Mercy Health can help diabetics avoid amputation

By the time Larry Babel realized he had developed a diabetic ulcer on his foot, his doctors told him it was too late to do anything but amputate the affected leg below the knee. It's a relatively common prognosis for diabetics with foot ulcers -- about 19 percent of people who develop one will require an amputation -- but Babel refused to accept it. He sought a second opinion at Mercy Health Fairfield in Fairfield, where Dr. James Fitzpatrick told him there might be an alternative treatment: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy. “I got lost in doing that and then I thought, ‘Oh my god, Esme’s not back!’ I knew something was wrong. I just had that feeling,” Lisa Kenney said in video testimony played in court Thursday.