It’s not surprising to get out of a particularly hot shower with steaming skin, but most people likely aren’t concerned about boiling alive under a faucet. Yet, that’s how a Marine veteran tragically died recently in a California hotel, according reports.
Fox News Digital reported that a wrongful death suit was filed Oct. 15 regarding the death of 72-year-old Terril Johnson, who died in May after taking a shower at the Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites San Jose Airport. Johnson was “effectively boiled alive,” according to the suit.
He had driven six hours from Los Angeles to San Jose to attend his granddaughter’s college graduation at San Jose State University, Fox News Digital’s report said. Citing the Santa Clara County medical examiner, it also said Johnson’s cause of death was determined to be “severe scalding.”
Scalding refers to burns caused when hot liquids or steam comes into contact with skin. Per the American Burn Association, these are very common burns, especially among children and the elderly.
According to the City of San Diego, scald injuries are the most common types of burn injuries among children. It said the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that approximately 3,800 injuries and 34 deaths occur in the home each year due to excessively hot tap water.
“People of all ages can be burned by liquid at 140 degrees Fahrenheit in as few as thirty seconds. It takes only five seconds for a young child to be injured by 140-degree liquid; and only one second at 160 degrees,” said the municipality.
A 2023 study on scalding injuries was published in the Injury Prevention journal identified 52,088 emergency department visits, 7,270 hospitalizations and 110 hospital-based deaths attributable to tap water scald burns between 2016 and 2018. It said the average cost for each incident was $572 per emergency visit and $28,431 per hospitalization. Last year, the West Virginia Department of Health Facilities (DHF) issued a press release about a thermostat equipment malfunction at the Hopemont Hospital long-term care facility that resulted in unsafe water temperatures and a resident being treated for burns and a subsequent investigation into the incident.
A 2014 study published in the Journal of Burn Care and Research noted that water heater manufacturers adopted a voluntary standard to pre-set thermostats on new water heaters to 120 degrees in the 1980s. Fox News Digital also said that California has a state’s 120-degree limit for individual showers, but that the medical examiner’s report indicates the hotel shower’s water temperature was above that limit.
It was so hot that Johnson’s family members couldn’t pull him from the water where he was unconscious and partially submerged without getting burned themselves, said the report. Burns allegedly covered 33% of Johnson’s body when he was eventually pulled out. His family – including son, daughter-in-law, and three granddaughters – witnessed the incident and are included in court documents, per the Fox News Digital report.
“During attempts at CPR, they ‘were forced to watch in horror as his skin peeled away from his body,’” according to the filing as quoted by the outlet.
Johnson was originally from Indiana and moved to California after joining the Marines and serving in Vietnam, the report said. He married his high school sweetheart and worked as a senior lead technician at the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority. Now he’s survived by his wife of 54 years, two children and four grandchildren.
“This was not a freak accident,” said the suit, which alleges that the hotel did not maintain safe water temperatures and was in violation of the state’s plumbing code. “It was the direct result of Defendant’s gross negligence and failure to meet even basic safety obligations.”
Attorney Paul Traina, is representing the Johnson family. He said that Johnson had only been in the shower for a short time before his death.
“As you can imagine, the entire Johnson family continues to suffer deeply from the tragic loss of Terril Johnson, a devoted husband, father, and grandfather,” Traina said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. He added that the “grief is compounded,” by the thought that the death might have been preventable.
Fox News Digital said “Marriott Americas and Marriott International did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.”