One Florida health aide's apathy allegedly cost an elderly man his life—after finding him on the floor in distress, she walked away and hours later coldly remarked, "He was old anyway, so what does it matter?", according to authorities.
Beatrice Taylor, 25, was a health aide with Assisting Hands Home Health Care when she directed to the home of an 86-year-old man, according to FOX 13.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office said the victim's family had hired around-the-clock care from the facility, which was comprised of two 12-hour shifts during the day and night.
The 86-year-old had recently been hospitalized and subsequently diagnosed with congestive heart failure amid hospice services he had been receiving since August.
During her 12-hour shift, which began at 9 p.m., Taylor was instructed that should an emergency occur within that period, she immediately call 911.
When she arrived for her shift, the day shift aide told her that the victim and his wife were ready for bed but not yet asleep.
Company police forbid employees from sleeping while on shift; however, investigators allege Taylor fell asleep on a couch in the living room shortly after arriving.
She woke up roughly around 1:00 a.m. and heard a thump coming from the victim's bedroom. When she went into the bedroom, she witnessed the victim lying on his right side, on the floor, with his head wedged in between the nightstand and the bed.
Taylor told detectives that she attempted to help him back into bed but that he told her not to touch him, so she left him on the floor as is, failing to call 911 or her employer.
She found him unresponsive hours later and dialed 911 at approximately 5:37 a.m.
An autopsy showed that the patient had an implanted pacemaker, and the manufacturer was later able to retrieve information, providing cardiac data stored on the victim's implanted pacemaker, which confirmed that the victim was still alive at 1:00 a.m. when the victim was initially found by Taylor lying on the floor.
One of the paramedics who arrived after Taylor eventually called 911 overheard her say to someone on the phone, "He was old anyway, so what does it matter?"
She has since been charged with one count of aggravated manslaughter of an elderly person.
