A Pennsylvania judge has brought three charges against a woman who was caring for her dependent 94-year-old father, reprted The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa.
Lehigh County District Court Judge Patricia Warmkessel charged Veronica Rohrer of Allentown, Pa. with attempted homicide, neglect of a care-dependent person and reckless endangerment.
South Whitehall Police found Adolph Marks dehydrated, starving, soiled and alone on Feb. 25. His prescriptions had not been filled and his only nourishment over three days was toast and coffee. He recently was discharged from the Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest to the home of his 65-year-old daughter. The man needed 24-hour care, testimony revealed.
Before coming home to live with Rohrer, Marks was hospitalized for breathing difficulties. Since leaving the hospital, he had lived at Phoebe Nursing Home.
Rohrer had power of attorney for her father and didn’t want her father to have an oxygen mask or urinary catheter while in her home. Her husband agreed, saying he would 'rip it out' if he was discharged with a catheter.
Authorities learned the daughter didn’t fill her father’s prescriptions for pressure sores, urinary and cardiovascular problems because “the lines at the pharmacy were too long.” After caring for just a day, she called her sister in Virginia and said “You have to take care of him and make the funeral arrangements.' That’s when the Virginia sibling called police.
Marks died March 21 in a Williamsburg, Va. nursing home one month after leaving a Pennsylvania nursing home. Rohrer's attorney said she was crippled by “traumatic childhood memories of sexual abuse” at the hands of her father.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Christie Bonesch said Rohrer 'took a duty to care for her father and her lack of action or inaction is the reason she’s facing criminal charges.' Rohrer is out on bail until her next court date.
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