SANTA ANA (KNX) — The family of a Santa Ana woman filed a lawsuit against South Coast Global Medical Center, alleging caretakers had left her room in a state of filth and that maggots were found in their mom’s nose and mouth.
65-year-old Concepcion Covarrubias was admitted to South Coast Global Medical Center in summer 2020 for COVID-19. Carolina Mijango said she and her siblings did everything they could to help their mother and the nurses taking care of their mom.
“I ran around so much for my mother and to try to save her," Mijango recalled to KABC-TV. "It felt like a betrayal to that trust because they kept telling me, 'She's OK. She's gonna be OK. We're giving her the utmost care.'"
Weeks later, Covarrubias tested negative for the virus. But when the family was ready to take their matriarch out of the hospital, they said their request was denied.
When the family went to visit Covarrubias, they found her room was left in a ghastly state.
Mijango told NBC 4 Covarrubias’ bed was “unclean, and her trash cans filled with syringes and used gloves.”
"That to me was not acceptable. Not in America. Not these kind of hospitals," Carlos Mijango, Covarrubias’ son, told KABC-TV.
Later, a Facetime call revealed a spine-chilling discovery. Manuel Mijango, Covarrubias’ son, was visiting her in the hospital when found something in his mother’s nose and mouth. Caroline watched on her phone.
"He picks from her nose. He gets a maggot," Caroline recalled to NBC 4. "Then he sees more maggots, coming out of her nose.”
Concepcion Covarrubias died on Aug. 21, 2020. Cause of death has not been released.
Her family is suing the hospital and its staff for wrongful death, elder abuse, and negligence.
A spokesperson for the hospital said the hospital couldn’t comment while litigation is pending.
A court date has been set for January 2022.
