Wisconsin Nurse Amputated Man's Foot Without Orders

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

RN amputates foot .... me thinks necrotic foot possibly fell off or cut during dressing change.

ABC News

11/10/2022

Charges: Wisconsin nurse amputated man's foot without orders
 

Quote

A nurse in Wisconsin has been charged with elder abuse, accused of amputating a hospice patient’s frostbitten foot without his consent and without doctor’s orders.

After she cut off the man’s right foot last Spring, Mary K. Brown, 38, of Durand, told her colleagues that she wanted to display it at her family’s taxidermy shop with a sign that said: “Wear your boots kids," according to charges filed last week in Pierce County.

The amputation happened May 27, and within about a week the 62-year-old man was dead....

...According to the complaint, the man was admitted to Spring Valley Health and Rehab Center after he fell at his home in March. The heat in his home was not turned on, and he suffered frostbite to both feet, leaving the tissue necrotic. His right foot remained attached to his leg by a tendon and roughly 2 inches (5 centimeters) of skin.

One nurse who had changed the man's bandages on the morning of May 27 said he could wiggle his toes, the complaint said. Brown told two other nurses at shift change that she was “going to cut off the victim’s foot for comfort,” but they told her not to. Brown and two certified nursing assistants went into the man's room to change his bandages, but Brown cut his foot off instead, one of the nursing assistants told an investigator. ...

...Brown told an investigator that the man did not ask her to remove his foot, which she described as “mummy feet,” but that there was no life in the foot and she did it to make his quality of life better, the complaint said. She acknowledged that it was outside her scope of practice and that she did not have authorization. ..

Oy ve......reported to BON.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

That is about the weirdest story I have read in a very long time. On all levels.

[sleepwalker, MSN, NP]

Sounds like the nurse has frostbite of the brain!

[Guest1142305]

Just got my Wisconsin license this week.

…. Note to self, do not cut off patients foot. 
 

seriously though, maybe this nurse had a psychological breakdown of sorts. 

[MaxAttack, BSN, RN]

Bedside amputations aren't a nursing intervention in Wisconsin? I thought that was standard of care nationwide. 

Sounds like a serial killer in the making. We'll be watching a Netflix series on her in a few years.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

More to the story from Milwalkee Journal Sentinal 11/10/22

Nurse from Pierce County, Wisconsin, charged with amputating patient's foot without his knowledge or doctor's authorization
.

Quote

 

..The victim was 62, but neither his name nor his date of death are included in the complaint. He was dead, however, by June 4, when Pierce County Medical Examiner John Worsing contacted police. Worsing also sent the victim's body to Ramsey County, Minnesota, for an autopsy due to "unusual circumstances."

There is no indication in the complaint that the amputation hastened the death.....

...Rather than change the bandages, Brown "cut the victim's tendon, which amputated his right foot completely," one of the nursing assistants in the room told an investigator. The foot was then placed in a red biohazard bag and placed in a freezer. ...

One of the nursing assistants said Brown was "pushing her to retrieve the foot" so Brown could take it home and preserve it, according to the complaint....

Kevin Larson, the administrator and CEO of Spring Valley Senior Living and Health Care Campus, immediately was made aware of the situation. However, Tracy Reitz, the center's director of nursing, was not told until two days later when a nursing assistant who was "distraught about the incident," called her, according to the complaint. Reitz said the nursing assistant told her the victim did not appear to be in pain when his foot was amputated, according to the complaint.

Brown had been licensed to work as a registered nurse in Wisconsin just shy of two years at the time of the alleged incident... Reitz told the investigator she spoke with Brown the day she found out about the amputation to discuss a nurse's scope of practice, which does not include amputations. Brown told Reitz she did not know why she did it, and "she didn't think until after the fact that she was doing it for him and giving him comfort."

Larson said there were "a lot of missing entries in regard to the victim's chart," including the foot amputation, according to the complaint. He said "best practice" should have been for Brown to get an order from a doctor to remove the foot, and he believes the hospice doctor caring for the victim would have given the order, according to the complaint.

 

During my hospice and home care career, have had patients with necrotic digits hanging by just a sliver of skin; one toe just came off during dressing change.  WITH ORDER, did snip off post traumatic amputation necrotic pinky fingertip hanging by just thread after skin had shriveled up 30yrs ago. So can understand what this nurse was thinking. BUT never thought to keep digit.

[Emergent, RN]

Wisconsin nurse accused of amputating patient’s foot without permission

Quote

Mary K. Brown, 38, allegedly told other nurses she wanted to preserve and display the foot with a sign that said, "Wear your boots kids."

 

[nursel56]

16 hours ago, CrunchRN said:

That is about the weirdest story I have read in a very long time. On all levels.

I was trying to count the levels of weirdness, but I gave up. 

[Davey Do]

11 hours ago, Emergent said:

...told the other nurses she wanted to preserve and display the foot with a sign that said, "Wear your boots kids".

Yeah.

Now she needs to display a sign that says, "Kids, don't put your foot in your mouth like I did".

[klone, MSN, RN]

Holy crap

[SilverBells, BSN]

Terrible

[K. Everly, BSN, RN]

I have more memes and facial expressions for this one than actual words. Crazytown is the only one that comes to mind.