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Report: Maggots Found On Nursing Home Residents

LANSING (WWJ) - A watchdog group is blowing the whistle on a government agency, citing two cases in which maggots were discovered on nursing home patients and equipment.

Tom Masseau with the Michigan Protection and Advocacy Services says the state isn't doing enough to protect nursing home residents.

A report by the MPAS documented that, at a nursing home in Washtenaw County, maggots were found to be infesting in and around a female resident's catheter area. According to a survey, the resident was then reportedly not given a shower until several hours later. She was later treated at a local hospital and also found to have a hip fracture that was causing her severe pain.

In a case in Oakland County, Masseau said a survey showed emergency medical services were called to a nursing facility where they found a woman's airway obstructed by maggots.

"The maggots were suctioned out of the trach (Tracheostomy) tube  ... and were taken out of the catheter area," Masseau said.

The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs sends surveys to all nursing homes and gathers information, but Masseau said there is no follow-through or accountability.

"There were falsified notes ... The nursing staff at the nursing home were told not to put maggots. They were told to put 'dead tissue' in place of maggots," Masseau said.

Calling it "a disgrace and an outrage," the MPAS reported that these are not isolated incidents, and that neglect and abuse like this occurs on a regular basis in nursing homes throughout the state.

Masseau said their group has filed individual complaints against individual nursing homes in an attempt to force accountability.

A call by WWJ to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs was not immediately returned.

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