November 8, 2011
Newly released court documents reveal how horrible living conditions were for a 75-year-old stroke victim. Emergency responders were called to the home of Carol Brown at the end of October.
A fire captain describes walking into the home and finding “a rotting corpse that was still breathing.” Rescue crews had to pry Brown from her recliner because her legs were fused to the chair. Court documents reveal she was sitting in her own bodily fluids and waste and had maggots inside an ankle wound.
“There were sores on her back the size of a male’s, a man’s fist,” said Brown’s daughter, Laura Sanders.
Sanders told FOX 4 that her brother, James Owens had been caring for their mom for the last two years. Read that story here.
“Knowing that she died and it may have been prevented?” Sanders said. “I’m so far passed crying. I am just real mad! I’m beyond mad!”
Owens has not been charged. Police are waiting autopsy results before sending the case to prosecutors. According to court records, Owens told a state senior services investigator he didn’t help his mother use a bathroom because he was honoring her wishes to die in her home.
Lynne Serrano runs the Catholic Charities In-Home Services Program. She says she gets calls every week from children or grand children who are taking care of an aging family member.
“Caring for that person because of their increased physical demands and emotional difficulties, it becomes overwhelming at times and they do need help,” Serrano said.
She says this case is heart breaking because there are many community resources that can step in and help relieve the burden on the family caregiver.
“It’s the loving kind thing for the family member to try and want to grant the wish to remain in their own home but it can be an overwhelming situation,” she said.
As for Carol Brown, the woman described by emergency responders as a “rotting corpse still breathing”, court records indicate she survived on a diet of chicken noodle and tomato soup.
SOURCE: FOX4KC
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