Page 10 - IAV Digital Magazine #449

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Former Model Suffered 'Painful' Death FromBeing Eaten Alive By Scabies In Georgia Nursing Home
By Elyse Johnson Tech Times
Rebecca Zeni was 93 years old when she passed away in 2015. The
cause of her death wasn't revealed until recently, when it was uncovered by a forensic pathologist that she was "eaten alive" by scabies that infested the Georgia nursing home where she resided.
Rebecca's fami- ly moved her into the Shepherd Hills Nursing Home in 2010 after she was diag- nosed with dementia. The state health offi- cials were made away of the sca- bies outbreak at the nursing home. However, there was noth- ing done about it.
The official autopsy report for Rebecca read that
she died from "septicemia due to crusted sca- bies." The pathologist who worked on Rebecca's case suggested that she could have been suffering from this for a long period.
Scabies
is described as an infestation of the skin by a human itch mite. The scabies mite gets in the upper layer of the skin where it will live and lay
eggs. If a per- son has never suffered from scabies before, it could take four to six weeks before the per- son begins to exhibit symp- toms of the infestation. If a person has had scabies in the past, symptoms can begin in one to four days.
Symptoms of being infested with scabies include intense itching all over the body and a
rash that can cause tiny blis- ters.
Rebecca mod- eled in New York. She also worked for a tel- evision station in Chicago and was employed at the naval yard.
The pathologist who was hired to study Rebecca's autopsy, Dr. Kris Sperry, stated that Rebecca's was the most "horrendous" autopsy he'd ever had to work on. Sperry con- tinued that he believed at least hundreds of thousands of mites were "liv- ing" inside of Rebecca and that she more than likely suf- fered a painful death.
"Having seen what I've seen with Ms. Zeni, I think that is frankly a good characterization. I would seriously
consider calling this a homicide by neglect," Sperry stated.
The Georgia Department of Public Health were notified of the scabies out- break in the nursing home in 2013 and in 2015. Reportedly 35 people, includ- ing the staff, were exposed to the infestation but never con- ducted an inspection on the facility. The department only sent the nursing home informa- tion on scabies and how to treat it.
Pictures that were taken of Rebecca's hand showed her blackened and flaky skin. Rebecca's fami- ly is now suing Pruitt Health, which is the company that ran the nursing home she stayed in.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine