UK lawmaker who lost four limbs to sepsis returns to Parliament

British lawmaker Craig Mackinlay has received a standing ovation in Parliament as he returned to the House of Commons after undergoing a quadruple amputation following a sepsis infection.

British lawmaker Craig Mackinlay has received a standing ovation in Parliament as he returned to the House of Commons after undergoing a quadruple amputation following a sepsis infection. Mackinlay, who is a member of parliament for the governing Conservative party, representing South Thanet in southeast England, fell ill on September 28, 2023. He told the BBC that he started to feel ill and turned “a very strange blue” within about 30 minutes. “My whole body, top to bottom, ears, everything, blue,” he said in an interview released Wednesday, describing the symptoms of septic shock. Sepsis is the body’s extreme response to an infection. It can be spurred by any type of infection, even a minor one, and occurs when germs enter a person’s body and multiply, causing illness and organ and tissue damage. The life-threatening condition requires urgent medical care to prevent organ damage and death. In some cases, sepsis or the infections leading up to it are not properly identified because they can come with a wide range of symptoms such as confusion or disorientation, shortness of breath, high heart rate, fever, shivering or feeling very cold, extreme pain or discomfort, and clammy or sweaty skin, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.