An Ohio nursing facility responsible for a 72-year-old grandfather’s care is under fire for allegedly making “profit-driven decisions” that contributed to his death. Lawyers for his family claim the facility informed him “they would not assist him to the toilet, so he’d need to soil his briefs and wait.” This allegedly resulted in the grandfather remaining in his waste “for hours at a time,” leading to a stage 4 bedsore and severe infection.

“The bedsore was immense and dangerously deep, exposing the bones of his lower back and pelvis,” says the family of Samuel Frank Ray Sr. in a wrongful death suit filed Monday in Lucas County.

The Michael Hill Trial Law group, representing the family, claims that Arbors of Sylvania, a “skilled-nursing facility” based in Toledo with several locations, failed to adequately care for the elderly man. This claim followed his transfer there after hospitalizations in August 2024 due to a urinary tract infection and aspiration pneumonia, according to the firm.

Ray’s family contends that Arbors of Sylvania’s staff placed him in “adult diapers” despite him not being incontinent and being aware of when he needed the toilet, as stated in the complaint. This was reportedly a consequence of “chronic understaffing” at the facility.

“[Staff] instructed Samuel Frank Ray, Sr., to soil his briefs if he needed the toilet and that staff would eventually come to change him,” the complaint alleges. “This led to Samuel Frank Ray, Sr., being left in his own waste for extended periods.”

Weeks allegedly went by with Ray having to repeatedly soil himself, his family says, leading to prolonged exposure of the skin on his backside and skin irritation. A care plan was created, which required staff to monitor Ray’s skin for “deterioration and breakdown” on a daily basis, in order to timely detect bedsores in their early stages and prevent them from developing and worsening into open wounds.

“During the month of September, 2024, Arbors of Sylvania’s staff failed to turn and reposition Samuel Frank Ray, Sr., 33 shifts, leaving him laying in one position in bed and thus exposed to prolonged and excessive periods of pressure,” the complaint alleges. “During this same time, Arbors of Sylvania also failed to check and monitor Samuel Frank Ray, Sr.’s skin for areas of breakdown or pressure for 33 shifts, allowing evolving skin breakdown to go undetected until it was too late.”

Ray wound up developing an open bedsore on his coccyx that grew and grew until things eventually turned deadly, his family says. They claim it was a “direct result of Arbors of Sylvania’s flippant adherence to their own care plan and the standard of care to turn and reposition” Ray during his stay, according to the complaint.

On Oct. 7, 2024, Ray was transferred from the nursing home to a local hospital for outpatient treatment of his bedsore on his coccyx. He began experiencing signs and symptoms of sepsis several weeks later and “remained severely compromised from the open bedsore” before eventually succumbing to the “infection and trauma” on Jan. 17, 2025.

“Sam Ray Sr.’s family entrusted Arbors of Sylvania with his recovery,” said Michael Hill, founder of Michael Hill Trial Law, in a statement Tuesday.

“Our lawsuit contends that Arbors of Sylvania denied Sam Ray Sr. even basic care, leaving him lying in his own waste until a wound ate through to bone and infection ravaged his body,” Hill explained. “We’re pursuing this case to secure justice for Mr. Ray and to hold the facility accountable so other families don’t endure the same tragedy.”