When doctors and hospitals get sued for malpractice, the courtroom is the last place they want to end up and, because of secret settlements, most will never have to sit on the witness stand.

"My other leg ends here and it's fine, but this one I have no kneecap left and one out of four quads, so if I were to unlock it, it would just collapse," said Ashley Bucy.

"They hurt people and no one is allowed to know about it," Bucy said.

She said it all started with a sore throat. A local emergency room repeatedly refused to give her a simple inexpensive strep test.

They sent her home three separate times that week.

"I said I had strep throat and I need antibiotics," said Bucy.

She never got antibiotics and on her fourth emergency room visit, her body shut down from a massive strep infection.

"It had gone into my blood stream and poisoned my blood. I turned septic so I swelled up from 125 pounds to 350 pounds of liquid and just had wounds bursting out everywhere," she said.

She went into a coma for a month and a half. When she woke up, her body was horribly scarred. Her legs and fingers amputated because of the step infection.

"Only my kids keep me going. That's how I handle this whole new situation."

To care for her two small children and get new legs, this single mother agreed to a settlement.

But the deal is: You can never know who did this to her.

Secrecy has become a common part of medical settlements.

"Secrecy is a pretty evil thing in a democracy," said Paul Luvera, an attorney. "A democracy, they say, dies behind closed doors."

Paul Luvera would like to see all confidentiality agreements done away with.

This attorney flat-out won't let his clients sign them.

"It says we will not settle this case unless you agree nothing about this is secret or confidential, that our client has the right to publicize it or not publicize it," he said.

"Oftentimes in my experience, the physicians believed they did everything possible," said Ketia Wick.

Wick represents physicians and hospitals. She supports secret settlements.

"It's not a benefit just to the physician, it's a benefit to the patient to the patients who don't want their injuries or personal medical treatment shared with others," Wick said.

But it's not a benefit to patients like Ashley, who can't expose the truth because her scarred hands are tied.

"I truly believe they should be accountable and held accountable for what they do and I think it should be made public. I think we have the right to investigate our doctors and figure out where we want to go based on what they've done," Bucy said.

Actually, you can investigate your doctor, but you'll only get so much information.

Court records do show lawsuits filed against doctors, but because of secrecy agreements, you won't find many details about those cases.

Ashley is an inspiration to those around her.

It's a miracle she's alive, let alone doing things like riding her horse and using hand controls to drive her kids to school again.

Her biggest fear now? Will the doctor who did this to her do the same thing to someone else?

"I sure wouldn't want to go to a doctor who I knew did this to somebody. I just wouldn't!" she said.

Now there was actually a bill in our state senate this year that would have done away with secrecy agreements like this.

However, that bill quickly died on the Senate floor.