Husband Left Wife on Floor for 10 Weeks Before She Died, Police Say

Dark Knight · #1 02-13-2009, 04:02 PM

MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. — Sheriff's officers have arrested an 82-year-old man after his wife died on the floor of their home, apparently about 10 weeks after she fell out of bed and was unable to get up.

John Klein was arrested for investigation of second-degree manslaughter after he called 911 on Monday to report that his 73-year-old wife Pia had no pulse.

Klein told Spokane County sheriff's Detective Jim Dresback that his wife of 52 years fell out of bed around last Thanksgiving, Dresback said in court papers filed Tuesday.

According to that account, Klein had been working outside, came in and found his wife lying next to the bed in the doorway of the master bathroom. He said she cried out in pain and told him to leave her alone when he tried to help her up.

After that, Klein said he left her lying on her left side on the floor for the next 10 weeks, bringing her food and water, giving her medications and cleaning her but did not summon any medical aid. The woman had no significant medical problems, Klein told detectives. It was not clear what medications he gave her.

The woman apparently had been lying naked on the stained, carpeted floor and had several large ulcers on her left hip and left leg, "consistent with her having been lying on her left side for an extended period of time," the affidavit said. A soiled pillow lay in the bathroom doorway.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,490857,00.html

southcitymom · #2 02-13-2009, 04:22 PM

I read this the other day and don't know what to think.

STEADFAST · #3 02-13-2009, 04:26 PM

Sounds like he just decided to let her die on the floor because she said she didn't want his help -- like, "Fine. Lie there 'til you die." Guess he's finding out it's not legal to take spite to that extreme.

southcitymom · #4 02-13-2009, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STEADFAST

Sounds like he just decided to let her die on the floor because she said she didn't want his help -- like, "Fine. Lie there 'til you die." Guess he's finding out it's not legal to take spite to that extreme.

I have to wonder that she never asked him to call anyone, but some folks are strange. I wonder what the daughter has to say about all this.

pb6656 · #5 02-13-2009, 05:13 PM

Do you think there was something wrong with the husband's mind?

STEADFAST · #6 02-13-2009, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb6656

Do you think there was something wrong with the husband's mind?

I thought he must be confused until I came to his quote, "I don't consider it to be my fault. She did not want help." (DK's link)

That just doesn't sound like confusion to me. It sounds like spite, or, at best, apathy.

Razzle · #7 02-13-2009, 05:55 PM

So many possibilities here.

The husband could have been sadistic/abusive. This could have been his final act of abuse toward his wife.

He could have had dementia and been confused as to what his wife was requesting. They BOTH may have had dementia, which would really explain his side of the story, IMO

No matter what really happened, this is a very sad story.

txsvicki · #8 02-13-2009, 06:04 PM

He must have given her water or she would have died within a week. I wonder if he was giving her food or if she starved. I don't believe his story even if he does have any dementia, which I doubt. If she had pressure sores she wasn't even able to move. Who would want to lay there naked and in pain.

Razzle · #9 02-13-2009, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by txsvicki

<respectfully snipped> Who would want to lay there naked and in pain.

A Person with extreme Dementia.
My Mom has worked with elderly people for 35+ years and I have heard all kinds of stories about folks with extreme dementia. They can get very confused and disoriented.

But I do think there is a good chance the husband is a UAV that needs to be locked up for the rest of his days.

Either way this is a really sad story

oceanblueeyes · #10 02-13-2009, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb6656

Do you think there was something wrong with the husband's mind?

I wondered if he suffers from dementia.

imoo

tapu · #11 02-13-2009, 06:56 PM

I was thinking that they may have had a dominant-submissive type relationship. Of course, this would be quite the extreme. But I have seen couples where the female dominates the male, tells him everything to do, and he acquiesces to her every wish. Obviously, it happens where the male is dominant, but it can be turned around....

MeoW333 · #12 02-13-2009, 07:01 PM

This is such a sad story ...

MeoW333 · #13 02-13-2009, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razzle

A Person with extreme Dementia.
My Mom has worked with elderly people for 35+ years and I have heard all kinds of stories about folks with extreme dementia. They can get very confused and disoriented.

But I do think there is a good chance the husband is a UAV that needs to be locked up for the rest of his days.

Either way this is a really sad story

What is a UAV?

Razzle · #14 02-13-2009, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeoW333

What is a UAV?

oops! Acronym from another board I frequent...
UAV=User Agreement Violation
in other words, what I would like to call him would be in violation of the user agreement.

southcitymom · #15 02-13-2009, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by txsvicki

He must have given her water or she would have died within a week. I wonder if he was giving her food or if she starved. I don't believe his story even if he does have any dementia, which I doubt. If she had pressure sores she wasn't even able to move. Who would want to lay there naked and in pain.

That's a good point - he must have been at least that active in her care.

I too wonder if the husband suffers from some dementia, confusion. Without actually being present when he made his statements, I can't assume they were made in a dismissive, spiteful way. The whole thing just sounds weird.

STEADFAST · #16 02-13-2009, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by txsvicki

He must have given her water or she would have died within a week. I wonder if he was giving her food or if she starved. I don't believe his story even if he does have any dementia, which I doubt. If she had pressure sores she wasn't even able to move. Who would want to lay there naked and in pain.

This is from the quote on DK's original post:

Quote:

After that, Klein said he left her lying on her left side on the floor for the next 10 weeks, bringing her food and water, giving her medications and cleaning her but did not summon any medical aid. The woman had no significant medical problems, Klein told detectives. It was not clear what medications he gave her.

southcitymom · #17 02-14-2009, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STEADFAST

This is from the quote on DK's original post:

Yep - so he was caring for her. Maybe she really didn't want to be moved.

wildTrose · #18 02-14-2009, 12:46 PM

maybe he didnt understand what could happen in leaving her on the floor....the bedsores....this reminds me of the man who left his gf on the toilet.....
he was caring for her, food, water, cleaning her up etc....

southcitymom · #19 02-14-2009, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildTrose

maybe he didnt understand what could happen in leaving her on the floor....the bedsores....this reminds me of the man who left his gf on the toilet.....
he was caring for her, food, water, cleaning her up etc....

I thought of that too.

STEADFAST · #20 02-14-2009, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by southcitymom

Yep - so he was caring for her. Maybe she really didn't want to be moved.

It could be. It's hard to know when it's right to follow someone's wishes and when it's right to insist. Guess since I'm someone who expects her wishes to be followed, I can hardly condemn him for respecting his wife's -- (if that's what he was doing.)

southcitymom · #21 02-14-2009, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STEADFAST

It could be. It's hard to know when it's right to follow someone's wishes and when it's right to insist. Guess since I'm someone who expects her wishes to be followed, I can hardly condemn him for respecting his wife's -- (if that's what he was doing.)

I agree completely. If I told my husband to leave me on the floor, he'd better honor that. In this case - there's just not enough info to know what happened, but I'm not willing to assume he was trying to let her die a slow death on the floor.

AlwaysShocked · #22 02-14-2009, 04:24 PM

My own dear departed father was totally cowed by my mother and her demanding ways and orders to "do this" and "don't do that". The older he got the quieter he got, until it got to the point where he would just sit there in his chair staring at the TV, ignoring her.

He was in his mid 80's when he died suddenly of a heart attack one day. Mom, rather than mourning the loss of her spouse of 60 some years, became very angry. Angry that he had "left her here all by herself' and "now she had no one to take her to the store". (She hadn't driven for some 5 years prior to his death)

There was a time about two years prior to his death that Mom fell and broke her arm in three places, as it turns out. She refused to allow him to call an ambulance, insisted that he "drive her to the doctor's office", which he did. They of course, promptly got her to the E.R.

But I know that if Mom said "No ambulance" he would not have dared to call one. He was just too old and too tired to fight her - not that he ever did much anyways.

So what goes on in the dynamics of these oldsters when the dementia sets in can result in situations like this one, I am sure.

By the way, just for the record, there are other forms of dementia than Alzheimers. There is senile dementia and there is vascular dementia, to name just two others.

txsvicki · #23 02-14-2009, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razzle

A Person with extreme Dementia.
My Mom has worked with elderly people for 35+ years and I have heard all kinds of stories about folks with extreme dementia. They can get very confused and disoriented.

But I do think there is a good chance the husband is a UAV that needs to be locked up for the rest of his days.

Either way this is a really sad story

The husband claimed that she had nothing wrong with her before this happened and she was only 73, ten years younger than her husband. I'd think a person with dementia would still be trying to pull themselves around or at least move and be demanding something unless catatonic. I wonder if her hip broke or if she was sedating the woman. He told the daughter when she would make her weekly calls that the wife was ill and couldn't talk. He also claims to have thought the wife would get better and get up on her own. He told her to excercise while she lay there. He must have been in pretty good mental shape or the daughter would have became suspicious in those ten weeks.