A carer has been jailed after she lied about visiting a woman who died alone while suffering from Covid-19. Miya James's absence meant the 71-year-old woman passed away in conditions described as "like something out of a horror movie".
James was scheduled to make twice daily visits to the woman's home on January 24 and 25 last year. However, she only turned up for the first of four planned visits despite telling her employer she attended all of them in a bid to still get paid.
The woman had been suffering with Covid and had recently been discharged from Whiston Hospital in Merseyside, the Echo reports. She also had mobility issues that meant she was not able to come down the stairs at her home in St Helens where she lived alone.
The woman was normally visited by close friends and family members. But, due to self-isolation measures at the time, they were unable to check up on her in person until January 25 when she was found unresponsive and cold in her home by her cousin and pronounced dead after being taken to hospital. The cause of death was given as Covid-19.
James, of Fell Grove, St Helens, pleaded guilty to wilful neglect at Magistrates' Court on September 28 this year. She was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday (October 26).
Prosecuting barrister Stella Hayden told the court the 71-year-old woman had been in Whiston Hospital for eight weeks, after suffering from a number of illnesses - including cardiac failure. She was discharged and returned home on January 7, 2021.
St Helens Council provided care for her before care provider Yes Care took over on January 20. After testing positive for Covid on January 15 family members who had been in close contact with her had to self-isolate until January 25.
Yes Care was to continue providing three visits a day to her house - in the morning, afternoon and evening, to provide duties such as washing, providing fluids and meals. Meals and drinks had to be delivered upstairs due to the woman's lack of mobility.
Yes Care employee James was meant to attend the morning and lunchtime visits on both January 24 and January 25. She did not attend the afternoon visit on January 24.
Another member of Yes Care staff attended the evening visit at around 8.50pm on January 24 and found the woman in a state of undress, with her bedroom drawers pulled out and the contents all over the floor. She also saw human waste on the stairs and raised concerns with Yes Care as a result.
James, who is the mum of a young boy, then did not attend either of her scheduled visits on January 25. However, she falsely logged attendance in the morning on the company's system.
Miss Hayden told the court that James, who had worked as a carer since September 2020, told a colleague she had not attended the morning visit because she overslept. Despite that, she logged her attendance with the company. She was later arrested and charged with wilful neglect.
In a statement read to the court by Miss Hayden, the woman's cousin said the scene she found at the home on January 25 was "like something out of a horror movie". She said the usually tidy kitchen was incredibly messy, while the food she had bought before her isolation remained unused, apart from some milk.
She added the woman's sleep apnoea machine, which was required upstairs in her bedroom, was downstairs, covered in excrement. She said her cousin was a "hard-working, well liked member of the community", but she spent her final week alone in conditions that were "an utter disgrace".
In mitigation, Paul Lewis said James said she had not been able to find the woman's care plan on her work app. James also said she had received very little formal training.
In an interview, James said when she attended the home on January 24, the woman did not allow her upstairs and she was not made aware of her mobility issues. However, Mr Lewis accepted James should have been able to know what she was supposed to do. He said: "She didn't turn up to deal with a vulnerable lady who had been discharged from Whiston Hospital".
James also claimed she quit the job at Yes Care on January 24, but the court heard she had only sent an email saying she was thinking of quitting and would have been required to work a notice period anyway.
Sentencing, Judge David Hale told James: "You were due to visit on January 24 in the morning and the afternoon and provide basic care. It (a care plan) should have been available to you to see exactly what care you should have been giving."
He said there was a discrepancy regarding whether James had been given a care plan or not, but told her she should have given basic care, such as cleaning and providing food and water "to this poor lady who had covid."
The judge added: "But you didn't go. She was visited by someone else in the evening. How she left her is by no means clear.
"The next morning - the day she died - you should have gone again. You didn't go but you made entries to indicate you had been. You didn't quit. You did not go on January 25.
"One of your motivations was to be paid for going on January 25. That makes it a real sin of omission".
He added there was no suggestion that James could have prevented the woman's death. However, he added: "You just made it worse and deprived her the possibility of some comfort in death".
The judge added: "It is a job you volunteered to take" and told James: "You knew you had a responsibility".
Judge Hale said to James: "Neglect of this gravity does require a custodial sentence" and jailed her for eight months. He added: "What's involved in caring is not just getting a wage, it's looking after the people you say you will".
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