Ex-Model Eaten Alive By Parasitic Mites in a Georgia Nursing Home

WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED:

• A lawsuit has been filed by Rebecca Zeni’s family, alleging that she suffered an agonizing death in the Georgia nursing home she was in.
• The family claims that the former model “had been eaten alive” over the course of months or possibly years by a scabies infestation.
• The lawsuit was filed against the owners of the nursing home, Pruitt Health.

Rebecca Zeni’s family filed a lawsuit against a nursing home, claiming that the nursing staff “violated the standard of care by (a) failing to prevent the spread of infection from personnel to patient, (b) failing to prevent the spread of infection from visitors to patients, and (c) failing to prevent the spread of infection from patient to personnel or other patients.”

“This is one of the most horrendous things I’ve ever seen in my career as a forensic pathologist,” Dr. Kris Sperry professed.

Dr. Sperry believes that hundreds of millions of parasitic mites were living inside Zeni’s body, essentially eating her alive, causing her a painful death at the Shepherd Hills Nursing Home in LaFayette in 2015. She was 93.

“I would seriously consider calling this a homicide by neglect,” he stated.

Rebecca Zeni was a New York City model and was even assistant at one time for Mike Wallace of CBS News.

Scabies consists of parasitic mites burrowing into the skin and laying eggs in the body, and although it can be painful, it can be treated within days or weeks if done properly.

The Georgia Department of Health’s records showed that the state officials have already been notified of a scabies outbreak at the facility in the years 2013 and 2015. No less than 35 residents and staff have been exposed. However, no reports were filed by the facility on the previous outbreaks that occurred. Also, no inspection was made at the facility, the state health department only emailed a manual to the facility on how to treat scabies.

Zeni died eleven days later.

The pictures of Zeni before her death showed her skin flaking off, and one hand was already blackened. The staff at the retirement home were even advised not to touch Zeni’s hand “for fear that it might fall off her body,” said lawyer Stephen Chance.

The lawyers for Pruitt Health, however, denies any responsibility for what happened. It “denies that it is a medical or healthcare provider and it, therefore, owed no legal duty to Plaintiff or Ms. Rebecca Zeni for which it could be held liable in this litigation.”

Source: NY Daily News