A Navy veteran suffering from a series of deadly conditions was evicted by an Iowa nursing home because he was unable to pay his medical bills, The Des Moines Register reported.
John Chedester, 65, a veteran who required supervised care, was reportedly suffering from a blood infection, congestive heart failure and other ailments in November when he was sent to a vacant apartment until a neighbor and police intervened and rushed him to a nearby hospital.
"We would have found a dead body there the next day," Sgt. Roger Krohn from the Monona County Sheriff's Department told the paper. He went on to say, according to the report, that the conditions were so bad that a tenant in the building brought Chedester a blanket, silverware and a microwave oven.
Kathleen James, the neighbor, told the paper she called the nursing home and said, "He can't even walk to the refrigerator. Are you for real? I said, 'This is a Navy vet, somebody who fought for our country.'"
He has since returned to the Elmwood Care Centre of Onawa, which was fined $5,752 by the federal government, the report said. A spokeswoman from the nursing home's management company told The Des Moines Register that the company does not condone the way the staff handled the situation.
The spokeswoman said Chedester did not cooperate with staff when they tried to sign him up for Medicaid, which would have paid for his care.
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