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Inset: Tamara Bircumshaw (Lindquist Mortuary). Background: The Utah nursing home where Tamara Bircumshaw’s family says she developed deadly bedsores due to “total neglect” (Google Maps).
A 66-year-old Walmart greeter from Utah tragically passed away following a work-related injury and the development of severe bedsores, comparable in size to an iPhone, while she was in rehabilitation at a nursing home. Her family has filed a lawsuit in connection with her death.
The woman’s son attributes her death to the nursing facility’s “total neglect,” claiming it was ultimately responsible for her demise.
“They’re severely understaffed,” stated Kenny Bircumshaw, son of Tamara “Tammy” Bircumshaw, during an interview with local ABC affiliate KTVX. “Initially, she was upbeat and cheerful. But as her condition worsened, she was in constant pain and deeply unhappy.”
The lawsuit, filed by the Bircumshaw family, claims that Tamara Bircumshaw, a grandmother from Layton, succumbed in July 2023 to medical complications arising from the bedsores she acquired at Rocky Mountain Care in Clearfield. Her son explained that she had initially sustained “a back injury from work,” which led her to undergo back surgery in an attempt to rectify the issue.
“After her back was treated, problems began to affect her hips, necessitating hip replacement surgery,” Kenny Bircumshaw shared with KTVX.
The family’s lawyer, Barry Toone, recounts how it took just 11 days for Tammy Bircumshaw to start developing bedsores at Rocky Mountain Care after she was admitted in July 2022 following a hip surgery.
“She was expected to be there for a short period of time and then get the other hip done,” he said. “When she went back to the hospital to get the other hip done, they told her she couldn’t do it because of that pressure sore.”
Kenny Bircumshaw added, “The surgeon called us from the operating room saying that he couldn’t do the surgery because she had too big of a pressure sore.”
According to the family’s lawsuit, Tammy Bircumshaw tested positive for MRSA just one month after her surgery was cancelled.
“Ms. Bircumshaw did not begin receiving specialized wound care until Dec. 27, 2022, at which time she was diagnosed with a stage-4 pressure ulcer,” the lawsuit alleges, according to KTVX. “By that time, she had developed three bedsores.”
Toone says Tammy Bircumshaw had a pressure wound that was “11-by-10-by-4 centimeters, and she died of sepsis.” He told KTVX that the wound was the size of two iPhones side by side.
“She just laid there and was miserable… for her last day of life,” remembered Kenny Bircumshaw. “She told my son she loved him. That was the one and only thing that she said the whole entire night, and she passed away in the morning.”
The Bircumshaw family has accused Rocky Mountain Care of being “chronically understaffed,” which led to Tammy being neglected and not taken care of properly.
Attempts by Law&Crime to reach the facility for comment were unsuccessful Sunday. It declined to comment when reached by KTVX.