Neglected Woman Barbara Beam, 82, Sat On One Chair For Six Months, Died Sitting On It

ABC News is reporting about the horrendous story of a neglected woman named Barbara Beam, from Greenville, South Carolina, who was left sitting by her caregivers on a chair for six long months. 82-year-old Barbara ended up sitting on the same chair for so long, she ended up dying on it. The shocking incident happened back in January this year and almost four months later, authorities have decided to investigate the case as homicide.

According to Coroner Parks Evans from the Greenville County Coroner’s Office, who conducted the autopsy on Barbara, the elderly woman died in the bedroom of her home located on Mount Vista Avenue on January 2, 2015 whilst sitting on her chair. She was living with two other people believed to be her sister and nephew. On the day Barbara passed away, paramedics were called in to her home and found her slumped on her chair. She had no pajamas on and the chair was full of body fluids accumulated over six months. According to Yahoo! News, the condition of the house where she lived was very bad. In fact, it smelled so bad, the first responders to the scene were forced to set up a fan by the door of the home to expunge the stale air inside.

Following her death, an initial report released by the local police department said that it was apparent that Barbara Beam was sitting on the chair for an extended period of time. This was evident from the condition of Barbara’s body as well as the state of the chair on which she remained for over six months.

That report also added that Barbara Beam’s unnamed sister had been checking on her regularly. In fact, on the day Barbara died, her sister had apparently tried to give her some water but she was not able to swallow it. What she did then was unbelievable. She put in some ice chips in to Barbara’s mouth and later in the noon went to watch a soap opera. When she came back, Barbara was seen slumped over the chair and had no pulse. Barbara’s sister told police officers that Barbara had not moved out of the chair in six months! What’s worse? The bills for home in which they all were living together was paid by Barbara herself!

Following an autopsy, the coroner deduced that Barbara Beam died of a blood clot formed as a result of her sitting still for so long. Barbara also suffered from deep vein thrombosis and kidney ailments. It was a clear case of homicide by neglect, he concluded.

Nearly four months on, the death of Barbara Beam is being investigated by the Greenville police and is currently pending review at the Solicitor’s office. No charges have been filed against Barbara’s relatives, whose identities have not been revealed yet.

The horrendous story of Barbara Beam’s death comes just days after the Inquisitr reported about another such incident from Florida where a woman starved a 96-year-old elderly man to near death – before he was rescued.

[Image Via Natural Pain Relief]