After undergoing a routine hysterectomy, Trisha Stevens was looking forward to getting back to her normal life.
However, just weeks later, the Oregon mother of six faced a severe infection that resulted in the loss of both her legs, one hand, and other significant health complications.
Now, Trisha and her husband, Brian, have filed a lawsuit against several doctors in the Portland area and the local healthcare provider, Legacy Health, seeking $68.5 million in damages, as reported.
“I came home having lost both of my legs and my right hand,” Trisha shared. “My left hand was left unusable after the necrosis. I lost parts of my lips and tongue and now live with paralysis in a body that no longer responds the way it once did.”
Trisha’s ordeal reportedly began with a hysterectomy that Dr. Alvin Nakamura performed on October 4, 2024, at Adventist Health in Portland. Four days post-surgery, pathology results indicated inflammation. According to the lawsuit, there’s no record of Dr. Nakamura reviewing these results or informing Trisha, nor did he take any action to address the inflammation.
A couple of weeks after the surgery, Trisha experienced sharp abdominal pain coupled with vaginal bleeding while attending her son’s softball game. She called Dr. Nakamura’s clinic to report continuous bleeding, a large blood clot, a mild fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramping.
Dr. Nakamura, through his staff, advised her to monitor her symptoms at home, suggesting she come in only if she passed another clot. Unfortunately, her situation rapidly deteriorated.
When Trisha arrived at the emergency room later that night, her heart rate was fast, her blood pressure was low, and she was breathing quickly. The hospital staff noted she was “saturating vaginal pads with blood at a rate of three per hour.” Trisha was diagnosed with peritonitis, lactic acidosis, and acute kidney injury, later followed by a bacteria infection in her bloodstream and septic shock.
Dr. Gregory Eilers, the on-call OB/GYN at the hospital, inspected her surgical site, which he found looked infected and raw, but he did not recommend further surgery or tests for internal infection, the lawsuit claims.
The infection reportedly progressed, resulting in multiple organ failure. Over the upcoming weeks, both of Trisha’s legs were amputated above the knee, and her right hand was amputated at the wrist. She also lost part of her left thumb and fingers.
The tissue necrosis led to the loss of portions of her lips and tongue, much of her hair, and spinal cord damage that left her paraplegic.
“Some days I still can’t tell which is harder: the near-death experience or the reality of what was taken from me,” Trisha stated.
“I was once a wife who could reach for Brian’s hand without a thought and a mother who could walk down the hallway when one of my kids called my name. Now, those simple things feel like distant memories.”
Brian now serves as Trisha’s caretaker, and their lives have irrevocably changed because of these complications. She explained that she can no longer play with her children or move through her home without assistance, as it isn’t suited for wheelchair access.
“Even the gravel driveway I once crossed effortlessly now proves challenging for my wheelchair,” she said.
“I fought so hard to return to my family; I never imagined that I could come home but still feel as if I’m on the edge of the life I so desperately wanted back.”
In their lawsuit, Trisha claims that Legacy Health staff acted negligently by delaying the treatment of her abdominal infection and mismanaging her blood pressure. Additionally, it contends that Dr. Nakamura and his clinic were negligent for not properly evaluating her or directing her to emergency care after she reported her troubling symptoms.
For Trisha, the hardest part has been losing her independence.
“I didn’t go through all this just to remain alive while life passes me by,” she remarked. “I survived because I truly want to live, and I believe God saved me!”
