Being a caregiver to your parent is not any easy task even if you have the best relationship. I watched my own mother struggle with life as a “sandwich mom” for my entire childhood because my grandmother lived with us. Even though she was fairly independent, it strained their relationship in a lot of ways. But despite whatever emotional turmoil the two weathered, my mom gave her the best care she could. Not everyone is capable of that selflessness, however, and some people should never have anyone left in their care at all.
Law & Crime’s recent report on Louisiana sisters Alicia Bureau, 42, and Chereia McKinley, 39, seems to prove that. The two Baton Rouge sisters were taken into custody and each charged with one count of cruelty to the elderly or infirm after one of them placed a 911 call about their elderly mom. When paramedics arrived, they reportedly saw obvious injuries that were immediately recognized as signs of neglect. Records show that police noted the victim was “unable to move, feed herself, change herself, or bathe herself.”
Sadly, cases like this are not rare. The National Council on Aging estimates that approximately one in 10 Americans 60 and older have experienced some form of elder abuse, and roughly only 1 in 24 cases is actually reported. The agency went on to reveal that “An analysis of calls to the National Center on Elder Abuse resource line found that family members were the perpetrators in nearly 47% of incidents. Medical (non-family) caregivers were perpetrators in almost 13% of cases, while only 6.7% of callers did not know their abuser.”
WBRZ reported that the woman was transferred to Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center, where staff reported her body was covered in open sores on her neck, under her armpits, between her legs, and on her body. She also was extremely dehydrated.
The horrors didn’t cease there. “Additionally, the victim’s skin was peeling from her body, she was wearing an undergarment that had not been changed in days and was full of excrement,” the police department’s affidavit read.
“Medical personnel feared that if the victim was left alone for an additional day, she would die,” the affidavit added.
The sisters are being held at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison without bond.
