New York care centers and nursing homes should provide a clean environment for their occupants. Often, the residents have no voice of their own and cannot stand up for themselves in the event of abuse or neglect. When a family places their loved one in a care center, they assume that their loved one will receive the best of care. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
A family has filed a lawsuit against a care center for nursing home neglect, relating a story that is horrifying and hard to hear. An Alzheimer’s patient’s ear was filled with maggots — 57 of them, to be precise. According to the family, their mother had an issue with wax in her ears and was prescribed ear drops for the problem. The maggots were discovered after an aid saw the woman fussing with her ear.
Doctors estimate the maggots were two days old. The family’s attorney is questioning whether the woman was actually being treated with ear drops, pointing out the fact that 57 maggots could hardly go unnoticed. Care for Alzheimer’s patients is extremely expensive. In this case, the family is reported as paying close to $10,000 a month for the woman’s care, with a total cost of $270,000.
The family moved the woman to another care center after the incident, and is suing the previous facility for nursing home neglect and emotional stress. The daughter of the patient said that seeing the maggots removed from her mother’s ear is something that will continue to haunt her. Families pay a large sum of money to make sure that an elderly member is cared for, and no family should be subjected to this kind of horror.
Source: New York Daily News, “Nursing home sued after 57 maggots discovered in 92-year old Alzheimer’s patient’s ear,” Phillip Caufield, Dec. 12, 2012