A Kaiser Permanente doctor was “in a rush” when he injected rubbing alcohol instead of pain blockers into a woman’s toes — then proceeded to remove her toenails — causing devastating injuries that have upended the woman’s life, according to a new $13 million lawsuit.
Sarah Blackman, a Washington County resident, says she suffered extreme pain after the doctor injected the rubbing alcohol, which was a 70% isopropyl alcohol solution, into two of her toes and then pulled off one of her ingrown toenails.
“Ms. Blackman was in agony throughout, audibly screamed and cried, and begged that the second toe not be treated,” states the lawsuit. But the doctor told Blackman “she should ‘just get it over with’ and that he was in a rush to get out of the clinic.”
The doctor, who is a licensed podiatrist, then told Blackman to hold still or a needle he was using could go through her toe as he pulled off the second ingrown toenail, the suit says.
The suit describes rubbing alcohol as “a perfect cellular killer.” It says that the alleged medical mistake eventually destroyed the tissue in Blackman’s toes, impaired her ability to walk and left her in chronic pain and with nightmares that together have affected her ability to carry on with the normal activities of her daily life.
Both the doctor and Kaiser are listed as defendants. The doctor, who appears to have left Kaiser for a job at a different Portland area medical group, didn’t return a request for comment. A Kaiser spokesperson, Debbie Karman, declined to comment.
The suit says Blackman visited the Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro on Jan. 29, 2026, for what should have been a “simple toenail removal” to treat two of her ingrown nails.
Nine days later, she showed up to Kaiser’s emergency department because her condition had worsened, with burning and throbbing in her swollen feet and her skin oozing, changing color and peeling off, according to the suit. Blackman was hospitalized for two nights, but medical staff were stumped by the severe aftereffects of her procedure, the suit says.
It wasn’t until about three weeks later that Kaiser told Blackman that the doctor had injected her toes with rubbing alcohol. Despite a promise, Kaiser didn’t send her a “letter of explanation,” but her chart notes did contain an email referring to the doctor’s use of rubbing alcohol instead of a local anesthetic, according to the lawsuit.
The suit says Kaiser described the episode in the email as an “unfortunate event,” but Blackman’s lawsuit uses another word: “torture.”
Blackman’s husband, Jason Fleskes, is also listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. He is seeking $1 million of the $13 million for his loss of society and companionship with his wife.
Tigard attorney Laura Kalur is representing Blackman and her husband. The suit was filed June 26 in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
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