Infected Pressure Injury

WSAW reported on the tragic case of a nursing home resident who died from infection caused by neglect. Sam Ray Senior passed away due to an extremely neglected wound at Arbors in Sylvania. 

After having endured and been treated for a urinary tract infection and aspiration pneumonia in a hospital, Sam Ray Senior and his family looked to Arbors to support him in his recovery journey. However, when Arbors accepted the patient, they did not inform his family that he would be forced to sit in his own feces for extended periods of time and consequently develop a fatal infection. 

Despite being able to use the restroom with assistance, Arbor staff left him in adult diapers and, humiliatingly, told him to soil himself because it is more convenient for the staff.  

Among other discomforts, the patient soon developed skin irritations and pressure ulcers. Nurses hardly, if ever, repositioned Sam Ray Sr or monitored his skin, and this pressure injury developed into a stage four wound painfully located on his tailbone. After not having done their basic custodial duties and forcing Sam Ray Sr to endure intense pain and discomfort, the staff continued to ignore the wound until it ate through to his bone.

In October, he finally underwent wound care and was hospitalized for sepsis soon after. Considering the severe stage of his pressure wound, the sepsis infection was unsurprising. 

Sam Ray Sr tragically passed away in January of the following year; an autopsy tied his death to polymicrobial infection caused by the bedsore.

One might assume that the consequences of this extreme neglect may encourage Arbor facilities to treat patients with more care. Yet Sam Ray Sr.’s case is one of many. In fact, it is strikingly similar to Lucy Garcia’s case: a 72-year-old woman who passed away at a separate Arbors location in Oregon. According to the Coroner, Garcia died from a severe bed sore caused from months of serious medical neglect. Her death has been ruled a homicide. 

When systematic homicide is being normalized in nursing facilities, we cannot continue to trust such facilities with the lives of our loved ones. Long-term care facilities should work to prove that their care is dedicated and worthy of our trust, yet they consistently fail to do so.