Suit is settled in malpractice case

A Bountiful woman's $16 million medical malpractice lawsuit against LDS Hospital, Intermountain Healthcare and other entities has ended with the award of an undisclosed settlement for what the woman termed "catastrophic" injuries caused by severe infections associated with a Caesarean section.

Lisa Speckman filed the lawsuit in 2006 that described infections she said began in the hospital that ultimately required the amputation of both legs, her right arm and one of her fingers.

Speckman also stated in the suit that the infections required surgical removal of several organs, including a hysterectomy, removal of her ovaries, nearly all of her large intestine and gall bladder.

Named in the lawsuit were LDS Hospital, Intermountain Healthcare Hospitals Inc., Intermountain Health Services, Intermountain Nurse Midwifery, IHC Health Plans Inc., the University of Utah, the University of Utah Health Sciences, and various doctors and nurses.

All parties denied any wrongdoing.

None of the attorneys contacted Thursday could comment because all parties are bound by a confidentiality agreement.

The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice Oct. 1 by 3rd District Judge L.A. Dever.

The lawsuit also had claimed that Speckman's injuries left her in permanent pain, produced emotional trauma, caused extraordinary damage to her financial situation, created future medical problems and "devastatingly" influenced her relationship with her two children and her husband, Stephen Speckman.

Stephen Speckman is a reporter for the Deseret News. His wife's story was featured in the Deseret News in March 2006, found here.

Both Speckmans were party to the suit that contends that medical staff did not diagnose and treat "obvious" indications of infection prior to delivery of their second child. The lawsuit also alleges that a number of medical personnel did not diagnose or treat a new infection over a four-day period that produced a "flesh-eating disease" after Lisa Speckman underwent a C-section.

As a result, Speckman had to undergo repeated surgeries and was hospitalized for an extensive period of time.

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E-mail: lindat@desnews.com

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