Tara Batista spent a week in the hospital after visiting one of her favorite spas for a pedicure. Now she's tethered to a picc line for six weeks and under the daily care of a home health nurse.
Batista, who sings at Puerto Rican festivals, says the ordeal has turned her life upside down emotionally, physically and economically.
Tampa-based WFTS asked if there was anything different about this pedicure and Batista said she told the woman working on her feet to ease up a bit because it felt like the instruments were digging too far into her skin.
Batista says she began to feel weak hours after leaving Nail Image in Tampa. By the next day she experienced extreme fatigue and pains began shooting up her leg.
A day and a half later family members drove Batista to the emergency room when part of her foot turned black and she could not stand on her left leg.
Doctors diagnosed her with a severe infection. Batista underwent surgery and remained in the hospital for a week.
WFTS obtained her medical records which cite a deep injury triggered by a bacterial infection on her left big toe.
WFTS took the hospital report to Nail Image along with the receipt from her pedicure. The owner refused to comment. There is no conclusive proof that the pedicure caused the infection.
Lee Timberlake instructs students at the Artistic Nails and Beauty academy in Tampa. She spends 155 hours of a 240 hour curriculum teaching sanitizing and disinfecting procedures.
Timberlake who has taught nail technicians for 10 years says instruments should be scrubbed then placed into a disinfectant between every customer. Shortcuts can lead to injury.
