State Sen. Dennis Baxley of Lady Lake is apologizing for remarks he made about 14 Floridians who died at a nursing home in the wake of Hurricane Irma.
The 14 deaths occurred at The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills and have been attributed to the sweltering heat. The facility did not have backup generators.
This week in a post-Irma debrief, Baxley said the residents were elderly and implied their deaths were inevitable.
“Look at the population. You‘re dealing with 90-somethings. Some of these deaths would naturally occur, storm or no storm. Eventually everyone who was in that nursing home will die. But we don‘t need to attribute those all to the storm and bad policy,” he said.
On Thursday, Baxley issued an apology.
“I apologize if my comments yesterday did not properly convey the deep respect I have for elder members of our communities and the concern I share regarding the preventable tragedy that occurred in Hollywood. As a funeral director and ordained elder of my church, I have spent my entire adult life working with families who are grieving the loss of a loved one,” he said.
