A Florida home healthcare worker is facing charges after she allegedly neglected an elderly patient causing his death.
Prosecutors said that Beatrice Taylor, 25, was hired to care for an 86-year-old man who suffered from congestive heart failure on the night of August 15.
Taylor allegedly fell asleep at 9 p.m. just as her shift began and only woke up when she heard a “thump” from the patient’s bedroom at 1 a.m.
When she went to check on him, the patient was lying on the ground with his head wedged between the nightstand and the bed.
Taylor told detectives the patient told her not to touch him when she tried helping him to bed.
The man was left there until around 4 a.m. when Taylor found him unresponsive in his same position.
“According to the Medical Examiner, had Taylor called 911 when she first found the victim, as required by her own company’s policy, the victim would not have died,” authorities said.
The suspect was allegedly overheard telling someone on the phone that “He was old anyway, so what does it matter.”
“The complete disregard for Mr. Anderson’s life by the person who was employed by his family is completely outrageous and egregious,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
