TRAGIC ENDING Dorothy Mooneyham died following lung cancer surgery.

Dorothy Mooneyham was admitted to Orange Park Medical Center near Jacksonville, Fla., last November for surgery to remove a cancerous growth on her lung. A month later, she was dead, her body allegedly infested with maggots while she was being treated in the hospital's intensive care for a heart attack she suffered following surgery.

Ms. Mooneyham, 76, underwent surgery on Nov. 13, 2015. Twelve days later she suffered cardiac arrest and was transferred to the ICU. Clinical records dated Dec. 1 note that ICU staff orally suctioned several maggots observed crawling out of Ms. Mooneyham's mouth. A report filed 2 days later notes that a doctor saw what appeared to be a wiggling worm 5 to 7 mm long under the skin on Ms. Mooneyham's inner left thigh.

The law firm representing Ms. Mooneyham's children says 2 of the maggots were sent to the entomology department at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where they were identified as blow fly maggots, which have a gestational period of about 24 hours.

Ms. Mooneyham was discharged from Orange Park Medical Center on Dec. 11 and transferred to hospice care, where she died 4 days later. Her children have filed a lawsuit against the hospital seeking $15,000 in damages. They accuse the staff in the intensive care unit of failing to provide appropriate oral care, bathing and other hygienic services that would have prevented the maggot infestation. They also allege the hospital did not do enough to prevent blow flies from entering the patient care area.

"How can something like this happen in a modern American hospital? That's what the family wants to know," says Marc Hardesty, one of the attorney's representing Ms. Mooneyham's children. "This should never happen to someone's mother or grandmother."

Orange Park Medical Center is denying the allegations. In an e-mailed statement, hospital spokesperson Carrie Turansky says, "We are aware of the outrageous and inaccurate allegations that have been made. While we understand the grief of losing a loved one and we offer our condolences to this family, we are proud of the skilled and compassionate care our team provides every day to our patients, and we will vehemently defend this case in court."

Daniel Cook