GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Pam Buschle, the East Grand Rapids woman who lost her arms and legs to amputation while battling septic shock, has filed a medical-malpractice lawsuit against her doctor, Spectrum Health Hospitals and Spectrum Health Primary Care Partners.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday, Sept. 7, in Kent County Circuit Court.

"Women undergoing elective hysterectomy do not expect to wind up with their arms and legs amputated," Ann Arbor attorney Stephen Goethel said in a statement.

"Before surgery, Pam Buschle was a healthy, vibrant wife and mother. She led a fulfilling life as a public school social worker helping autistic and special needs children. As a quadrilateral amputee, Pam is now totally dependent on others just to live a life with astronomical needs that will never approach normal again."

In a statement, Spectrum Health said: "The care and safety of our patients is of the utmost importance to Spectrum Health. Spectrum Health is aware of the lawsuit filed by Mrs. Buschle.However, it is not our practice to comment on active litigation."

Buschle, who has been outfitted with myoelectric hands and prosthetic legs, has become an advocate for disabled people and an inspiration for many. She has worked hard to gain her independence.

She underwent what her attorney called routine gynecology surgery at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in December 2013.

Six days later, her husband rushed her to the emergency room where doctors determined she suffered from sepsis, which can be deadly as the body reacts to infection, Goethel said.

To keep her vital organs from shutting down, doctors used medications called "vasopressors" to redirect blood from her extremities to her vital organs, which ultimately required amputation of her arms and legs, he said.

Goethel said that his client's poor post-operative care led to his client's condition.

He said that Buschle failed to improve after the operation and had impaired urinary function that she and her husband, Marty, reported to Christine Heisler, her doctor, for three days.

The couple were told that her problems were not life-threatening.

"What should have been an easily treated urinary tract infection instead progressed to uro-sepsis, a lethal condition where the infection enters and circulates in the bloodstream," Goethel said.

Buschle has pushed herself mentally and physically.

She has gone whitewater rafting in the Colorado River, water-skied on Reed's Lake and rides her recumbent bike. She tries to focus on what she can do.

She returned to Brookwood and Challenger elementary schools in Kentwood where she is a social worker.

"I want people out there who go through a really life-challenging or altering illness to know that there's hope," Buschle told The Grand Rapids Press and MLive recently.

The lawsuit says Buschle was discharged despite having symptoms that required intravenous medications. Two days later, she called her doctor's office to report that she was urinating very little.

Four days after surgery, her condition worsened. Her husband spoke to the doctor five times that weekend. The doctor told him to bring his wife to the office on the following Monday, the lawsuit said.

Heisler allegedly said she could not see Buschle earlier even though she was on call that weekend, the lawsuit said. The husband brought his wife to the emergency room on that Monday, "where she was found to be in profound septic shock," the lawsuit said.

"None of this would have occurred had the Defendants complied with the required standards of care," the lawsuit said.