BY THE TIME JOE NAEGELE LEFT HILLCREEK Rehabilitation and Care, he appeared a shell of the man who entered. The 87-year-old's face was gaunt and his hair disheveled. Speaking exhausted him. It took three women to hoist his body out of a wheelchair and onto the pillows his niece, Theresa Hutchins, had laid across the passenger seat of her SUV. "He looked like a corpse," she said.
Hutchins pulled her uncle from the Louisville, Kentucky, nursing home less than a month after he was admitted in December 2020. The octogenarian had checked into the facility for physical therapy following a COVID-19 hospitalization, she said. Instead, his stay was a veritable death sentence, according to a lawsuit filed on Hutchins' behalf in 2022.
Naegele's weight plummeted at Hillcreek, his niece said. Barred from visiting him because of the pandemic, the 58-year-old accountant said she did not receive regular updates on her uncle's eating habits. The lawsuit says he suffered from malnutrition and dehydration.
A day after leaving the nursing home, Naegele was back at Robley Rex VA Medical Center. Hospital records state he looked "emaciated" and was 23 pounds lighter than when he arrived at Hillcreek, a weight loss 10 times greater than the nursing home logged, according to documents Hutchins provided Newsweek. He died in March 2021 in hospice care from complications related to Alzheimer's disease; his death certificate listed malnutrition as a contributing condition. "There was no way he could come back, because it was just too much trauma on his body," Hutchins said.
この記事は Newsweek Europe の March 24, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Newsweek Europe の March 24, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
ARABIAIAN MIGHT
SAUDI ARABIA'S INCREASING STRENGTH MEANS IT NOW HAS MUCH MORE CLOUT WITH ITS PARTNERS, INCLUDING THE U.S.
Bringing Trump's Trial to Life
Sketch artist Isabelle Brourman tells Newsweek what it was like covering the former president’s court case
Iran Examines the Nuclear Option
Tehran’s rhetoric could spark an arms race in the Middle East like never before
Climate Conviction at What Price?
Fifty years ago experts doubted Americans would pay to save the environment. Only some of their fears are still true
Most Loved Workplaces 2024
THE WORLD'S MOST LOVED WORKPLACES ARE REMARKABLE FOR A variety of reasons.
Maya Hawke
MAYA HAWKE WEARS MANY HATS: ACTOR, WRITER,SINGER. BUT FOR Hawke, everything comes down to words.
Jacob Anderson
ANNE RICE'S NOVEL INTERVIEW WITH THE Vampire has a rabid fan base, intensely protective of the story and any adaptations of it.
VOTES OF NO CONFIDENCE
Why recent U.K. election results will ring alarm bells for Joe Biden
BIDEN'S BATTLEGROUND ELECTION
A small number of Democrats PROTESTING the president's support for Israel's war in Gaza could PREVENT him from winning a second term
'It's Time to Treat Addiction Like Cancer'
Both are serious illnesses but, unlike those struggling with substance use disorders, didn’t face shame and stigma when seeking help over my tumors