Neglect case referred to Adult Protective Services

An investigation by law enforcement officers into “gross neglect of an impaired adult” was referred to the Adult Protective Services department when a woman transported for medical care was found to be covered in feces and vomit Tuesday.

An officer with the Lawrenceburg Police Department was called to the emergency room at Southern Tennessee Regional Health Care Systems at around 4:20 p.m. Emergency Medical Services employees reported that they had answered a call only to find the sixty-two year old woman in a deplorable state.

They told officers that they found the woman covered in feces, vomit, and urine and that she had been that way for approximately two days. Reports note that, “The odor of human waste was so strong that the responding officer could smell it at the nurses’ desk of the ER.”

The officer reports that the woman resided with her long-time boyfriend, who had been caring for her. He told the officer that the victim had been in a wheelchair for the past two days and had been “defecating and urinating on herself.” He said that he had “tried” to clean her. He told the officer that she had some physical deformities and that he suspected she had some degree of impaired mental capacity.

The officer was unable to speak with the victim at the time the report was filed. Due to difficulty breathing she had been intubated and was “receiving intense medical treatment.”

The responding officer noted in his report, “It is unknown the exact cause of (the victim’s) illness, but the condition that she was in may in fact be the cause or exacerbated her illness.” The officer requested that a detective be dispatched to initiate an investigation, and a referral was made to Adult Protective Services.