ORANGE PARK, Fla. \u2014 A Jacksonville family says a routine surgery spiraled into a nightmare \u2014 one they believe could have been prevented.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve now filed a formal complaint with the state, alleging severe neglect at HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n The family says 68-year-old Mirta Castillo went in for what was supposed to be a simple gallbladder removal in late October. Video and photos taken before the surgery show her smiling, surrounded by family, and enjoying good health.<\/p>\n But her son, Jose Mangual, said everything changed almost immediately after the procedure.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been hell. It\u2019s honestly been hell. That\u2019s the best way I can describe it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n READ: <\/b>Man arrested, accused of abusing \u2018elderly male patient\u2019 at Orange Park hospital, Clay deputies say<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Mangual said the problems started with an error during surgery.<\/p>\n \u201cHe perforated her bowels. Nobody caught it for two days,\u201d Mangual said.<\/p>\n He said the delayed detection led to sepsis \u2014 a potentially fatal infection \u2014 and ultimately the amputation of his mother\u2019s arm.<\/p>\n \u201cThe minute I saw her come up from surgery with no arm, I lost it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mangual filed a formal complaint with Florida\u2019s Agency for Health Care Administration.<\/p>\n He showed Action News Jax a stack of hundreds of pages of hospital records. <\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n He said the documentation doesn\u2019t reflect the lack of care and compassion his mother received.<\/p>\n \u201cWe walked in and she had feces on her, feces under her nails. On her face. It was horrible. It was really neglectful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Castillo remains in the hospital and is now clinging to life. Her son said she is scheduled for her 12th surgery on Friday, to remove more of her arm.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital provided the following full statement:<\/p>\n \u201cPatient privacy is important to us, and I\u2019m unable to provide details about the care provided to any specific patient. Below is a comment for your story.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know hospitalizations are difficult for family members and we value loved ones that act as advocates.<\/p>\n \u201cOur leaders are consistently meeting with the family to discuss their concerns and to answer questions.<\/p>\n \u201cOur colleagues have dedicated their professional lives to caring for others and we all feel for the family during this difficult time.<\/p>\n \u201cSincerely,<\/p>\n Rachel Feller, MBA<\/p>\n Director of Communications & Community Engagement<\/p>\n HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n The family is now facing a bleak Christmas, with the mother and grandmother who lit up their lives still in the hospital.<\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE PARK, Fla. \u2014 A Jacksonville family says a routine surgery spiraled into a nightmare \u2014 one they…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":441089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[7320,5229,7323,3188,723,7324,203536,7310,7327,203535,7325,7326,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7322,7321],"class_list":{"0":"post-441088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action-news-jax","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-cbs47","11":"tag-fl","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-fox30","14":"tag-hca-florida-orange-park-hospital","15":"tag-jacksonville","16":"tag-jacksonville-fl","17":"tag-mirta-castillo","18":"tag-northeast-florida","19":"tag-southeast-georgia","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-wfox","27":"tag-wjax"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115703399590621058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}