WALLINGFORD, CT — A Wallingford woman is suing Griffin Hospital in Derby on claims of medical malpractice in treating her sepsis case, which resulted in the amputation of all four of her limbs.

Carol Proto, who is being represented by Jeffrey Wisner and Kathleen Nastri of Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder in Bridgeport, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday.

Proto was in good health when she entered Griffin Hospital in April 2021 for a "routine and elective diverticulitis surgery and expected to return home just two days later," according to a news release. However, after contracting sepsis, she left the hospital a full month later, "strapped to a stretcher, tethered to an oxygen tank, with black gangrene covering her feet and hands," the release states.

Proto was displaying signs of sepsis one day after her surgery, which the lawsuit claims should have been identified by hospital staff reviewing her vital signs and test results. Proto had low blood pressure, worsening confusion and kidney function that was at 50 percent of its pre-operative capacity, according to the suit.

The lawsuit claims the staff dismissed the symptoms of prolonged effects of anesthesia and failed to "follow international sepsis care guidelines and Griffin Hospital's own screening criteria." Proto was admitted to the ICU after experiencing sepsis for days.

According to the lawsuit, Proto was on the "brink of death" and her "miraculous survival" came at a cost and none of her limbs could be salvaged.

Proto, who spent more than 10 months in recovery, had both hands amputated, her left leg was amputated below the knee, and her right foot was amputated at the metatarsals, according to the suit.

"There are no words to describe the devastation this has brought to our mother's life," said Proto's daughters, Alicia Richitelli and Maria DeMattie, in a joint statement. "She lived independently, she loved to knit blankets for her grandchildren, she was excited to use a new Apple Watch she got as she kept active."

Richitelli and DeMattie, who both work in the healthcare field and were present for nearly the entire admission, claimed the staff at Griffin Hospital ignored their pleas and failed to follow basic sepsis care.

"At the time of her hospitalization, mom was making blankets for each of her grandchildren," they said in the statement. "She will never be able to finish the last three, and she no longer has a wrist to wear the Apple Watch. Even the simple joy of eating an ice cream cone is something she now needs help to do. It has destroyed her spirit, her pride and her sense of self. Our hope is that no other family has to go through this life altering pain due to a hospital's negligence."

Patch reached out to Griffin Hospital for comment, but haven't heard back yet.

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