Police in Charleston County, South Carolina, are investigating the death of 83-year-old nursing home resident Shelba Catterton, who was found on the street with more than 1,000 fire ant bites. The family of a woman with Alzheimer's disease has accused the facility of negligence and sued it. WCBD reports.
Catterton lived in the Harmony at West Ashley nursing home, for whose services her relatives paid $6,280 a month, writes the Daily Mail. On July 23, one of the employees of the institution left the door open, and the woman went outside unnoticed. The door was soon closed, leaving Catterton “alone in the dark” outside.
Once outside, Catterton fell onto one or more anthills, according to police. The woman could not get up on her own or call for help and lay on the ground for several hours, exposed to insect bites.
Fire ants are found primarily in the southern United States. When attacked, they cling to the skin with their jaws and can sting several times, injecting venom that causes severe burning, pain, itching and blistering. In a mass attack, hundreds of ants can simultaneously attack a person. Multiple stings can cause a systemic reaction in the body, including difficulty breathing, low blood pressure and shock, and in people with allergies, even a single sting can cause life-threatening anaphylaxis.
The police report said Catterton suffered from Alzheimer's disease, was non-verbal and had a history of wandering at night on numerous occasions. Hours later, she was found “covered in ants,” Law & Crime writes. According to official documents reviewed by the publication, she “could not scream” and “could not shake off the insects.”
“By the time Harmony staff finally discovered her [Шелбу Каттертон]she has reportedly been bitten and stung more than 1,000 times. Bites covered her face, eyes, scalp, back, chest, arms, hands, legs and feet,” the lawsuit states.
Relatives claim that immediately after Catterton was discovered, the facility staff did not call an ambulance, and the family was not notified of what had happened. Relatives learned about the woman’s condition only about 36 hours later, when they themselves came to visit her. One of her daughters, Jen Buis, told WCBD she felt an “indescribable feeling of horror” when she looked at her mother.
“It was terrible to watch your mother, who had recently walked, lie on the bed, gasping for air. I mean, how can you come in the next morning and see this and not call anyone?” — said Catterton’s second daughter, Sherry Lero.
The lawsuit alleges that Catterton's medical records show she had blisters on her body from the bites. The lawsuit also says doctors linked multiple bites to Catterton developing life-threatening complications. When the woman was taken to the hospital, she had hypothermia and pneumonia. A few days later she was transferred to a hospice, where she died on August 7.
“On her [Шелбе Каттертон] there were a lot of ants. She has bumps all over her back, all over her face, it's pretty bad. They actually ate it all,” a senior care center worker told Law & Crime.
The family's attorney, Nate Hughey, told WCBD that Catterton's case is the “worst” case of elder abuse he has ever seen. The victim's family filed a lawsuit accusing the facility of negligence in the woman's death and violating South Carolina laws governing Alzheimer's care facilities.
Elderly dementia patient who couldn't speak suffered horrific death at hands of FIRE ANTS while under care of nursing home, family claims https://t.co/bgILITy1KA
— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) August 24, 2026
