A woman who was bitten by her pet dog, developed sepsis and had all her fingers and thumbs partially amputated is suing paramedics after they advised her to stay at home and take paracetamol.
Michelle Ellis, 45 from Plymouth was bitten twice by the family dog on 13 January 2021 on her right wrist and outer forearm and called an ambulance two days later after developing ‘flu like symptoms.’
Paramedics from the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) attended her home and were told by Ms Ellis’s son that she had been bitten while she also showed them the mottled appearance of her skin, which was also bruised.
But despite suffering from a high temperature, breathlessness, shivering and with visible dog bite marks on her arm they decided not to take her to hospital.
She was instructed to strip off, cover herself with a sheet, use a fan to keep her temperature down and take some paracetamol to deal with the pain she was experiencing.
But her condition deteriorated and the next day she was rushed to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth where she suffered multi-organ failure. She was put into an induced coma, had to be resuscitated twice and was diagnosed with sepsis.
Surgeons also had to carry out amputations on parts of all ten of her digits and she also had to undergo an emergency tracheostomy enabling her to breathe.
Ms Ellis, a mother of four is taking legal action against SWASFT for damages of more than £200,000 alleging the negligence of their paramedics led to these complications and has left her with life-long effects.
In a legal document, her lawyers argue: ‘The claimant’s (Ms Ellis) injuries were caused or materially contributed to by the negligence of the Defendant (SWASFT), its servants or agents in the mismanagement of the Claimant’s treatment.’
They state: ‘Each of the paramedics and other clinical staff employed by the Defendant owed to the Claimant a duty of care in respect of the clinical advice, actions and treatment provided by them. The Defendant is vicariously liable for any breach of such duty.’
Ms Elli’s lawyers also argue that when she was eventually taken to hospital, her dog marks were visible and recorded in the clinical notes.
The document maintains: ‘They must, therefore, have been visible when paramedics attended the Claimant between 23.08 on 15 January 2021 and 00.23h the following day.’
Court documents also maintain that Ms Ellis is now unable to fully use her hands and has pain in her fingers.
The mother of four claims that she has been left with PTSD and also suffers from depression.
The document states: ‘She has been left with significant cosmetic defects and significant loss of function in her hands which will be permanent. She also experiences pain and sensitivity in the tips of her index fingers which will probably improve but, if it does not, will require further surgery.’
In the legal document, her lawyers argue that paramedics failed to take an adequate medical history when they attended Ms Ellis’s home, especially the fact that she had been bitten by her dog just days earlier.
Lawyers allege that they were also negligent in failing to carry out a proper examination, notice the presence of dog bites, mottling to Ms Ellis’s skin and her raised heart rate and temperature, which resulted in them not considering the possibility that she had contracted sepsis.
They argue that if she had been taken to hospital on that day then she would have been screened for the condition and avoided even more serious medical complications.
Her lawyers state: ‘The Defendant’s breaches of duty, and each of them, have therefore, caused or materially contributed to the Claimant exacerbation and development of sepsis and its sequale, and have resulted in otherwise avoidable amputations.’
A spokesperson for South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘It would be inappropriate for us to comment at this stage.’
