Background: Ascension Seton Hospital in Luling, Texas where staff reported the condition of a 55-lb adult patient (Google Maps). Inset: Felisa Ann Sepulveda (Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office).
A Texas woman was charged with injury of a disabled person after hospital staff notified police of the condition of her 32-year-old daughter, who reportedly weighed just 55 lbs.
Felisa Ann Sepulveda, 48, was taken into custody on Feb. 28 after she brought her unnamed adult daughter to Ascension Seton Hospital in Luling, Texas, reportedly saying that her daughter was suffering from a cough for the past week. According to an affidavit obtained by KENS, a local CBS affiliate, the patient presented with much more serious symptoms, including pneumonia, malnutrition, and dehydration, and had the appearance of a “concentration camp survivor.”
According to the affidavit, the hospital staff reported that the younger woman showed signs of “severe caloric deficit” for an extended period of time, and was observed to be “caked” in human waste all over her body. Her clothing “had dirt and dried animal and human feces, urine and blood on them.” The patient was also reported to have several bed sores from lying immobile and rotting gums.
Sepulveda reportedly told hospital staff that her daughter was able to walk and feed herself but the affidavit stated that the younger woman was so emaciated that doctors refuted her claim. In her interview with police, Sepulveda allegedly admitted that she cleaned her daughter with wipes and that she had not been bathed or showered for over five years. The last time she was brought to a doctor was in 2018.
The affidavit stated that there was “no medical reason for (the woman’s) emaciation and malnutrition.”
Local news outlet The Seguin Gazette also reported that the home where Sepulveda lived with her two adult children had 29 dogs on the property. Those dogs were removed from the home and taken in by local shelters and foster homes. Sepulveda, who was reportedly unemployed, was the sole caregiver of both her daughter and a disabled adult son.
Sepulveda was arrested and charged with felony injury to a disabled person. She is currently in custody at the Guadalupe County Jail on $300,000 bond.
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