Nursing home sued after 57 MAGGOTS found in patient's ear

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On Sept. 16, a nurse at the home was caring for McCann when a maggot was spotted moving in the Alzheimer's patient's ear. An ambulance rushed her to the hospital, said Phil Hemmer, the nursing home's administrator.

In the emergency room at Northwest Community Hospital, McCann's daughter watched as the larvae of flies crawled out of her mother's left ear as the maggots were being removed, according to the lawsuit filed Nov. 28.

The McCann family previously filed a complaint with the state Department of Public Health. An investigation in October found no violations to the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act, said Melaney Arnold, a department spokeswoman.

Henry Phillip Gruss, the attorney who filed the lawsuit for the family, said the maggots were sent to a lab and determined to be about 3 days old.

"I'm curious how someone could wash her hair and not notice 57 maggots," Gruss said.