She died from COVID at a SC nursing home. Her family says medical staff is to blame.
A patient at an Horry County nursing home never left her room, yet she was one of 13 residents to catch COVID-19 and die from the virus.
Her family says the medical staff is to blame.
Eartha Wells was a patient at Loris Rehab and Nursing Center, and last week her family filed a notice of medical malpractice against the facility and its director. In South Carolina, a notice must be filed weeks before an actual lawsuit.
The suit says that Wells died from a “communicable disease which led to her death as a result of the facility failing to institute proper infection control measures through the facility.” Bradley H. Banyas, one of the lawyers on the case, confirmed to The Sun News that Wells died from coronavirus complications in May.
“When you got staff members clearly flaunting CDC guidelines, something clearly needs to be done,” Banyas said.
The notice does not specify which guidelines weren’t followed. Wells didn’t leave her room and interact with other patients, Banyas said.
The notice of medical malpractice is believed to be one of the first lawsuits over a COVID-19 death in not only Horry County but across South Carolina.
Officials from Wilson Senior Care, which oversees the facility on Stevens Street in Loris, did not return phone calls in time for this report.
Nursing home’s pandemic statistics
Wells moved into the Loris nursing home on Aug. 31, 2019. Since the pandemic started in mid-march, 13 patients at the facility died from COVID-19, according to the most recent data from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
There have been 57 total coronavirus cases in patients at the facility, according to the DHEC data, with 28 additional cases among staff members.
Early in the pandemic, the Loris facility outpaced most other South Carolina extended care facilities in the number of cases.
Spokeswoman for Wilson Senior Care Dianne Dennis said in May that its difficult to stop the virus when it enters a nursing home. The Lois center stopped group activities and barred visitors to help slow the spread.
“We will continue doing everything we can to prevent the spread of this virus within our facility,” she said.
In the notice over Wells’ death, lawyers say the center was negligent and that staff had an obligation to provide reasonable care.
The lack of care led to Wells’ death, the filing states. The family asked for an unspecified amount of money.
DHEC guidelines
Across all Horry County nursing homes, there have been 44 patients deaths and 278 resident cases, according to DHEC data. In South Carolina nursing homes, there have been a total of 15,954 coronavirus cases and 3,154 deaths.
Early in the pandemic, the state barred visitation at nursing homes to slow the coronavirus’ spread. In October, DHEC issued guidance for allowing visitors into nursing facilities.
Outdoor visitation is allowed unless there has been a COVID-19 case in the last two weeks, weather conditions impact visitation and routine testing is not being conducted.
Indoor visitation is barred again when there has been a case in the last 14 days or a county’s positive rate is greater than 10 percent.
Visits are limited to 30 minutes unless a visitor can show proof of a negative coronavirus test in recent days, then visits can last an hour. Visitors are also screened for symptoms and have their temperatures taken.
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 8:47 AM.
