What Is Necrotizing Fasciitis? Woman Diagnosed With Flesh-Eating Disease After Giving Birth

When a Canadian woman, Lindsey Hubley, complained of severe abdominal pain after giving birth to a healthy boy at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia in March, the doctors dismissed her discomfort saying she was suffering from constipation. However, the 33-year-old visited another hospital the next day only to find out she was suffering from a deadly infection — necrotizing fasciitis.

A serious bacterial skin infection that spreads quickly and kills the body’s soft tissue, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), necrotizing fasciitis can turn fatal in a very short amount of time. "Accurate diagnosis, prompt antibiotic treatment (medicine that kills bacteria in the body), and surgery are important to stop this infection,” as per the CDC.

On its website, the CDC further elaborates that the infection occurs when the bacteria enters a person’s body through any kind of an opening in the body such as cuts, scrapes, burns, insect bites or puncture wounds.

“People with necrotizing fasciitis often start having symptoms within a few hours after an injury. The symptoms may seem like another illness or injury. For example, some people may complain of pain or soreness, similar to that of a ‘pulled muscle.’ The skin may be warm with red or purplish areas of swelling that spread rapidly. Some people get ulcers, blisters, or black spots on the skin. Patients often describe their pain as severe and hurting much more than they would expect based on how the wound looks,” the website further explains.

Hubley filed a negligence lawsuit last week in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court against the IWK Health Centre where she gave birth to her son saying the carelessness of the doctors has left her struggling with the deadly flesh-eating infection, the Daily Mail Online reported.

The lawsuit, which names five doctors associated with the hospital, also alleges that Hubley’s placenta wasn’t removed completely after her delivery, which could have possibly caused the fatal infection causing her to lose all her limbs.

Hubley gave birth to her son, Myles, on March 2 and began feeling a sharp pain in the abdomen the next day. She was immediately rushed to the Queen Elizabeth II hospital where the doctors said she was suffering from secondary septic shock. They also said her organs were failing. Further tests revealed she was suffering from necrotizing fasciitis and was placed in a medically-induced coma. Her condition worsened so much that the doctors had to remove all her four limbs and she also had to undergo a hysterectomy.

Speaking about Hubley, her counselor Raymond Wagner said: “What Lindsey and her family have gone through over these past seven months is incomprehensible. She is truly a survivor and remarkably has maintained a positive and determined attitude along her long road to recovery, all while juggling the struggles, and joys, of a newborn.”

Hubley’s sister-in-law Susan set up a GoFundMe page for her hospital bills and care and has managed to raise close to $100,000. She also wrote a Facebook post to spread the word and raise as much donation as possible.

“She [Hubley] has seen the GoFundMe page and she is so grateful and is overwhelmed with the support. The main reason we wanted to do the page was it’s going to be a very long time before she’s going to be able to go home and when she can go home, we’re not entirely sure what she’ll need,” Susan told the National Post.