Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Mother Who Lost Limbs Due to Negligence of Health Care Providers in Salt Lake City

A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, September 7, in Salt Lake City on behalf of a 44-year-old mother who suffered catastrophic injuries from necrotizing fasciitis due to a Group A Streptococcus infection (commonly known as "flesh-eating" bacteria) that was not timely diagnosed and treated by her health care providers at LDS Hospital.

Lisa Speckman, 44, of Bountiful, Utah, suffered the loss of both legs above the knee, her right arm above the elbow, her reproductive organs, her large intestine and her gallbladder. The health care providers failed to follow up on abnormal cultures during her prenatal care. Then, at the time of the Cesarean section birth of her daughter on Feb. 25, 2005, and thereafter Lisa demonstrated signs and symptoms of infection. Despite clear evidence of infection, Lisa’s condition was not timely diagnosed and treated with antibiotics and surgery by the health care providers at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City.

"The injuries are horrific and the impact on Lisa and her family are unimaginable in every facet of their lives," said Bradley L. Booke of Moriarity Badaruddin & Booke in Salt Lake City who along with Robert A. Clifford of Clifford Law Offices in Chicago filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Speckmans. "Under Utah law, Lisa’s non-economic damages – her disfigurement, her loss of enjoyment of life, her lifetime of pain and suffering – are limited to $400,000. Through this case we intend to demonstrate the grossly inhuman, inequitable and unjust impact this artificial cap on damages imposes under Utah law. The legislature is, in essence, telling its citizens that they cannot determine what is right so they are doing it for them. That cannot be tolerated."

The Speckmans also named their health insurance provider for its bad faith in refusing to cover necessary medical procedures and expenses in the last 18 months.

"The negligence in this case was avoidable, and it is only through the strength of Lisa’s character that has carried her and her family through this terrible ordeal," Clifford said after the filing. Lisa and her family originally resided in the Chicago area.