This may be a first in the history of mankind: Opera singer Amy Herbst says her chronic and “excessive flatulence” has left her unable to work.
The singer, who previously worked with the Nashville Opera Company, says her career is threatened after her digestive and reproductive systems were damaged during the Feb. 2012 childbirth of her son at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at Fort Campbell, Ky.
During childbirth, a “nurse made an incision for an episiotomy during the second stage of Herbst’s labor, without informing Herbst or getting her consent,” according to the Army Times.
Herbst and her husband, Staff Sgt. James Herbst have filed suit against the hospital and are seeking $2.5 million for negligence, embarrassment, pain and suffering and loss of income.
After Herbst was released from the hospital, she began to experience fecal urgency and incontinence, including periodic leaking of stool and excessive flatulence, the suit states.
Odds of a full recovery are slim. While a colorectal surgeon at Vanderbilt University said they could do reconstructive surgery to repair the damage, Herbst’s attorney contends it may not completely fix her problems.
“She is suffering though a very embarrassing and very significant injury, and frankly, the prognosis of a fully successful repair is pretty low,” her attorney, Charles Allen, told the Army Times.
(h/t: Army Times)
