Drug Allegedy Caused Woman to Lose Skin, Die

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of an Illinois woman who allegedly lost over half of her body's skin due to a bad drug reaction and died.

The Madison-St. Clair Record reports that the executor of Earlene Taylor's estate blames Taylor's health care providers for giving her the drug Bactrim to treat an infection despite their reported knowledge of her allergy to Sulfonamide, an ingredient in Bactrim.

According to the suit, "As a direct and proximate result of the aforesaid negligent acts or omissions, on or about November 20, 2007, the plaintiff's decedent sustained a severe reaction to the administration of Bactrim, D.S., she developed multiple large open areas in the skin over large portions of her body, portions of her skin sloughed off; the skin over her entire body became 'tented' and she developed red blistering over the back of her legs, her neck and her back and she developed toxic epidermal necroysis, causing her skin to slough off, she lost 55 percent of her active skin, she had a positive Nikolsky sign, she had whole body erythema, lesions, blisters and sloughing; that the aforementioned conditions caused extreme pain and suffering and she was admitted to a burn unit, where, on or about, November 24, 2007, she died."

The suit is seeking damages of more than $1.9 million plus costs.

Adverse skin reactions are the most common side effects of sulfa allergies and can range from benign rashes to life-threatening Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic dermal necrolysis .