Inset: Shelba Catterton. Background: The South Carolina nursing home where Catterton allegedly exited through an unsecured door before being attacked by fire ants (WCBD).
A South Carolina nursing home is facing a lawsuit after the family of an 83-year-old resident alleged she slipped through an unlocked door, was overwhelmed by fire ants and later died following severe injuries and medical complications.
The woman, Shelba Catterton, was a resident with Alzheimer’s disease at Harmony at West Ashley, a memory care and senior living facility in Charleston. According to a complaint filed by her family, a facility employee told a 911 dispatcher after Catterton was found, “A bunch of ants were on her.”
“She has bumps all over her back, all over her face, it’s pretty bad,” the employee said during the emergency call, the lawsuit states. “They really did eat up on her.”
The complaint describes Catterton as “alone and helpless” when Harmony employees discovered her lying in what was described as a “fire ant bed.”
The alleged incident occurred on the night of July 23, when a Harmony employee reportedly “propped open a door to the facility’s secured courtyard,” allowing Catterton to leave the building.
“Shelba — nonverbal, 83 years old, and suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s dementia — walked out through the open door, unnoticed and unsupervised. She was then locked out, alone, in the dark,” the complaint says.
Hours later, Catterton was allegedly discovered “covered in ants.” Because of her condition, the lawsuit says, she “could not cry out” and “could not brush the ants away.”
“Fire ants swarmed Shelba’s body,” the complaint says. “By the time Harmony’s staff finally discovered her, she had been bitten and stung, upon information and belief, upward of 1,000 times. The bites covered her face, her eyes, her scalp, her back, her chest, her arms, her hands, her legs, and her feet.”
Emergency department records allegedly describe Catterton as having been found “outside laying in an ant pile” for an unknown amount of time.
Catterton’s family claims Harmony staff did not call the police to report what happened until 36 hours later, and “only because Shelba’s daughter had come to the facility” for a regular visit and “demanded” that her mother be taken to a hospital.
“I was horrified,” Catterton’s daughter, Jan Buice, told local NBC affiliate WCBD. “I just can’t tell you how horrified I was. Nobody should ever go through something like that.”
Another daughter, Sherri Lero, said, “Horrendous is what it’s been. To watch your mom go from a walking individual to being in a bed, grasping for air.”
Catterton was allegedly hospitalized with hypothermia and pneumonia. Doctors reported that she was “hypothermic on arrival, requiring active external rewarming with a Bair Hugger warming device for more than two hours, and was admitted to the intensive care unit,” according to the complaint.
Catterton was listed as having “innumerable pustules due to known ant bites” in medical records cited in the complaint. “Shelba’s physicians expressly connected the ant bites to life-threatening complications,” the document says. Catterton died on Aug. 7.
The family’s attorney, Nate Hughey, told WCBD that Catterton’s case is “the worst” elder abuse case he’s ever encountered. Police are said to be investigating.
“This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Catterton’s family is suing for negligence, wrongful death and violation of state law governing Alzheimer’s care facilities.
“It was known to Harmony that Shelba had diagnoses of conditions which required that Harmony assist her in activities of daily living, as indicated on her paperwork, and that she was a fall risk and, as a person with Alzheimer’s dementia, at known risk of wandering and elopement,” the complaint says. “A person with Shelba’s condition is at known risk of wandering and of leaving a facility without knowing where she is going or the danger she is in. That risk is the reason secured memory care units exist.”
Asked about the lawsuit, a Harmony spokesperson told WCBD, “First, our thoughts and deepest condolences are with Mrs. Catterton’s family and loved ones during this difficult time. As a family-owned and operated senior living company, we are committed to providing each resident with the same care, compassion, and respect we would extend to our own family. Because this matter is currently in litigation, we are not in a position to comment on the details of the case.”
The post 83-year-old found with fire ants swarming all over her face and body after walking out of nursing home — died with 1,000 bites and stings, lawsuit says first appeared on Law & Crime.
