Woman, 82, dies after 'sister and nephew failed to move her from her chair for six months'

  • Barbara Beam died in the home she shared with her sister and nephew in Greenville, South Carolina in January
  • A coroner ruled that she died from homicide by neglect and prosecutors are now deciding whether to charge her family members
  • Her sister told officers that she had not been moved from her bedroom chair for six months, and Beam had sores over her legs
  • When paramedics removed her from the chair and put her body on the ground, her legs stayed bent in a sitting position, police said 

An 82-year-old woman died after sitting in the same chair in her South Carolina home for six months, authorities have said.

Barbara Anne Beam was being looked after by her elderly sister and nephew when she passed away in her bedroom in Greenville on January 2.

The coroner's office found she died from a blood clot in her lung and ruled that her death was homicide by neglect. Prosecutors are now deciding whether to charge the family members.

Officers were called to the home on January 2 and the smell was so bad that some of the first firefighters on the scene set up a fan by the door.

Scene: Barbara Beam died in her South Carolina home in January after sitting for six months and prosecutors are considering charges against her caretakers. The identity of the woman pictured is not known

Scene: Barbara Beam died in her South Carolina home in January after sitting for six months and prosecutors are considering charges against her caretakers. The identity of the woman pictured is not known

An officer noticed ulcers on the back of the 200-pound woman's legs and that body fluids were staining the sunken seat of her chair, according to the police report.

The sister told the officer that Beam 'stays in the chair located in the bedroom and that she had not moved out of the chair for approximately six months,' according to a police report.

She added that, a few hours before her sister's death, Beam refused to eat and they watched a soap opera together in her bedroom before she went to the kitchen.

When she returned, Beam was slumped in her chair and the sister and nephew could find no pulse.

When paramedics took Beam out of the chair and put her on the floor, her legs were still bent in a sitting position when the officer arrived. She was not wearing pants, according to the report. 

When she died, she also had deep vein thrombosis, which are clots caused by sitting for long periods of time, and a serious infection that started in her kidneys, the coroner's office said.

'The decedent had significant ulcerations and wounds - pressure ulcers, essentially - on her legs from prolonged inactivity and prolonged time spent in a chair,' Dr. James Fulcher, the deputy medical examiner who performed the autopsy said, the Greenville News reported.

Police have turned their file on the case over to prosecutors, who are reviewing it, Greenville Police spokesman Johnathan Bragg said on Friday.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.

Who is this week's top commenter? Find out now