Wisconsin nurse pleads not guilty to amputating man's foot

Close-up image of foot from middle age man stretching and separating toes with blue fence and Mediterranean sea in the bacckground. Peniscola, Castellon, Spain, Europe

ELLSWORTH, Wis. (AP) — A western Wisconsin nurse accused of amputating a hospice patient’s frostbitten foot without his consent and without doctor’s orders has pleaded not guilty.

WEAU-TV and WQOW-TV report a lawyer for 38-year-old Mary K. Brown, of Durand, Wisconsin, entered pleas of not guilty Thursday to charges of mayhem, physical abuse of an elderly person and intentionally abusing a patient, causing great bodily harm.

The amputation happened May 27, and within about a week the 62-year-old man was dead. A criminal complaint did not indicate the amputation was a factor in his death.