Doctors save woman’s badly broken leg

Doctors were able to avoid amputating the leg of a woman injured a motorcycle-vehicle collision late Saturday night in the West Plains, officials said today. Laura Elliott, 48, suffered a compound fracture to her left femur. Earlier accounts from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said her leg had been amputated. She remains in serious condition at a local hospital. Elliott was riding on the back of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle driven by her husband, Michal Foutz, 52 of Edwall, Wash. The couple was heading home from the Hillyard Festival when Foutz cut one of the corners on Tucker Prairie Road, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Foutz crossed the centerline at approximately 10:40 p.m. and struck a Toyota Camry head-on that was driven by Donald Brian, 47, of Gig Harbor, Wash. Brian was not injured. Foutz suffered several fractures in his lower left leg and was hospitalized. The sheriff’s department said that Foutz had been drinking earlier, so traffic investigators took a blood sample to determine if impairment contributed to the accident. Results from a blood-sample analysis by the Washington State Toxicology Laboratory take approximately six weeks.