Former model eaten alive by hundreds of parasites in Georgia nursing home

Rebecca Zeni, a former model was eaten alive by parasitic mites while she was admitted to a Georgia nursing home. Seni had a scabies infestation and her autopsy report stated the cause of death was "septicemia due to crusted scabies", fox news reported.

An autopsy report stated the woman’s cause of death was “septicemia due to crusted scabies.” As per reports, the state health officials were informed of the scabies outbreak at the facility but they did not investigate or inspect the nursing home.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Scabies is an "infestation by the human itch mite. The microscopic scabies mite burrows into the upper layer of the skin where it lives and lays its eggs." 

Zeni during her younger years worked at a naval yard. She also took up modeling projecs in New York City and worked for a television station in Chicago. 

Zeni, who suffered from dementia, was put in the nursing home by her daughter in 2010. her family is now suing Pruitt Health, which runs the nursing home where Zeni died. Reacting to the incident, her family's lawyer Mike Prieto said: "I don’t understand how you can allow a human being to suffer needlessly."

In the pictures clicked before her death, Zeni's skin could be seen blackened and flaky. An attorney representing the Zeni family, also alleged the nursing home staff were told “not to touch Zeni’s hand.

"There was a conversation at this nursing home with a health care provider about being careful about touching Ms. Zeni’s hand for fear that it might fall off her body,” the attorney was quoted as saying.

The news station asked Dr. Kris Sperry, a forensic pathologist, to look over Zeni’s autopsy report. Sperry said out of the 6,000 autopsies he has conducted, Zeni’s was “one of the most horrendous things I’ve ever seen in my career as a forensic pathologist.”

A forensic pathologist who looked at Zeni’s autopsy report said that hundreds of millions of mites were burrowed inside her during the time of her death. The pathologist also added that it is likely that she suffered a painful death. "I would seriously consider calling this a homicide by neglect," the forensic pathologist added.