An 84-year-old US army veteran who was receiving care from a nursing home in Florida has passed away after nursing home staff failed to wash him, leading to a gangrene infection that caused his private parts to rot off.
The veteran, Mr York Spratling, became a resident at the Consulate Health Care nursing home after his health worsened and as he began struggling to walk, feed and look after himself. His family told the local press that they had noticed issues with his care at the nursing home and had flagged these issues to the staff before.
At the nursing home, the veteran contracted gangrene due to poor hygiene. The elderly man was rushed to the hospital last February, where he died despite the doctors’ efforts to remove the dead tissue from his genitals.
The relatives of the deceased have since lashed out at the nursing home for rendering poor care to the elderly man. One nephew, Mr Derwin Spratling, who was with his uncle as he was rushed to the hospital, told the local press that the doctor “said he had never seen anything like that before, especially in this day and age. It didn’t just happen overnight, but it was quicker than you could imagine.”
Nursing home staff later admitted to state investigators that they could smell the veteran’s infection coming from the door to his room. Despite this, the staff did not check his wounds or infection and took an unbelievable five days to inform a doctor.
The staff further argued that the late veteran refused to take showers when his family blasted them for not providing adequate care.
A year before the veteran passed, state regulators actually noted that the home does not have enough manpower to care for its residents. The death review report by the Florida Department of Children and Families that investigated the veteran’s passing also concluded that the veteran’s death was due to inadequate supervision and medical neglect.
Despite this, state regulator – Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration – has not taken any action against the facility.