Inset: Charles Brush (Michael Hill Trial Law). Background: Avenue at Broadview Heights Care and Rehabilitation Center in Broadview Heights, Ohio, where Charles Brush's family says he was secretly isolated and "confined" after contracting a highly contagious "fungal infection" (Google Maps).
A 72-year-old man contracted a highly contagious "fungal infection" at an Ohio nursing home and instead of treating it the staff secretly "isolated and sealed off" his room for a year until he suffered health complications and died, his family says in a wrongful death lawsuit.
"There's something going on here," said Charles Brush in a voicemail to his daughter in February 2025, just one month before his death on March 26, 2025.
"I'm really not happy," he told her in the message, which was obtained by Law&Crime. "Yesterday they kept me in isolation for I don't know why. Now they're doing it again to me. I didn't eat yesterday. I didn't eat, probably not eating today. I don't know what to do."
A legal complaint filed by Brush's family in Cuyahoga County outlines how Brush contracted the contagious Candida auris infection — a "fungal infection" caused by an overgrowth of yeast — in March 2024 while he was a resident at Avenue at Broadview Heights Care and Rehabilitation Center in Broadview Heights. Staff allegedly left him "isolated and sealed off in his room from the rest of the facility due to his health condition" without explanation to him or his family, the complaint says.
"Defendants neglected Charles Brush's basic needs by, amongst other things, failing to feed him, assisting him with using the restroom, monitoring the temperature of his room, and providing basic personal hygiene," the complaint alleges. "Defendants' failures ultimately led to Mr. Brush being admitted to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with urosepsis and pneumonia and continued to decline over the course of several weeks until his eventual death."
Brush was admitted to the Avenue at Broadview Heights nursing home in January 2024. After he contracted the Candida auris infection, staff allegedly stopped cleaning his room and living area while also keeping his door and bathroom "sealed off without explanation," the complaint says.
"On Feb. 15, 2025, Jennifer Brush [Charles' daughter] received a call from a nurse at the Avenue at Broadview Heights Care & Rehabilitation Center informing her that Charles Brush had fallen while attempting to use the restroom," the complaint notes.
"The nurses stated that Charles was attempting to use the restroom but the Avenue at Broadview had sealed the bathroom," the document alleges. "Charles fell while waiting for the Avenue at Broadview's staff to open the door and allow him to use the restroom."
Brush's daughter was told by staff just two days earlier that they had been confining him to his room due to a staph infection and that "his room was filthy, and that he was being isolated to prevent the spread of the infection," per the complaint.
After Brush's fall on Feb. 15, Jennifer Brush spoke with the director of nursing and was told that staff members were "mistaken" and that it was actually a Candida auris infection "that she had found documented in his chart from a year prior in March 2024," according to the complaint.
"Charles Brush's family was never informed or contacted in any capacity relative to this infection," the complaint alleges. "Jennifer Brush raised several questions to the director of nursing, including: Why was she never told about an infection a year earlier when it was discovered? Why would an infection from a year earlier now be showing symptoms? Where on the body was the infection? Was he treated for the infection in the last year? Had he been retested for this infection? Was he getting treatment now and, if so, what treatment was he receiving and how long would the treatment last? When was he going to be retested? Why was he being isolated now when he had been in the library, used group computers, spent time in common areas, and participated in numerous activities throughout the last year? Rather than answer Jennifer Brush's questions, the director of nursing hung up on Jennifer."
Later in the day, a nurse called Jennifer Brush back and told her that Charles Brush had "undefined mental and social issues." The worker claimed this led to Charles Brush being "dirty" and picking at his skin, per the complaint. Jennifer Brush asked why her father "was not bathed" and rather than answering her questions the nurse "abruptly ended the phone call by hanging up on Jennifer," according to the complaint.
On Feb. 22, 2025, Jennifer Brush allegedly received a call from a staff member informing her that Charles Brush had a seizure "as he was lethargic, his heart rate was low, and he was slurring his words." Charles Brush was taken to a local hospital and listed as being in septic shock "due to a prolonged, untreated infection," according to the complaint.
"Charles was hypoglycemic (low blood sugar), hypotensive (low blood pressure), bradycardia (low heart rate), hypothermic (low body temperature), in acute hypoxic respiratory failure (a life-threatening medical condition where the body does not receive enough oxygen due to an sudden impairment of lung function), in acute kidney injury (a sudden decline in kidney function), and suffering from metabolic encephalopathy (lack of brain functioning)," the complaint states. "Charles was admitted to the Medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for lifesaving medical treatment."
While at the hospital, a social worker allegedly called Charles Brush's family and expressed concerns about the poor physical condition that he arrived in.
"The social worker pointed to several unsettling factors, including Charles Brush's low body temperature, his 'dirty' appearance, his low blood sugar levels, and that he was septic upon admission," the complaint says. "The social worker advised Jennifer Brush against sending Charles Brush back to the Avenue at Broadview Heights Care & Rehabilitation Center."
Charles Brush's family went to get his belongings from Avenue at Broadview Heights and allegedly discovered that his room and bathroom were "filthy." There was feces on the seat of a wheelchair and chair he used and on the side of the bed; urine was also found on the blankets on the bed, along with "stale food" in the drawers, according to the complaint.
After his death on March 26, 2025, it was determined that Charles Brush's decline and death was "consistent with the expected outcome following his severe sepsis and multiple organ failure he developed" at the Avenue at Broadview Heights facility.
"This represents a breakdown in care and oversight that had devastating consequences," said the Brush family's attorney, Michael Hill of Michael Hill Trial Law, in a statement to Law&Crime. "The fact that an infection went untreated for nearly a year is unconscionable."
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