A home health aide in Florida is accused of leaving an 86-year-old man who had fallen out of bed on the floor. Instead of helping the man back up, she went to sleep, according to authorities.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, 25-year-old Beatrice Taylor worked for Assisting Hands Home Health Care.
The man’s family hired around-the-clock care from Assisting Hands, which consisted of two 12-hour shifts during the day and night.
The victim had recently been hospitalized and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He was also receiving services from Good Shepherd Hospice beginning on August 14, 2024.
The next day, Taylor arrived for her overnight shift around 9 p.m., deputies said.
The dayshift aide allegedly told Taylor the man and his wife were in bed but not asleep. After the day shift aide left, Taylor immediately fell asleep on the couch in the living room
Deputies said Taylor woke up around 1:00 a.m. when she heard a thump coming from the man’s bedroom.
She went into the bedroom and saw him lying on the floor, with his head wedged in between the nightstand and the bed.
She told detectives that she attempted to help him back into the bed but he told her not to touch him, so she left him on the floor and did not call anyone, including 911 or her employer, which is against company policy.
She then fell back asleep and did not wake up until sometime between 3:45 and 4:53 a.m., deputies said.
Authorities said she did not initially check on the man but talked with her parents on the phone for nearly 40 minutes.
While on the phone she finally went to check on the man, who was still on the floor but now unconscious.
One of the paramedics who arrived after Taylor eventually called 911 allegedly overheard her say to someone on the phone, “He was old anyway so what does it matter.”
During an autopsy, it was discovered the patient had an implanted pacemaker.
Investigators were able to conduct a download and provide cardiac data stored on the victim’s implanted pacemaker which confirmed that the victim was still alive at 1:00 a.m. when he initially fell.
The Medical Examiner ruled the victim’s cause of death positional asphyxia with a contributory cause of pre-existing health issues.
Detectives placed Taylor under arrest, at which time she made several statements that she had done nothing wrong and she “didn’t kill that man.”
Taylor was charged with one count aggravated manslaughter of an elderly person.
She remains in jail without bond.
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Source: mysuncoast
