SC Administrator arrested for neglecting a vulnerable adult

The owner of the Southside Residential Care Facility, Roy Lee Bowers, 64, has been arrested and charged with felony neglect of a vulnerable adult, resulting in the death of a patient.   His health care administration license was also suspended Friday by the state.

Investigators started looking into the facility when they found 59-year-old William Sealy malnourished and only weighing 94 pounds.  Sealy had injuries to his legs, bed bugs, a toenail rotted off and a toe beginning to rot off, and his socks had been left on for so long that his skin was pulled off when his sock was removed. They said he also had a scalp disease, appeared as if he hadn’t been bathed in over a week, and was severely malnourished. He weighed 94 pounds and officials said he should have weighed at least 160 pounds.

Sealy died on Saturday, April 12th. Autopsy results show he died of pneumonia and severe infection.   Until he died, Sealy’s family had no idea he was even there. A spokeswoman says the family had been told by his guardian to avoid contact with Sealy for fear of damaging his fragile mental condition.

To those who monitor the state’s system for protecting sealy and others like him, it’s another indication of just how weak that system can be.