GUILTY Australia - Ann-Marie Smith, 54, died in sus circumstances, Adelaide, 6 Apr 2020 *Carer Guilty*

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they'll get you said:
My mother was in a nursing home for 10 years, high care and totally bed bound, she never had a pressure sore due to diligent carers around the clock moving her position every few hours, an air bed and good hygiene regime. Why wasn’t Ann Marie in a high care nursing home?
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I don’t think Ann Marie needed to be in a nursing home. She was 54 years old, and while her physical health was declining she had all of her faculties so far as we know. She was capable of living a well-rounded life in her own home with her own money and own things, provided she had adequate care. She wasn’t supposed to be bed-bound, she was supposed to be accessing the community (or at the very least, her entire house) in a wheelchair. From the little that’s been published, she was living that life - up until about 1-2 years before she died, coinciding it seems with Ms Maione becoming the sole provider of her care. If Ms Maione was working as a part of a team, Ann would have had someone to complain to and furthermore, things like a missing fridge, missing jewellery, pressure sores would have been quickly picked up by other carers. Although I would point out that the information available in the public domain makes clear Ann could communicate her needs and was speaking on the phone with family/friends but for some reason in that final year she did not say anything about what was happening. I believe this can be explained though by Maione removing the phones and devices from Ann before leaving the house (remembering that Ann can’t get out of the chair on her own) and monitoring Ann’s use of them when she was present.

This stuff about poor smell and taste is all rubbish and insulting to the family. As if any person with a conscience needs to “smell” someone’s flesh rotting to know that they shouldn’t be left in a cane chair for months. It seems really obvious it’s a ploy to delay sentencing until after Christmas.
 
Disability carer Rosa Maione tells court she's sorry for killing client Ann Marie Smith - ABC News

Bail revoked ahead of sentencing. Victim blaming I see never goes out of style.

Mr Ey told the court Maione was a "hard-working woman" who had cared for Ms Smith for up to six years and it was only in the last few months of her care that “the wheels fell off”.

“There is no doubt that the victim was a stubborn and difficult person,” he told the court.

“She acknowledges that she has failed massively in relation to her duty of care.

“The victim was in fear of going into a home — was stubborn, demanding and the defendant… just didn't have the strength of character or personality to overcome what the victim demanded.”
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Yes I’m sure Annie demanded to be left like this:

During sentencing submissions on Thursday, the Supreme Court heard Ms Smith died from a 15-centimetre bedsore on her hip that became infected after it was left untreated.

The court heard she had “wasted away” and her hip bone was visible.

The court also heard the cane chair Ms Smith used as a toilet had started to decompose due to human excrement, and that Ms Smith had not received care for months before her death.
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Manifestly inadequate, imho

Trying to say the victim was 'difficult' because she refused to go into a home was a pathetic defense, she had a human right to live independently and to have support workers who could do the job required (or be honest about not being up for the task). Support work is difficult and massively underpaid, that's part of the problem with getting good workers into the field who will also stay there; the good ones can get work elsewhere leaving only passionate and experienced but very tired and burntout people, or inexperienced people, or baddies who can't get any other work. I say that as someone who works in an underpaid caring field myself, I'm talking from the trenches.
 
I’d almost bet that the directors of Integrity care will set up in the NDIS carer space again. There are options to provide NDIS funded support while not having to register. This is to provide wider choice for people but also can leave people vulnerable.
I’d like to see them criminally prosecuted and also banned from working with vulnerable people. They would have totally known that this carer wasn’t utilising hoists or taking Anne-Maree out.
 
Some further thoughts posted about the sentencing:

Disability Advocates Condemn ‘Inappropriate’ Sentence For Ann Marie Smith Carer – People with Disability Australia

The killing of Ann Marie Smith


I hope this can get to inquest sooner rather than later.

I think the saddest thing for me is that Ann has had no voice. We can only heard what Rosa Maione said happened, who is motivated to give a version minimising her own role in this. It seems like Ann was blamed for “being stubborn and difficult” because she was afraid of going into a nursing home and therefore would not agree to her carer telling her employers she couldn’t meet Ann’s needs anymore. ??? So Ann preferred to suffer a prolonged, extremely painful, and humiliating death? There are easier ways to commit suicide if your carer is such a meek participant. And as thanks to your carer for allowing you to rot to death as you supposedly wish, you agree she can take all of your jewellery, your fridge, and use your car, all while not so much as cleaning your teeth or even taking a washcloth to your faeces-stained body. I’m sorry, I don’t buy it. I can buy that Ann did not want to go to a nursing home and would be willing to “go without” in order for her deteriorating condition to go undetected (and there are systemic failings I’m sure that contributed to a fear of being removed from her own home, such as her very inadequate NDIS plan). I can buy that with limited other supports she had an over reliance on carers to meet her emotional needs and may have given generous gifts and paid off fines they racked up in her car. But I can’t believe ending her life like this was the plan. I’m afraid we’ll never know what really happened.
 
SA Police say two directors of Integrity Care have been charged with criminal neglect causing death and failing to comply with a health and safety duty of care.

The company — Integrity Care — has also been charged with the same offences.

www.abc.net.au

Disability provider and two directors face criminal neglect charges over death of Ann Smith

Police have arrest the directors of a disability services provider over the death of Adelaide woman Ann Marie Smith.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
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