21st 2008, 8:50 PM
With attorney Sanford Rubenstein on her right and son Enrique on her left, Tabitha Mullings talks to the press at Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation in midtown, where she will undergo therapy.
A Brooklyn mom was released Friday from the hospital where, she says, a medical bungle turned her into a quadruple amputee.
Tabitha Mullings, who is beginning a long and arduous rehab, is suing Brooklyn Hospital Center for failing to treat an infection that developed into sepsis, leaving her an invalid and blind in one eye.
RELATED: "GOOD HEARTS OF THE CITY" OPEN UP FOR MULLINGS
The 32-year-old mother of three was wheeled out of the hospital accompanied by her son Enrique, 12, and gulped fresh air for the first time since her medical nightmare began two months ago.
"People told me it was cold outside, but I just wanted to feel the air and the sun on my face," Mullings told the Daily News, which first reported her tragic story.
"I was so happy to be out of that hospital; it's a relief," she added.
Mullings went to the Fort Greene hospital's emergency room in pain on Sept. 14.
Doctors diagnosed it as a kidney stone, gave her painkillers and sent her home, her lawyer said. After the pain intensified the next day, her fiancé rushed her to the hospital.
Her infection choked off blood flow to her hands and feet and she lapsed into a semicoma for two weeks. When she awoke, doctors told her they had to amputate.
Mullings steeled herself Friday to begin a regimen of rehab, therapy and counseling.
After Mullings settled in a private room at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation in midtown, her limbs were cleaned and freshly bandaged.
"I know this is the place that is going to get me back on my feet," she said later in the hospital atrium.
"I want to thank God for giving me a chance to live through this. My goal is to walk out of this hospital with my hands and legs before Christmas so I can spend it with my family and friends. The first thing I will do is hug my kids as tight as possible."
Her lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, called Mullings "a role model for those who suffer a tragedy."
jmarzulli@nydailynews.com
nydailynews.com |
