ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Elder Abuse Pair Prepare for Hearing, Jury Trial in Bakersfield
Kern Valley Sun
In Kern County, 30-year-old Joseph McCoy and his 54-year-old mother Darlene Green took part in a Readiness Hearing at which they faced charges of causing harm or death to an elderly person. The person in question was Margaret Gray, Green’s mother and McCoy’s grandmother, who died on April 1, 2011.
On February 11, 2011 paramedics found Gray in her home suffering from bed sores and grade four ulcers, lying in her own bodily fluids with areas of her skin stuck to her bed sheets. Gray was then taken to the Kern Valley Hospital and treated in the emergency room for what the director, Dr. Manual Sacapano, called “the worst case of elder abuse I have ever seen.” Two months later, Gray died from cardio respiratory arrest, sepsis, and Alzheimer’s disease.
McCoy had been Gray’s primary caregiver since 1999. He and his mother are being held at the Lerdo pre-trial facility.
Deceptively passive in nature, neglect is one of the most harmful forms of elder abuse. To be designated a primary caregiver is to take on moral and legal responsibility for the healthcare and wellbeing of the elderly citizen. This and other tragic cases highlight the urgent necessity for legal recourse against caregiver abuse. With legal action, we can prevent further abuses and promote proper methods to ensure safety and comfort of the elderly. The Evans Law Firm in San Francisco, California represents elder victims of neglect and other physical and financial abuse.
