CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A patient at CAMC Memorial Hospital says she was lying in a hospital bed Wednesday when a sewage pipe burst above her, covering her in fecal matter.

Irene Foye, 48, said she was admitted to the hospital Tuesday because of trouble breathing and renal failure. She said she was moved into Room 343 late Tuesday and went to sleep quickly.

When the West Side resident awoke, her roommate told her that maintenance men had been in overnight, working on something in the ceiling near her bed.

At about 11 a.m. Wednesday, Foye came out of her hospital room bathroom and told a hospital employee that the bathroom plumbing was stopped up.

Shortly afterward, three maintenance men came in, she said. Two went to the next floor to inspect the problem and the third moved a ladder in front of Foye's bed.

As Foye lay in bed, the maintenance man got on the ladder to inspect the plumbing, and a clear liquid started leaking at the foot of the bed, she said. As the liquid drizzled out, the maintenance man got a trashcan to catch it, leaving Foye in the bed.

The maintenance man got back on the ladder.

"He said, 'Aww, this is a big problem,' " Foye said. "So he was getting ready to get off the ladder and it started coming like a little drizzle, then like a hard rain. . . . That's when all the sh-- started flowing on top of me in the bed.

"I just kept hollering, 'That's sh-- for real!' "

Foye said she was drenched in fecal matter from the broken pipe, and couldn't move.

A visitor to her roommate pulled her out of her bed and onto another bed, Foye said. She accuses nurses of standing by, throwing towels and gowns into the room, but otherwise not helping.

"[The visitor] took off all my clothes for me and wiped off in my mouth and eyes. It was everywhere," she said. "The nurses refused to come in. Thank god there was the visitor there."

Hospital spokesman Dale Witte said he would not comment on how the pipes could have broken over her bed because Foye had gotten a lawyer. Janet "J.T." Thompson, who is assisting Foye's family, said they were seeking legal representation but had yet to get a lawyer.

"I can't say a lot, but it did happen in her room," Witte said.

"We moved her to a another room, and we've made every attempt to address the immediate needs and concerns of the patient, and continue to make [arrangements] for any necessary follow-up care," he said.

"We really regret this happened to her," he said.

Thompson says Foye should never have been in the bed while maintenance men were working on the pipes above her bed.

"They had four opportunities to move the patients out of the room," she said, referring to the number of times the maintenance men came and went while working on the problem. "They knew they had a leak.

After the pipe burst, Foye was cleaned up. Her hair extensions and fake nails had to be removed. The hospital gave her a private room, flowers and offered to pay for her to have her hair and nails re-done.

However, Thompson said Foye was being discharged or transferred on Thursday. Foye said she didn't like being in the room by herself, and that her medications hadn't been given correctly since the incident.

David Sales, Foye's husband, said she didn't want to stay in the hospital anymore.

"She is scared," he said. "She called me all night; she couldn't sleep. She tried to sleep in the chair. She was scared to sleep in the bed."

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.