COLD SPRING, Ky. — Brenda Roberts understands that breaking your heel is pretty uncommon. But what she never expected was for that broken heel to turn into an amputated leg.
Roberts said in December 2024, she broke her heel while walking around her house in Williamstown.
Roberts, 75, said she went to see her orthopedic surgeon, who gave her a walking boot. She said he also gave a list of recommended facilities where Roberts could go to rehab her foot.
Ultimately, Roberts said she chose to go to the Cold Spring Transitional Care Center.
However, Roberts said what she thought would be a routine visit turned into a nightmare.
"I felt neglected there, really," Roberts said. "I didn't have anyone really coming to look at my foot."
WATCH: Roberts claims negligence at the facility led to her leg being amputated
Roberts said she stayed at the facility for weeks. She said the whole time she was there, she wore her walking boot.
But Roberts said the walking boot was only supposed to be worn when she was up and walking around. When she was lying down, she said nurses were supposed to remove the boot.
However, Roberts said at the time, she wasn't aware it was supposed to be removed.
Roberts claims nurses at the facility never took it off.
"I just thought I was supposed to wear it all the time to protect it and stuff," Roberts said.
Roberts said that while she was at the facility, her foot was only getting worse.
Eventually, in a follow-up appointment with her orthopedic surgeon, she found out how bad it was.
Roberts had developed a stage-four pressure ulcer in her foot. Doctors tried to save her foot, but they eventually had to amputate below her knee.
"Now I have to rely on people to do things for me, like drive me," Roberts said.
Roberts said this should have never happened.
She filed a lawsuit Wednesday, claiming the facility was negligent in her care.
The lawsuit claims staff at the facility failed to follow the orders of Robert's orthopedic surgeon to remove her ankle boot when she was lying down or seated.
Her attorney, Matthew Mooney, also spoke to us about the situation.
"I was pretty stunned to hear something as simple as an ankle fracture transitioned into something as extreme as an amputation below the knee," Mooney said.
Mooney said the staff at the facility should've known that her walking boot should've been removed when she was lying down.
"Brenda Roberts was not the first person to come into Cold Spring Transitional Care Center with a walking boot on," Mooney said.
We did reach out to the facility to learn more about what happened.
A spokesperson told us the facility is limited in the information they can provide due to HIPAA and patient confidentiality laws.
They said they have not yet been served with any lawsuit, adding they "take any lawsuit or patient concern seriously."
Roberts said she's now learning to live with her new reality, doing physical therapy and learning to walk with a prosthetic leg.
For her, finding inspiration to bounce back comes from wanting to get some normalcy back into her life.
"I'm waiting for the day I can get back in my car and drive," Roberts said.
