Report red-flags Rockdale hospital for infection control

ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — A woman hospitalized for a routine surgery says she developed dangerous infections during her stay which have left her partially paralyzed.

The husband of this woman contacted Channel 2’s Tom Regan after an article appeared in consumer reports magazine that red-flagged Rockdale Medical Center for hospital stay infections between 2013 and 2014.

Former patient Vivian Johnson says she's not surprised.

“I walked into the hospital. I was carried out on a stretcher and have been like this ever since,” Johnson said.

She told Regan that when she went into the center in 2013 for a hernia operation, she was in good health. She woke up from an induced coma 20 days later in horror.

“I couldn't move, I was immobile,” she said. “I learned I had pneumonia, MRSA and sepsis."

She told Regan the staff had no idea how she fell ill, but she has her suspicions.

“I think I contracted it because they were not on top of the sterilization procedures that they should have been,” she said.

“The therapist said we've never seen anything this from a surgery,” Vivian’s husband, Jerry Johnson, said.

A Consumer Report investigation ranked Rockdale Medical as one of the 12 lowest in the country in infection control between October 2013 and September 2014.

In response, the hospital said "the information only represents a small portion of our hospital's overall performance and does not reflect our most recent quality improvements and patient safety efforts in 2015.”

Regan checked a government website and found Rockdale currently meets national benchmarks in the categories cited in the report.

But that doesn't change anything for Vivian, whose right arm remains paralyzed. She's incapable of walking or even feeding herself.

“Our lives have been devastated,” she said.

“They need to explain to us what happened and why it happened,” Jerry Johnson said.

Jerry Johnson left his job to take care of his wife, who also had a successful career.

They believe the hospital should pay for their medical bills and lost income. The hospital said because of privacy rules they cannot comment on her case.

WSBTV