A family is seeking answers after a 96-year-old woman was taken to the hospital with a rash covering more than half her body. She later died.
A Hanover woman is expected to plead guilty to neglecting the care of an elderly woman who died as a result of bedbug bites, according to the York County District Attorney’s Office in an Oct. 12 report.
Butler, who was known as Deborah Luckenbaugh before, ran the Luckenbaugh Personal Care Home years ago, where Mary Stoner, 96, was staying.
Stoner’s family in February 2016 discovered that the elderly woman was covered in a rash and appeared to have a multitude of sores covering her body. Hospital staff notified the police about the woman, who was in Butler’s care for the past 10 years or so.
After cops found the bug infestation, Stoner died from “complications of sepsis following a bed bug infestation.”
Butler has since been out of jail on $50,000 bond.
Bedbugs, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, feed on blood and causes “itchy bites.”
“Unlike most public health pests, bed bugs are not known to transmit or spread disease,” the EPA says. “They can, however, cause other public health issues, so it’s important to pay close attention to preventing and controlling bed bugs.”
It added: “Experts believe the recent increase in bed bugs in the United States may be due to more travel, lack of knowledge about preventing infestations, increased resistance of bed bugs to pesticides, and ineffective pest control practices.”
What’s more, bedbug bites can appear similar to bites from other insects, such as mosquitoes. Some people don’t react to bedbug bites at all, meaning they can go undetected for quite some time.
-Raised, red welts -Burning and itching -Bed bug bite rash across localized area -Straight lines of multiple bites