Mum-of-Three Loses All Four Limbs After Developing Sepsis Following Abortion

• Feb 18, 2025

A French mother claims she was "massacred" and left to die after developing septic shock following an abortion, resulting in the amputation of all four limbs.

Priscilla Dray, who was 36 at the time, went to Pellegrin University Hospital in Bordeaux in 2011 for an abortion while in good health. However, she later developed a severe infection, which doctors allegedly refused to treat with antibiotics. A month after the procedure, she suffered from necrosis, which led to the amputation of both legs, her right forearm, and her left hand.

Two doctors are now facing trial in Bordeaux, charged with causing involuntary injuries resulting in incapacity.

A Life-Altering Infection

Ms. Dray recounted to French media that her body temperature spiked to 39.6°C following the abortion. A hospital intern initially suspected she had endometriosis, but when she requested antibiotics, a doctor denied her the medication and sent her home.

The next day, on July 24, 2011, she visited her GP in Cap Ferret, who suspected she had septicaemia and urgently sent her back to the hospital. She was given a note to hand over to the medical team, but it is alleged that hospital staff failed to pass it on while she struggled to breathe. By then, a flesh-eating bacterial infection had begun destroying her limbs, necessitating their amputation.

“I trusted them, and this is what they did to me,” she said on the French program Zone Interdite. “They killed me. I should not have survived.”

At the time of her readmission, her chances of survival were estimated at just 5%, according to France3. She developed necrosis due to septic shock and was placed in intensive care for severe burns. By the end of August, doctors had no choice but to amputate her limbs.

“To this day, I still don’t understand why I was left to die in that maternity ward,” she told Pourquoi Docteur in 2017.

Legal and Personal Struggles

Ms. Dray had chosen to undergo the abortion shortly after giving birth to her third child, whom she was unable to see for three months due to her condition. In 2023, Femme Actuelle reported that the hospital was fined €300,000 over the case, with three individuals indicted. A gynecologist was specifically charged with failing to administer antibiotics at the onset of the infection.

In 2018, Ms. Dray spoke about the immense challenges she faced after losing her limbs. “Someone helps me every day at home,” she told Sud Ouest. “For every daily task, I have to adapt and organize myself. The hardest part is accepting that there are things I can no longer do on my own.”

Despite the ordeal, she draws strength from her children. “They give me the energy to keep going. Without them, I wouldn’t have had the same resilience,” she said. “I still live with the hope of healing. I depend on advancements in medicine and technology.”