A family of a nursing home patient was left terrified after paying the nursing home hundreds of thousands of dollars and in return had to live through a gruesome medical procedure, according to a lawsuit filed in court.
A family in Illinois is suing a nursing home after a small horde of bugs were found crawling in the ear of their ailing 92-year-old family member.
"I was shocked and surprised. I thought it was terrible," the woman's husband, John McCann, 88, told a local TV station.
McCann said he spent all his savings for his wife, Catherine, who has Alzheimer's and does not speak, stay in the nursing home in Arlington Heights, which costs about $10,000 a month, the TV station reported.
"I'm paying all this money for that kind of return, no way," he said. "After giving $270,000 of my hard earned money, my life savings, I did not even get so much as a note or a call."
The nursing home said a caretaker first noticed something was wrong after McCann could not stop scratching and pulling her ear one day last month.
The assistant who saw McCann rushed her to a hospital, where doctors found 57 bugs crawling in her ear canal.
Doctors said that a fly must have flown into her ear and laid eggs. It is estimated that the insects had been living in her head for about two days.
McCann said that his wife was supposed to be getting ear drops for wax buildup, but he suspected that the nursing home was not giving it. "How can you put drops of medicine in one ear with 57 bugs?" the family's attorney, Henry Gruss, told the TV station.
The family sued the nursing home for emotional distress and negligence and has since transferred her to another home.
A family in Illinois is suing a nursing home after a small horde of bugs were found crawling in the ear of their ailing 92-year-old family member.
"I was shocked and surprised. I thought it was terrible," the woman's husband, John McCann, 88, told a local TV station.
McCann said he spent all his savings for his wife, Catherine, who has Alzheimer's and does not speak, stay in the nursing home in Arlington Heights, which costs about $10,000 a month, the TV station reported.
"I'm paying all this money for that kind of return, no way," he said. "After giving $270,000 of my hard earned money, my life savings, I did not even get so much as a note or a call."
The nursing home said a caretaker first noticed something was wrong after McCann could not stop scratching and pulling her ear one day last month.
The assistant who saw McCann rushed her to a hospital, where doctors found 57 bugs crawling in her ear canal.
Doctors said that a fly must have flown into her ear and laid eggs. It is estimated that the insects had been living in her head for about two days.
McCann said that his wife was supposed to be getting ear drops for wax buildup, but he suspected that the nursing home was not giving it. "How can you put drops of medicine in one ear with 57 bugs?" the family's attorney, Henry Gruss, told the TV station.
The family sued the nursing home for emotional distress and negligence and has since transferred her to another home.
