A Dallas rehabilitation center was accused of negligence by the family of former United States Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, who passed away over the weekend at the age of 89. The family stated on Thursday that the pioneering Texas congressman had died as a result of an infection.
On the 31st of December, Johnson, who was the first registered nurse to be elected to Congress, passed away at her residence in Dallas. Les Weisbrod, the attorney for Johnson’s family and a longtime friend of Johnson’s, stated at a press conference that the cause of Johnson’s death was an infection in her spine that formed after she was left in her own feces at Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation following back surgery. Johnson’s death happened as a result of this infection.
It was reported by Weisbrod that he has informed both the Baylor Scott & White Health System and the Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation that the family wants to launch a lawsuit against the medical facilities for medical malpractice in connection with her passing.
According to a statement released by Baylor Scott & White Health on Thursday, Johnson was described as “an inspiration to all,” and the organization stated that they are committed to working with her family and lawyers.
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It is a matter that Johnson herself had asked him to pursue many weeks ago, after she started experiencing issues as a result of the infection, according to Weisbrod.
“I thought it was going to be a case for the pain that she went through and the additional procedures she went through and the medical bills and that she was going to recover,” according to him. “And so it’s very distressing for me that she succumbed to this.”
Johnson’s son discovered her lying in her own pee and excrement at the rehabilitation facility on September 21, according to a press release issued by Weisbrod’s office. Johnson was found sleeping in this condition. In his remarks at the press conference that took place on Thursday, Kirk Johnson stated that he had visited the facility after his mother had called to inform him that she was not receiving any answer from the call button. He reported that he arrived approximately ten minutes later.
This is “deplorable,” he remarked. “There was no one present to care for her. She screamed out in agony and pleaded for immediate assistance.
It was stated in the press release that when Kirk Johnson was unable to locate any nurses on the floor, he went to the administration office, and the CEO took him to his mother’s room. The staff personnel were cleaning up the feces when they got at the location.
Following the operation, Eddie Bernice Johnson was discovered in bed sitting in her own excrement, and three days later, she began experiencing “copious purulent drainage from the low lumbar incision.” According to the news release, the orthopedic physician who performed the operation noted in his professional record that Johnson experienced some difficulties following the procedure.
The infected incision was surgically repaired by the surgeon, and she was transferred to a skilled nursing facility on October 18th. She was discharged from the facility and began receiving hospice care in the middle of December, according to the news release.
It was stated in the press release that the wound culture data from the laboratory revealed organisms that were directly associated to excrement.
Johnson was a member of the House of Representatives for thirty years before she passed away in January of this year, having repeatedly postponed her retirement. In addition to becoming the first Black woman to chair the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Johnson was also the first Black woman to lead the Congressional Black Caucus. Johnson was the first Black chief mental nurse at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Dallas’s Veterans Affairs hospital.
According to the White House, Vice President Joe Biden was supposed to travel to Dallas on Monday in order to pay his condolences to the elected official who passed away.
