Oregonian: How Oregon fails disabled adults

Michelle Roberts, November 4, 2007

The 9-1-1 operator asked the question several times: Is she breathing?

David Pape, the woman’s caregiver, didn’t hesitate.

“Yes, she’s breathing,” he said. “And she’s warm.”

But when paramedics arrived at Pape’s foster home seconds later, they found quite a different scene: Natasha Thomas, 25, lay dead in an empty bathtub. Her body, stiff and blue, had begun to decompose.