Parents charged in death of paralyzed teen with bedsores

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Parents charged in death of paralyzed teen with bedsores
By RICK CALLAHAN, Associated Press | February 19, 2015 | Updated: February 19, 2015 3:59pm

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Prosecutors charged an Indianapolis couple with neglect in the death of their paralyzed 18-year-old daughter, whose body was found on the floor of the family's filthy home wearing only a diaper and covered in bedsores.

John Kelley, 51, and his wife, Lavonne Kelley, 40, were arrested Wednesday on one count each of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury.

The charges allege the couple failed to obtain proper medical treatment for their daughter, Linda Kelley, who developed bedsores that contributed to or caused her death on Aug. 4, 2014.

A probable cause affidavit states that Linda Kelley, who suffered from spina bifida and hydrocephalus — a buildup of fluid in the brain cavity — was found dead by Indianapolis police officers last August on the kitchen floor of her family's filthy, roach-infested home, clad only in a diaper.

A coroner found open bedsores on her feet, ankles, legs and other parts of her lower body, and ruled that she died from acute and chronic bedsores, with poor hygiene a contributing factor.

Lavonne Kelley told police that in the days before she died, her daughter did not want to get out of bed, refused to go to the hospital and "would not allow the family to turn her anymore" to prevent bedsores.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Parents-charged-in-death-of-paralyzed-teen-with-6089431.php

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[center]

John Kelley (left) and Lavonne Kelley.[/center]

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Bedsores don't develop overnight. They take a little time to happen.

The fact that her parents were charged is entirely appropriate.

[Warpy]

5. They can occur in old folks within hours

which is why so much nursing home care is dedicated to repositioning them every 2 hours around the clock.

This stuff happens when families try to take care of their own without knowing how to do so and trying to do it without proper resources and equipment.

I'd have to ask a lot more questions before I charged these people. For one thing, they don't strike me as being very sharp. Likely they wanted to keep their daughter with them instead of putting her into a nursing home on Medicaid.

[jwirr]

14. Agreed. Questions like did this girl have a social worker? If so why not? Where was homehealth

care services?

It is much cheaper to keep disabled persons with their families and counties tend to favor that arrangement. But that would mean there was a social worker who was supposed to be monitoring this situation. This was the job I did for years so something is very wrong here.

The parents were not taking care of her but if they did not have help that is the counties fault. She is disabled which should mean that she was eligible for either SSDI or SSI. When you get these programs there is usually a health care program that they qualify for and they would have a system to monitor her care. Where were these things?

[duhneece]

21. Did the state cut and then cut some more

...the services that should have been there to help or did they find those services to be 'soft' so they could easily cut them, like they are doing in so many states?
I'm 100% NOT excusing her parents, just trying to get a more complete picture.

[jwirr]

22. That is also a good question. Since I took care of my own severely disabled daughter in the home

for 45 years I am not ready to condemn the parents especially since they look like they are not exactly highly intelligent either.

We need more answers.

[dembotoz]

25. we ususally reserve the phrase thank you for your service to armed forces veterans

but 45 years--i would put that up against any service record.

thank you for all you did.

i have a couple of friends in similar boats-i can not imagine....

[jwirr]

28. Thank you. When you do it out of love it is not as hard as you would think. There are things I

would tell young couples to do that I did not. First go to the social services people and see what kinds of help you can get. I did not have help until she was about 20 years old. Second try to work outside the home enough so that you are eligible for Social Security when you are older. I did but it was not enough and now I get a minimum monthly payment.

My daughter is in an adult foster home now because I can no longer lift and turn her. I was fortunate enough to be able to teach her care providers myself and so I trust them totally.

[Warpy]

29. Yes, it looks like they all fell through some very large cracks

in a rotten system that serves disabled people and their families poorly, if at all.

This is tragic. I sincerely doubt it's criminal, at least on the part of the parents.

[Mojorabbit]

18. Same here

The care for this condition would be difficult and around the clock day in and day out. Perhaps there is more to this story. It is a sad situation all around.

[RobinA]

23. Agree

Why in the world were these people, who probably knew next to nothing medical, taking care of this poor girl with advanced medical needs? Most people, including non-medical social workers, know absolutely nothing about bedsores, including that there is such a thing. Hospitals have trouble treating bedsores.

And then to arrest them for being poor and uneducated. In fact, for being poor and not having an advanced education. Ugh.

[joeybee12]

12. Anda rat-infested home...

Tells you that they weren't concerned at all with her living conditions.

[spinbaby]

19. Or they were poor

Which they probably were considering the resources that had to go to the child.

[LanternWaste]

30. I don't think being poor results in poor hygiene.

I don't think being poor results in poor hygiene.

[spinbaby]

32. But can result in rats

I have perfectly good hygiene but lived in a rat-infested apartment building in college.

[snooper2]

31. I grew up pretty damn poor but we didn't live in filth

that is OPTIONAL -

At times we even did our laundry in the creek...real old school-

Of course my mom did have a egg incubator for chickens in the kitchen when it was freezing outside but they don't make a mess till they hatch

[Dont call me Shirley]

2. Linda...

[peace13]

3. This is such a sad story.

How do things get so out of control and why don't we have services to help the children and their families. Why did she not have a social worker to be her voice. Care giving under the best of circumstances is tough. It can suck the life out of a person. We don't know if she refused to cooperate, it could happen, but we do know that she was living in an unsafe home. This sounds like a sickening scene!

[Warpy]

6. No shit.

Twice a week services for four hours at a time would have helped this family tremendously.

Taking care of human beings in this country is not even a priority these days. They'd rather ignore us to death, like they did this poor girl, exposing her parents to legal action.

[polly7]

4. Horrible. That poor, poor girl. nt.

[shenmue]

7. ...

[Dreamer Tatum]

8. Death. Penalty. nt

[yeoman6987]

27. Absolutely not

At least until we get a ton more info. I cared for my Mom for 6 weeks and it practically killed me and I am not kidding. Every two hours rolling her over when she did not want to at all. Yelling and screaming about how awful I am. Not fun at all. Was I perfect at it? No way! Was glad to get help. Perhaps these folks didn't get the help needed.

[dbackjon]

9. I'm not ready to judge them until the full facts are known

Taking care of a person in that condition has to be mentally and physically exhausting.

It is a shame that we as a country don't devote the resources to helping and looking after people in this situation.

[Hoppy]

10. Protective services had visited the home a week before she died.

Case workers were fired. To me, that is enough of a defense.

[840high]

13. Yep

[RobinA]

24. Nope

not unless the case workers were medically trained. They try to save money by sending in case workers who don't have medical education because medically trained people are more expensive. In fact, caseworkers without extra training know squat about medical issues.

I have observed a situation in which a Children & Youth caseworker was expected to oversee a situation where the kid was on a ventilator at home. With parents who could barely grocery shop responsibly. Had I been the caseworker I would have refused, but the actual caseworker gave it her best shot. Nothing bad happened while I was aware of the situatiojn, but had it, and it easily could have because the mother didn't have a clue, the caseworker would have been blamed. In fact, she was operating WAY out of her expertise in order to save somebody money.

[Blue Owl]

11. Heartbreaking...

[csziggy]

15. Apparently they were supposed to be getting aid in the home

"Kelley's death also prompted the state agency to terminate Damar Services Inc.'s contract with DCS under which it provided home-based services to children in the state's child-welfare system, he said." From the article linked in the OP.

Since the article also says, "But the Kelleys repeatedly refused to allow anyone to enter their home, including home health nurses who were referred to them by the state to aid in the care of their daughter, according to the affidavit." I wonder if Damar Services was not reporting back to DCS that their workers were refused admittance - and if Damar was still collecting money from the state for those services?

[peace13]

16. Things get complicated in a hurry.

A series of folks not doing their jobs or wanting paid for doing nothing and a child ends up dead. The last folks standing are the parents and they will pay the price. As a person who has been a care giver and had the luxury of funds, education and time to focus totally on the person in need, I can't help but feel for these parents. I can see how things could get out of control. I am not excusing the mess, just understanding that constant stress really does a number on people even when they are watching for it. May their daughter rest in peace.

[csziggy]

17. True - I can't imagine being in that situation

And would not want to have to judge the parents. They kept their daughter at home when many would have shipped her off to an institution, but it doesn't seem as though they were capable of caring for her. Aid for the girl should have included counseling for the parents.

I am glad that the agencies involved are taking some action against those who should have been providing assistance and failed miserably.

[Sunlei]

20. this is the Doctors/social workers/state healthcare industries fault. They allowed the neglect.

[dembotoz]

26. we are very quick to blame very slow to help