Mother of three loses hands and feet

NEW YORK, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- A New York woman says she is suing Brooklyn Hospital Center for allegedly failing to treat an infection that led to the amputation of her feet and hands.

Tabitha Mullings, 32, a mother of three, was released from the hospital Friday to begin physical therapy at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation In Manhattan, the New York Daily News reported Saturday.

"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.

Mullings' ordeal began in mid-September when she went to the center's emergency room and doctors diagnosed her pain as caused by kidney stones, gave her painkillers and sent her home, said her lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein.

When her pain intensified the next day, Mullings' fiance rushed her back to the hospital, where she allegedly then was treated for a blood infection choking circulation to her hands and feet, Rubenstein said.

When the infection worsened, doctors amputated both of Mullings' feet and hands, Rubenstein said, adding Mullings, who also was left blind in one eye, now will undergo a long regimen of rehabilitation and counseling.