Daughter questions mother's death at nursing home of Covid - no testing done.

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GENEVA – The daughter of a 78-year-old woman who died April 25 at Bria of Geneva is seeking answers to the cause of her mother’s death.

“My mother was in good health, other than having dementia,” Faith Heimbrodt of Huntley said. “She had no other health issues. No diabetes, no heart disease, no cancer.”

And while the Kane County Coroner’s Office has listed 15 deaths from COVID-19 at Bria of Geneva, her mother had no documented symptoms of it, Heimbrodt said.

“She was never put on the list for COVID testing because the director [of Bria] said she had no symptoms,” Heimbrodt said. “But they bagged her body and labeled it ‘COVID-19 positive.’ I want to know my mother’s cause of death. ... I feel she could have died from sepsis or something else. I feel she could have bed sores or other signs of neglect.”

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Heimbrodt, 49, said she used to visit every few weeks. But Heimbrodt had not been there since late December because she has multiple sclerosis and Bria warned her there was a lot of flu going around at the nursing home and she was afraid of getting sick.

But when she came to visit on April 23, Heimbrodt said she was shocked at her mother’s condition.

“The roof of her mouth was covered with sores that were blackened. Her dentures had never been removed. I could see debris and caked food,” Heimbrodt said. “Her eyes were sunken. She looked very dehydrated.”

But when Heimbrodt asked a nurse about giving her mother water, she was told they were not giving her any because she might aspirate into her lungs.

“There is another way to get water in her. You can’t just put her in bed and think, ‘You’re going to die, you don’t get care.’ The nurse said they do not do IV fluids,” Heimbrodt said. “The nurse said she would tell her doctor.”

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“When she passed away, within two minutes Bria called and said, ‘Call cremation and schedule getting her body out of our nursing home,’ ” Heimbrodt said. “My mom was prepaid with the Cremation Society of Illinois. To be cremated was my mom’s wish.”

Heimbrodt told the cremation company she wanted an autopsy for her mother. She paid $2,200 to Chicago Area Autopsy but two hours later, they called and said they were refunding her money because they could not do the autopsy.

“I said, ‘Why not?’ They said, ‘She’s COVID positive. You should have told us. Her bag says ‘COVID positive,’ ” Heimbrodt said.

She called Bria’s director again and confirmed that her mother had not been tested for COVID-19.

“They never tested her. She never had symptoms. How does the bag say ‘COVID positive?’ Heimbrodt said she asked. “The answer was, ‘I don’t know.’ ”

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Chief Deputy Coroner Loren Carrera said, when her death was reported by Bria, she was told Orlando was COVID exposed, not COVID positive – which still leaves the question of why it stated COVID positive on the Orlando's body bag.

The coroner’s office also was told that Orlando had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung disease that makes it hard to breathe and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rate, as well as dementia.

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