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Family of Man Attacked by Fire Ants at V.A. Facility Before His Death Sues U.S.
Joel Marrable, an Air Force veteran, was largely bedridden by cancer and “incapable” of defending himself when ants attacked him at a Veterans Affairs facility, his family said.
Joel Marrable and his daughter Laquna Ross.Credit.Family photo
Feb. 3, 2021
The family of a military veteran who died in 2019 after he was bitten all over his body by fire ants while at a Veterans Affairs facility in Atlanta filed a wrongful-death lawsuit this week against the U.S. government and a pest control company.
Washington: The family of a military veteran who died in 2019 after he was bitten all over his body by fire ants while at a Veterans Affairs facility in Atlanta filed a wrongful-death lawsuit this week against the US government and a pest control company.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in US District Court in Atlanta, claims that Joel Marrable, 73, an Air Force veteran who had advanced lung cancer, died prematurely because he suffered more than 100 fire ant bites in two attacks shortly before his death.
There is “poison” in the fire ant bites, Brewster Rawls, a lawyer representing the three adult children of Marrable who filed the lawsuit, said in an interview Wednesday. “The shock of the bites and the toxins, cumulatively, were just enough to push the poor man over the edge.”
After a Month, Just 900 DHS Employees Have Received COVID Vaccine
Some 53,000 agency employees are eligible for early access.
The Homeland Security Department is facing increasing pressure over its efforts to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, as employees say management is slowing the process and some lawmakers are taking issue with its prioritization plan.
DHS and the Veterans Affairs Department on Jan. 6 began a partnership to get frontline personnel vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, but that has so far yielded just 900 inoculations of Homeland Security employees out of its 230,000-person workforce. VA is accepting DHS employees for vaccinations at 21 facilities around the country, but the workers must be within a certain geographic area to be eligible and indicate they are interested. VA then reaches out to those individuals to schedule an appointment.