Woman, 75, handed suspended sentence for negligence that led to death of housemate

A court has sentenced a 75-year-old British woman to imprisonment for two years, suspended for four, for allowing a 90-year-old man whom she had acted as a live-in carer for to die of untreated pneumonia.

Penelope Davies of St. Paul’s Bay had permitted the health of Ernest Frederick Thompson, a 90-year-old man who lived with and was dependent on her, to deteriorate to a shocking degree as a result of negligence.

The problems were flagged in 2020, by a doctor from the Mosta Health Centre, who was dispatched to a residence in St. Paul’s Bay to certify Thompson as deceased. Although there were no traces of a crime, the doctor had been unable to establish the cause of death and so a magisterial inquiry was appointed.

Davies told Magistrate Nadine Sant Lia that she met Thompson in the UK in 2007. They met in a church, after she had been told of an elderly man wandering the streets after his daughter kicked him out of her house. Davies had taken him in and when she decided to return to Malta, Thompson asked to join her.

The defendant denied being negligent, telling the court that she had done everything she could to help him, washing, dressing, feeding and changing his nappies and his catheter.  She told the court that their relationship was a platonic one and they lived together in a house at St Paul’s Bay which they had bought together.

Davies recalled how she had called an ambulance after finding her housemate dead one morning, when she had gone to his room to check his nappy and catheter. The defendant explained that she had placed Thompson’s mattress directly on the floor because she was afraid that he would roll off the bed.

A forensic specialist appointed by the court, Dr. Mario Scerri, noted that Thompson had suffered gross neglect before he died. “From a simple visual examination of the photos in this report and in that of the Malta Police Forensics one can see open wounds, sores and ulcers which must have been considerably painful and uncomfortable. These wounds are all over the deceased’s body and in the photos it is also possible to see how frail and weak the body was at the time of death. It is also clear to see that the wounds were left untreated and open giving rise to infection and an inability to heal,” noted the court.

The expert said that the wounds he had noted on the body made it one of the worst cases of neglect that he had seen in his 35-year career.

Lacerations indicated that the elderly man, who had suffered from dementia and other chronic health problems, had been left in the same position for a very long time. The cause of death was established as untreated pneumonia.

The victim’s medical file showed that he had a long history of illness and had been showing signs of dementia since 2019, meaning that he was not in a position to care for himself. He had been hospitalised on several occasions and used to attend appointments at the Mosta Health Centre on a regular basis from 2015 until February 2020. After that date there was no record of any visits or examinations by a doctor or nurse, something which Davies herself had also told him at the scene.

An examination of Thompson’s remains, which Scerri had carried out on June 24 2020, revealed “evidence of gross neglect, bed sores and a bad state of hygiene”, he said.

In her judgement, sentencing the woman to imprisonment for two years, suspended for four, the magistrate noted that the inquiry had also established that before his death, Thompson made a will naming Davies as his universal heir.

The court ruled that the evidence showed that there had been some level of care on the part of the defendant as she would regularly take Thompson for appointments at the Mosta Health Centre where a phlebotomist had taken a sample of his blood just a few days before his death.

The magistrate was strident in her criticism of the failure by medical professionals who had seen the man, just days before he died, to intervene in the interests of their patient.

“The court is somewhat perplexed how Thompson’s bad state was not brought to the attention of the medical professionals and equally how these professionals themselves did not observe and treat his wounds and lacerations which are large and evident.” Had the medical professionals treated the man’s wounds his poor health would have been immediately apparent, she said.

In a judgement that was delivered in English, the court said that when a person takes on the role of sole carer, however commendable that decision may be, it also meant that the person was assuming responsibility for the patient’s welfare.

“Whilst one can appreciate that it was hard and complex for the defendant to take care of the defendant alone, this was also her singular choice since she chose to leave his care only to her and not get more hands-on help…The court considers that the defendant was the carer of Thompson and the fact that she was not formally remunerated or employed is not a valid argument.”

Davies was also ordered to pay the sum of €2,102.98 in costs.