An 86-year-old patient of an assisted living facility died recently after he was found so neglected that half his face was consumed by cancer. The man, who had been a patient at the facility for about two years, was found when a representative of the court system paid the facility a visit. The patient received radiation treatment that shrunk the tumor, but he later died as a result of the disease.
The state agency that licensed the assisted living facility was contacted. After investigating, the agency closed the facility and revoked its license. Police arrested the facility’s owner on charges of neglect. The owner pleaded not guilty and charges apparently remain pending. The patient died two days after the owner agreed to a lifetime ban that will keep her out of the assisted living facility business. Read more about the neglect.
The patient died. The facility is dead. The owner probably longs for death. Not death, but time, might be her just penance. Time to think about every moment she allowed her patient to suffer, every second she decided that getting him help wasn’t important, and every moment the cancer in his body was allowed to grow. Time might not heal the man’s wounds, but maybe it’ll help heal ours.
