A woman who made headlines after her skin “melted off” following incorrect medication dosage has just been dealt a further blow—losing a medical malpractice appeal.
Khaliah Shaw has turned to TikTok to vent her frustrations after a legal battle over a decade in the making finally came to an unsatisfying conclusion.
“I f**king lost!” she screamed in the emotional clip. “How could I lose? I hate this f**king country. How can a doctor do what they did to me, don’t even lose their f**king job? My life is f**ked up for the rest of my f**king life. I am permanently disabled.”
What happened to Khaliah Shaw?
In 2013, Shaw was prescribed the mood-stabilizing drug lamotrigine at a Georgia clinic to treat her depression. The medication carries strict warnings about dangerous skin reactions if the dosage is increased too quickly, but Shaw’s dose was escalated faster than recommended.
Within weeks, she developed Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis, which are conditions that caused her skin to blister and peel. She was put into a medically induced coma for 37 days and woke up with permanent, life-altering injuries.
“[I] woke up to a body I did not recognize. I had to completely learn how to walk, eat, swallow, everything all over again,” she wrote on a recent GoFundMe page. “I had to quit school as I was in the middle of a master’s program for health education. I have never been able to fully recover from this ordeal.”
Did Khaliah Shaw win her lawsuit?
Shaw sued the nurse practitioner, pharmacist, and others involved in her care. She won, and a jury awarded her more than $40 million in damages. But under Georgia’s apportionment law, each defendant is only responsible for the percentage of fault the jury assigns them.
A comment on Shaw’s TikTok, which she “liked,” additionally pointed out that she “got NOTHING from the facility because under GEORGIA LAW they are IMMUNE from liability because they are part of the GOVERNMENT.” As the facility was deemed responsible for a large percentage of what happened to her, that effectively meant she could only recover a fraction of the jury’s award.
Shaw tried appealing the decision, arguing that she should be able to recover the full amount of the jury’s award from those she sued. Ultimately, she said, the “higher courts refused to hear my case. The Supreme Court wouldn’t even grant review.”
The original lawsuit noted that her medical bills had already reached over $3.45 million as of 2017. The estimate on Shaw’s GoFundMe puts that number at closer to $4.5 million. After legal fees, she said she received an extremely small fraction of what she was awarded, an insult that is exacerbated by the fact that this incident has left her unable to work due to disability.
Frustrated viewers offer support
In recent years, Shaw has been sharing her story on TikTok, drawing attention to flaws in the medical, health insurance, and legal systems in the U.S.
Even just since posting her emotional video on Tuesday, which has racked up over 3.8 million views, she’s posted dozens of videos clarifying her situation, explaining nuances about what happened, diving into systemic racism in the medical community, and so much more, with most of her videos drawing tens of thousands of views each in that short time.
And the comments largely reflect support and frustration on her behalf.
“Your rage is SO JUSTIFIED,” wrote @bri.stlouiss.
“This is the most valid crashout i’ve ever heard,” @jomomma72 agreed.
A number of people also referenced Luigi Mangione, who was charged in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and who has become sort of a dark folk hero among those sick and tired of the way health insurance focuses more on profit than supporting care for people in the U.S.
“This is EXACTLY why luigi did what he did,” @default.nickname665 claimed. “girl my heart is with you right now.”
“And this is why no one is mad at Luigi,” added @panickedatthedisco_.
Although Shaw told the Daily Dot that she’s grateful for the support being shown to her from viewers, she acknowledged that not all the responses have been so kind.
“It’s really sad to me that people are blaming me when the parties involved were already proven to be at fault,” she said. “State laws prevented me from getting justice.”
Shaw also noted that she’s exploring alternative options for pursuing justice at this time and directed people towards her GoFundMe. “I need a new attorney because I believe there was corruption involved with my representation. After paying all the fees and expenses, I don’t have what I deserve and need to care for myself for the rest of my life!”
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