Maggots found in ear of nursing home resident

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) - A state Health Department investigation revealed that a 91-year-old patient at Johnson City nursing home had maggots in her ear because of a hygiene problem at the facility.
Records show the unnamed woman suffered from dementia and needed assistance with dressing, eating and bathing. But attendants at the Lakebridge Health Care Center had not washed her hair since July 23 when they found the maggots on August 4.
The state found the home deficient in providing daily hygiene to patients and is requiring a plan of action to fix the problem.
A Lakebridge administrator says that the woman did have her hair washed regularly, but that staff had failed to always record it. She says the patient was taken to the emergency room and suffered no long-term effect.

http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2007-08-25-0027.html

did you know that maggots will not eat living flesh. So they did not bother any thing except maybe some infection. In the Appalachian Hills they used to put maggots on a very bad infection to have the maggots clean it out. I think I would have a mental lapse if they did that to me. But it is true.

They did not care for this elderly woman as they should have. This is clearly neglect on their parts. I hope the family sues the hell out of that place.

Facinating, though revolting:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1024_031024_maggotmedicine.html

Medical Maggots Treat As They Eat
Brian Handwerk
National Geographic News

October 24, 2003
The National Geographic Ultimate Explorer television program Creepy Healers airs Sunday, October 26, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MSNBC.

A few years ago, the Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator had audiences squirming in their seats as the grievous wounds of the film's Roman gladiator protagonist, played by Russell Crowe, were treated (successfully, one might add) by the application of live maggots.

Think it was Tinseltown hyperbole, or perhaps a brief star-turn for an ancient folk remedy? It might be surprising to hear, then, that maggot therapy is enjoying a revival as a modern medical technique—with apparently promising results.

Today doctors use medicinal maggots to clean wounds by dissolving dead tissue and to disinfect them by killing bacteria. These actions stimulate proper healing.

"I call them microsurgeons," said Edgar Maeyens, Jr., a doctor in Coos Bay, Oregon, who employs maggot treatment. "They can do what we can't do with scalpels and lasers."

maggots under their scalp. Some don't even know it and think it is a headache. Don't be too grossed about the maggots part - chances are you have some rummaging around your home or garden right now.

I've never seen anything like this.

It was probably a hygeine issue.

n/t

Glad I got away from that area. Beautiful area, horrible people.

Bed sore on her head, a wound they never cleaned or even knew about, ear infection that blew that they didn't bother checking? All of those are possible, and that's disgusting.

How much do you want to bet that they understaff their nurse's aids and nurses there? :eyes:

Oversight and compliance isn't a virtue in Eastern Tennessee. Dominated by the religious right and ultraconservatives, anything advocated by the "government" is looked on with a lot of hatred - even if it is something that helps.

A friend of mine from college is an admin in the mental health/nursing home field in that area (Tri-Cities). She's told me some amazing stories about how understaffed most places are and the things that occur. I'll give her a call today and see if she knows anything about this facility.

Nurses and nurse's aids are expensive. So, an owner who's not seeing enough profit will cut a few from each shift. That's when bad things happen more than ever, but they figure their insurance will cover it.

My MIL used to be a nursing home director. She ran a tight ship, was constantly on-call for all the little things, and loved every minute of it. She was good at her job, and she got perfect scores on the annual state review two years in a row. That's when the owner fired her. He decided her way was too expensive. Grrr. Even still, stuff happened, and that was with good staffing levels.

I hope they figure out a better way.