A North Carolina nursing home is facing a police investigation and its owners are being sued following the death of a resident who was allegedly strangled in the facility.
Mary Bowling, 89, died in September 2014, 18 days after she was allegedly strangled by an employee at Carolina Rivers Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Jacksonville, NC, according to a criminal complaint. She had been a resident of the facility since 2012, according to papers filed in Onslow County Superior Court.
Bowling was taken from Carolina Rivers to the hospital on September 12 due to bleeding from her ears, bruises on her body and a purple “rash” around her face and eyes, according to the Wilmington Star-News. The criminal complaint claims her death occurred as “a proximate result” of strangulation by an unnamed employee of the nursing home.
An investigation into the incident is “open and ongoing,” a spokesman for the Jacksonville Police Department told the Star-News. A lawsuit filed by Bowling’s daughter seeks relief for medical costs and alleged negligence, medical malpractice and corporate negligence by Carolina Rivers.
A representative for Carolina Rivers declined to comment to McKnight’s on the case.
