Southwest
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson’s family, attorney say medical negligence led to her death
The family of late Texas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson is now intending to file a medical negligence lawsuit against a Dallas-based healthcare provider and rehabilitation facility claiming that she died after getting an infection while lying in her own feces following back surgery.
Johnson, who was the first registered nurse elected to Congress, passed away at age 89 on December 31 at her Dallas home. Les Weisbrod, her family’s attorney and Johnson’s longtime friend, said at a news conference on Thursday that her death certificate listed the Democrat’s cause of death as osteomyelitis of the lumbar spine.
“If she had gotten proper care at that facility, she would be here today,” Johnson’s son Kirk said when talking about the incident that allegedly unfolded at the Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation.
On September 21, her son found her lying in her own feces and urine at the rehabilitation facility, according to a press release from Weisbrod’s office. Kirk Johnson said at the news conference Thursday that he had gone to the facility after his mother called to tell him she was getting no response from the call button. He said he arrived about 10 minutes later.
LONGTIME TEXAS DEMOCRAT EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON DIES
U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, introduces state Sen. Royce West at a rally where West announced his bid to run for the U.S. Senate, in Dallas, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
“Deplorable,” he said. “She was being unattended to. She was screaming out in pain and for help.”
The press release said that when Kirk Johnson couldn’t find any nurses on the floor, he went to the administration office, and the CEO accompanied him to his mother’s room. When they arrived, staff members were cleaning up the feces.
Weisbrod’s office said that Eddie Bernice Johnson’s orthopedic surgeon wrote in his record that Johnson began having “copious purulent drainage from the low lumbar incision” three days after the alleged incident, the Associated Press reports.
The surgeon reportedly performed a surgical repair on the infected wound before Johnson was moved to a nursing facility on October 18 and then to her home on hospice care in mid-December, the AP added, citing the press release.
The news release also said that laboratory wound culture reports showed organisms directly related to feces, according to the AP.
Weisbrod reportedly has given notice to Baylor Scott & White Health System and Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation that Johnson’s family is preparing to file a medical negligence lawsuit.
FORMER KENTUCKY GOV. JULIAN CARROLL DEAD AT 92
Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in February 2022. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Eddie Bernice Johnson was one of the most prominent Democrats from the Dallas area.
She served in the U.S. House for three decades after becoming the first registered nurse elected to Congress and the first Black chief psychiatric nurse at Dallas’ Veterans Affairs hospital.
Johnson went on to become the first Black woman to chair the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, and she also led the Congressional Black Caucus. She left office in January 2023 after repeatedly delaying her retirement. Before Congress, she served in the Texas legislature.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson participates in an early voting rally for Joe Biden at a polling location for the Texas primary in Dallas on Saturday, February 22, 2020. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
President Biden said Johnson was a “dedicated nurse, state legislator, and longtime U.S. congresswoman with immense courage and a commitment to the promise of America.”
Fox News’ Bradford Betz and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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A man armed with a knife was shot by L.A. police officers responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call overnight, authorities said.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers with the Hollenbeck Division responded to an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Glenn Avenue in Boyle Heights at 1:45 a.m. Saturday after callers reported a male suspect was armed with a knife and had just assaulted someone in the complex.
Arriving officers found the suspect in front of the residence, but he did not comply with officers’ commands to drop the weapon. He then advanced toward the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred, LAPD confirmed.
“The suspect was struck by gunfire and remained non-compliant,” the LAPD Public Information Officer said on X early Saturday morning. “Officers deployed a 40mm foam round and ultimately took the suspect into custody.”
Video obtained by KTLA shows the man being loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital; officials said he was transported in stable condition, adding that his knife was recovered at the scene and booked as evidence.
No officers or community members were injured during the incident. The man’s name was not released.
Dangerous rip currents and high surf are forecast for Los Angeles County beaches, including the Malibu Coast this weekend.
The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous beach statement, warning of the potentially deadly beach conditions. The dangerous conditions are forecast to last from Saturday evening to Monday morning.
“There is an increased risk of ocean drowning,” the NWS forecast reads. “Rip currents can pull swimmers and surfers out to sea. Waves can wash people off beaches and rocks, and capsize small boats nearshore.”
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A guide to surviving rip currents from the National Weather Service (NWS)
Minor Beach erosion and coastal flooding is possible through the weekend. The flooding is most likely to occur during evening high tides from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Beachgoers are advised to stay out of the water and remain near lifeguard towers. Jetties and tidepools are also especially dangerous during the weekend forecast.
“Rock jetties can be deadly in such conditions, stay off the rocks,” the NWS forecast reads.
Similar hazardous beach conditions are also in the forecast for Santa Barbara County. A high surf advisory is also in effect for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties this weekend, where 10 to 15-foot waves will be possible.
If you live or want to live in Los Angeles, the city controller has released a new dashboard highlighting some of the city’s most notorious problem rental properties, a tool designed to help renters avoid future headaches.
“This project comes at a time when tenants are reporting harassment and illegal evictions violating the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance and Tenant Anti‑Harassment Ordinance, but very few of the complaints end up leading to strong enforcement or real accountability,” L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia said in a media release Thursday.
The new Top 100 Problem Rental Properties dashboard includes a searchable database of all residential addresses with reported housing violation cases within the city of Los Angeles, a ranked list of the 100 addresses with the most violations and an interactive map.
“There has never before been an uncomplicated way for anyone to look up years’ worth of violations by address,” Mejia said in the release.
Data for the dashboard was compiled from multiple sources, including the Los Angeles Housing Department, Los Angeles City Planning and the L.A. County Assessor’s Office, according to the controller’s office.
The release also identified the top three addresses with the highest number of reported housing violations:
1. 636 1/2 North Hill Place, Chinatown
192 housing violation cases
2. 11700 West Wilshire Boulevard, Sawtelle
166 housing violation cases
3. 6650 West Forest Lawn Drive, Hollywood Hills
113 housing violation cases
“Our new dashboard is an easy‑to‑understand public tool that we hope will help renters and organizers document patterns of harm, as well as put pressure on both landlords and the City to act,” Mejia said. “Everyone deserves safe, stable and dignified housing.”
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