AP — ANTA ANA, Calif. — Staffing was so inadequate at a California senior center that a rat crawled into an Alzheimer’s patient’s mouth and died there before staff noticed, a lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday on behalf of 90-year-old Sigmund Bock, alleges that administrators at the Paragon Gardens Assisted Living and Memory Care Community in Mission Viejo overbooked their facility to receive corporate bonuses, but cut back on staff to increase profits.

“The facility so literally ignored the needs of their residents … as to allow vermin in the form of a rat to become lodged in the mouth of Sigmund Bock and die therein,” the lawsuit alleges.

jay: o!m!g! what a disaster. this story made my jaw drop open but then i quickly closed it because, you know, rats. i’m only half kidding.

dan: dear god. see, this is exactly why i’m going to have my jaw wired shut when i go into assisted living.

this entry was posted on Friday, April 6th, 2007 at 5:42pm and is filed under weird deaths. you can follow any responses to this entry through the rss 2.0 feed. you can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.