Kansas mother after spider bite leads to liver failure

A Kansas mother of four is recovering at home after a suspected spider bite during a family camping trip in late May triggered a cascade of severe medical complications, including surgery, dangerous infections, and end-stage liver failure that left her fighting for her life. Britagne Miller of Goddard, Kansas, was sitting around a campfire with her husband and children at Cheney Lake on May 28 when several spiders crawled onto her and bit her multiple times, according to local reports.

The initial bites did not seem serious, but four days later, the area around a bite on Miller’s calf began to swell and cause intense pain. She described the sensation as a hot metal fire poker shooting down her leg into her foot, as though she were being stabbed. This prompted her to seek medical care, and she was admitted to Wesley Hospital in Wichita on June 4.

Doctors performed surgery to address the wound, removing nearly 300 milliliters of blood clots and inserting a drain. Miller’s treatment was complicated by preexisting health conditions, including blood-clotting disorders first diagnosed during a previous pregnancy, an already compromised liver, and allergies to certain medications that...