Though she was 89 years old, trailblazing politician Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) should not have died on Dec. 31. Her family says inadequate medical care following September back surgery is to blame for leaving a recently retired U.S. Congresswoman — the first nurse ever elected to Congress — “lying in her own feces and urine.”
“It’s ironic for a registered nurse who is a member of the Academy of Nurses to be treated that way,” her son, Kirk Johnson, tearfully recounted at a news conference.
Johnson’s family plans to sue Baylor Scott & White Health, claiming negligent post-surgery care at the hospital’s rehabilitation center led to the death of the woman known as EBJ, who represented the Dallas area in Congress for 30 years.
The official portrait of former Texas U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, from the 112th Congress.
The congresswoman was in “deplorable” condition, Kirk Johnson recalled from his Sept. 21 visit, spurred by EBJ getting no response when she pushed the call button for a nurse. It took him 10 minutes to reach her side, by which time “she was being unattended to; she was screaming out in pain and for help,” he said.
Kirk Johnson said he also called in vain for nurses and finally tracked down the hospital’s CEO, who allegedly told him, “This shouldn’t have happened.”
They walked together to EBJ’s room and found nurses hastily cleaning up the fecal mess, Johnson said.
Johnson said bacteria from her waste caused the congresswoman’s surgical incision to become infected a few days later. They say lab reports on the hospital wound came back showing organisms directly related to feces.
“The laboratory reports leave no doubt that the infection that killed former Congresswoman Johnson was caused by the failure of the staff at Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation to properly care for Mrs. Johnson and allowing her to have laid in her own feces,” said attorney Les Weisbrod, named partner of Miller Weisbrod Olesky LLP, who sent a mandatory pre-suit notice letter Thursday to Baylor Scott & White Health System and Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation on behalf of the family.
The infected incision required more surgery, but EBJ got worse. She was moved to a skilled nursing facility in October and then to her home in hospice care in December.
Her death certificate listed EBJ’s cause of death as “osteomyelitis of the lumbar spine” — basically, a bone infection that doctors know can be life-threatening.
The hospital declined to comment on the family’s claims but praised EBJ as “a longtime friend and champion in the communities we serve.”
Eddie Bernice Johnson was born Dec. 3, 1934, in Waco, Texas. She wanted to be a doctor from an early age, but her high school guidance counselor told her that wouldn’t be possible for women. She persisted in pursuing medicine as a career, went to Indiana, and graduated from St. Mary’s College of Notre Dame with a nursing certificate. She transferred closer to home and earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Texas Christian University.
She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. As she became more politically active, she actively campaigned in support of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and was elected a Texas state senator in 1986. She served one term and part of a second before throwing her hat in the ring to become a U.S. Representative from Texas’s newly created 30th congressional district.
She won easily and had in every election, holding the seat until she retired on Jan. 3, 2023.
A year later, she is dead, and her family says she should not be.
“If she had gotten proper care at that facility,” Kirk Johnson insisted through tears, “she would be here today.”
