A nurse was charged last year for stealing an elderly woman’s pain medication and giving the woman non-prescribed antipsychotics prior to her death.
But a recent autopsy shows the woman actually died of neglect by her daughter and grandson.
Christopher Preedom and his mother Marie Fitzgerald pleaded not guilty to second degree murder charges on Monday following the death of Mary Fitzgerald, who died in February 2019 at age 85.
Police said Mary Fitzgerald was transported to Rutland Regional Medical Center in August 2018 following an injury. When she arrived, she was covered in feces, emaciated and had “sores down to her bones,” according to an affidavit.
Mary Fitzgerald also had advanced ulcers on her back, hip and leg, police said, and pieces of bedding were imbedded in her skin, causing an infection.
An emergency services worker who brought Mary Fitzgerald to the hospital told police the smell of urine and fecal matter coming from her bedroom was “nauseating” and her bed linens were “saturated in urine.”
Police later found Fitzgerald’s mattress and box spring at home had holes in them and were covered in dried feces, urine and other bodily fluids.
“These fluids had leaked through the hole all the way down to the floor of the bedroom,” a police affidavit said.
Preedom and Marie Fitzgerald were originally charged with one count of abuse/neglect to a vulnerable adult each in September 2018 but a second-degree murder charge was added last Monday after an amended final autopsy found Mary Fitzgerald died of homicide due to neglect of care.
Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Emily Bundock said Fitzgerald would have likely recovered from the non-prescribed medications had it not been for the life-threatening ulcers.
“Medication did not start the lethal sequence of events leading to Mary Fitzgerald’s death,” according to an affidavit from State Police Detective Trooper Seth Richardson. “The lethal sequence of events … began with complications of pressure ulcers and malnutrition in the setting of dementia and neglect of care.”
A phone message left for Marie Fitzgerald wasn’t returned.
Police met with Preedom at Mary Fitzgerald’s home the day she was taken to the hospital. Preedom, 41, told police he lived with his grandmother at the residence on Cedar Avenue in Rutland. He said he provided companionship, took his grandmother places, fed her and bathed her while his mother, Marie Fitzgerald, 62, changed her diapers every two days and sponge bathed her.
Preedom said his grandmother had been bedridden for about four weeks before she was taken to the hospital. He believed his grandmother had fallen in July 2018 and had called his mother, Marie Fitzgerald, who has power of attorney. They both helped her into bed, where she stayed until she was taken to the hospital after Preedom noticed she was coughing up mucus and swallowing it.
The day she went to the hospital, police found Preedom at the home with a jug of bleach and cleaning supplies in the back seat of his car. He told police it was “cleaning day.” He also had a new mattress and told police he had been trying to change his grandmother’s mattress and now she was at the hospital, he could do that.
Preedom told police his grandmother dug her sores and she had a rash from peeing herself. He said his mother, who was employed with the At Home Senior Center in Rutland, had tried to cut Mary Fiztgerald’s nails but wasn’t successful. He also said his grandmother refused to see doctors.
A phone message left to Melissa Morrison, the president of At Home Senior Care Center, wasn’t returned.
Similar to her son, Marie Fitzgerald told police she changed her mother’s diapers every two days. She said she verbally told her son how to change the diapers, but wished she had shown him. She said she attempted to treat Mary Fitzgerald’s sores with cream, but the sores got to be “too much for her to handle,” according to the police report.
Police said Mary Fitzgerald had an investment account with $600,000. When asked about the account, Marie Fitzgerald told police she had trouble taking money out of the account to pay for her mother’s treatment when she or her son weren’t available.
The amended autopsy to Fitzgerald’s death was ordered in January to review the administration of the non-prescribed medications — Seroquel and Haldol, both used for mood disorders.
Bundock, the medical examiner, told police the autopsy showed the combination of non-prescribed medication was not a contributing factor in Mary Fitzgerald’s death, but it caused her “unnecessary harm” and pain.
The medication mix-up was allegedly caused by Dermot Hanna, 59, a longtime nurse at Mountain View Center.
Dermot pleaded not guilty to obtaining a regular drug by deceit and abuse of a vulnerable adult charges in October 2019 even though he earlier admitted to police he stole the pain medications prescribed to Mary Fitzgerald and took them himself.
Hanna told police last August that he had been taking Mary Fitzgerald’s pain medication, which included Dilaudid and Roxanol, 18 months prior to her death. Hanna told police he then took Seroquel from other patients and gave it to Mary Fitzgerald.
“Mr. Hanna said since he was taking her medication, he was trying to give her something to make her feel comfortable,” a police report said.
Hanna, who worked at Mountain View for 15 years, was primarily responsible for daytime care of Mary Fitzgerald. Hanna was suspended in August 2019 after a review of his narcotic logs showed Hanna had recorded 28 incidents of patients wasting, dropping, spitting out medication without a witness.
Lori Mayer, a spokesperson for Mountain View Center said Hanna is no longer employed there.
“We are continuously updating our processes and procedures, and make modifications as needed,” Mayer said in a statement.
If found guilty of second-degree murder, Fitzgerald and Preedom could serve a minimum of 20 years to life in prison. If found guilty of abuse to a vulnerable adult, they could serve up to 15 years in prison or be fined up to $10,000 or both.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Daughter and grandson charged with second-degree murder in death of 85-year-old.