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A jury awarded a Silver Spring woman a multimillion-dollar settlement on Monday after her acquisition of gangrene led to partial amputation of her left leg and right foot in a Rockville Hospital.

"She's feeling great," said Baltimore attorney Emily C. Malarkey of how plaintiff Yesenia Rivera was feeling after the decision. "She's very happy and relieved."

A Montgomery County Circuit Court jury awarded $2.35 million to Rivera in her malpractice lawsuit against Shady Grove Adventist Hospital and other medical professionals who cared for her during two visits to the hospital.

The June 2008 lawsuit — which also names Drs. Dawn M. Thornton and Virendra K. Saxena, who worked at Shady Grove Hospital at the time, Montgomery Emergency Physicians LLC in Rockville and Critical Care Consultants PC of Silver Spring — claims the defendants failed to properly diagnose and treat Rivera for a blockage in her ureter caused by kidney stones.

Jennifer Plaia, spokeswoman for Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, issued a statement to The Gazette by e-mail.

"We are saddened for this woman and her unfortunate circumstances," she said. "Out of respect for her privacy we are limiting our comments on her medical condition and specific care in 2006.

"Our internal review of this four-year-old case found that in light of the complexity of the patient's illness, our physicians delivered appropriate care," the statement adds.

The hospital's attorneys also represented the others named in the lawsuit.

Plaia did not respond to a question on whether the hospital planned to appeal the court decision.

On Aug. 1, 2006, Rivera, now 28, arrived at Shady Grove Adventist, where she complained of left side abdominal pain that radiated to her groin. According to the lawsuit, doctors treated her with pain medication and intravenous fluids after diagnosing her with kidney stones and renal colic. She was discharged the same day.

Rivera returned to the emergency room by ambulance two days later and was admitted to the hospital after complaining of dizziness, severe abdominal pain and bloating, and was showing signs of septic shock, according to the lawsuit. She was diagnosed with acute cholecystitis, or inflammation of the gallbladder.

Twelve hours after arriving at Shady Grove, a urology specialist operated on Rivera and discovered her septic shock was caused by a blockage of the ureter caused by the kidney stones diagnosed Aug. 1, 2006, the lawsuit says.

During her recovery period, Rivera was afflicted with gangrene, leading to the amputation of her left leg below the knee and partial amputation of her right foot, according to the lawsuit. She eventually lost the tips of her fingers from autoamputation, or the spontaneous detachment of an appendage from the body, the lawsuit says.

Rivera now relies on the aid of a leg prosthetic and a shoe insert on her right foot for mobility. Before her illness, she worked two jobs, one as a maid and another as a McDonald's fast food restaurant cashier. She no longer is able to work either job, according to the lawsuit.

"I think the jury did the right thing." Malarkey said. "They heard the evidence and made the right decision."

Malarkey has advised Rivera not to speak to media at this time.