“‘They’re doing it again to me’: Nursing home secretly confined dad to room with ‘sealed off’ bathroom before he died from fungal infection complications”

A 72-year-old Ohio man died after nursing home staff allegedly failed to treat a highly contagious fungal infection and instead kept him isolated in his room for nearly a year, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family.

Charles Brush contracted Candida auris, a dangerous and drug-resistant fungal infection, while living at Avenue at Broadview Heights Care and Rehabilitation Center in March 2024, the lawsuit states. Rather than providing proper treatment, staff allegedly sealed off his room and bathroom and left him isolated without explanation to him or his family.

“There’s something going on here,” Brush said in a voicemail to his daughter, Jennifer Brush, in February 2025—just one month before his death. “I’m really not happy. Yesterday they kept me in isolation for I don’t know why. Now they’re doing it again. I didn’t eat yesterday. I’m probably not eating today. I don’t know what to do.”

According to the complaint filed in Cuyahoga County, staff failed to meet Brush’s basic needs while he was isolated, including feeding him, assisting him with bathroom use, maintaining hygiene, and monitoring the temperature of his room. The family alleges that these failures caused Brush’s health to rapidly deteriorate.

Brush was admitted to the facility in January 2024. After contracting the infection two months later, staff allegedly stopped cleaning his room and sealed off his bathroom, preventing him from using it independently. On Feb. 15, 2025, Jennifer Brush was informed that her father had fallen while trying to use the restroom because the bathroom had been locked.

Two days earlier, staff had told Jennifer that her father was being isolated due to a staph infection. After the fall, the facility’s director of nursing later admitted it was actually a Candida auris infection documented nearly a year earlier—but the family had never been notified.

Jennifer Brush raised multiple questions about the infection, including whether her father had ever been treated or retested, why isolation began so late, and why he had been allowed to participate in group activities for months if the infection was serious. The complaint alleges the director of nursing hung up instead of answering.

On Feb. 22, 2025, staff informed Jennifer that her father had suffered a seizure and was lethargic, slurring his words, and had a dangerously low heart rate. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with septic shock caused by a prolonged, untreated infection.

Medical records show Brush was suffering from multiple life-threatening conditions, including respiratory failure, kidney failure, low blood sugar, low blood pressure, hypothermia, and metabolic encephalopathy. He was admitted to the intensive care unit.

A hospital social worker later contacted the family, expressing alarm over Brush’s physical condition upon arrival. The social worker noted that he appeared dirty, was septic, had dangerously low blood sugar, and advised the family not to return him to the nursing home.

When the family retrieved Brush’s belongings from the facility, they allegedly found his room and bathroom in filthy condition. Feces were found on his wheelchair, chair, and bed, urine soaked the bedding, and stale food was discovered in drawers.

Charles Brush died on March 26, 2025. His death was determined to be consistent with complications from severe sepsis and multiple organ failure linked to his time at the facility.

“This represents a complete breakdown in care and oversight with devastating consequences,” said the family’s attorney, Michael Hill. “Allowing a serious infection to go untreated for nearly a year is unconscionable.”

The lawsuit alleges negligence, abuse, and wrongful death against Avenue at Broadview Heights Care and Rehabilitation Center.

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