A Wisconsin nurse has pleaded no contest to negligently abusing a patient after she amputated a man’s foot without his permission.
Mary K. Brown’s plea earlier this week in a Pierce County courtroom means that two felony charges against her will be dismissed: physical abuse of an elder person intentionally causing great bodily harm, and mayhem. She had previously pleaded not guilty.
In May 2022, Brown was employed as a nurse at a senior living home in Spring Valley, where Doug McFarland, 62, was being treated after a fall in his home a few months earlier.
McFarland had contracted severe frostbite in his feet, which both became necrotic, and had reportedly been moved to hospice care, according to ABC affiliate KSTP.
Court documents say that Brown referred to the McFarland’s lower limbs as “mummy feet” and told investigators that she thought amputation would “make the quality of life better for him,” KSTP reported.
Authorities later discovered that Brown had amputated McFarland’s right foot on May 27, 2022, but didn’t get permission from McFarland or his physician beforehand.
According to court documents cited by KSTP, one facility administrator told authorities that while he thought a doctor might have agreed that amputation was necessary, he specifically instructed Brown not to perform the procedure, which was outside the scope of her practice, KSTP reported.
McFarland died days after the amputation.
Brown’s unauthorized amputation came to light after the county medical examiner flagged that McFarland’s foot had been separated from his body.
Brown was charged six months after the incident, and her nursing license was suspended in early 2023. Spring Valley Health and Rehab Center said Brown was no longer employed with the company.
Although Brown claimed that she believed the amputation would ease her patient’s suffering, co-workers suggested she might have had another reason for wanting McFarland’s foot removed from his body.
One nurse reportedly told investigators Brown had mentioned that her family had a taxidermy shop and she wanted to preserve the necrotic foot with a sign reading “Wear your boots, kids.”
“When I found out, I pretty much lost it,” McFarland’s sister Heidi McFarland told KSTP. “He had a heart of gold and he was a phenomenal artist,” she said of her brother.
Brown will not serve any time for the crime, but will have to pay $443 in court costs, KSTP reported.