Maggots in the throat of a patient

IN HIS BED at an upstate group home for the severely disabled, Steven Wenger lay helpless against a silent invader.

A slimy, wriggling clump was growing around the hole in his throat near his breathing tube. Nurses at the Rome facility peered closer and made a discovery almost unheard of in modern American health care: maggots.

For Wenger (photo), unable to walk, speak, or breathe without a ventilator since a car accident 26 years ago, it was the first of two infestations of the larval flies in his throat over successive days last summer, resulting in repeated trips to an emergency room and a state investigation that found days of neglect by caretakers.

And if The Associated Press had not obtained a confidential report on the case, it’s unlikely anyone in the outside world would have known anything about it.

That’s because in New York and most other states, details of abuse and neglect investigations in state-regulated institutions for the disabled, addicted and mentally ill are almost never made public, even with the names blacked out.“If a complaint is substantiated, there should be a pretty detailed report . . . but you cannot get that information,” said Robyn Grant, public policy director at the National Consumer Voice For Quality Long-Term Care, a Washington advocacy group.

In New York, which has one of the nation’s largest disabled-care systems, abuse and neglect probes are overseen by the state’s Justice Center for the Protection of People With Special Needs. Spokesman William Reynolds said it cannot release detailed information on its cases — even with identifying material removed — because of state and federal rules for medical and personnel privacy, and law enforcement probes.

In Wenger’s case, state investigators found the 41-year-old man’s maggot infestations were the result of days of neglect by caretakers who were supposed to keep the tracheostomy clean. Justice Center officials said the sixmonth probe couldn’t pinpoint the employees at fault, so no one was punished. Instead, investigators suggested the home “consider” brushing up on training on the care of tracheostomies. State officials confirmed that training was done.

“I know Steven isn’t important to anyone else,” said Walter Wenger, who has since moved his son to a hospital facility, “but he’s a child of God, and no one should be treated like this.”