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Caregiver sentenced to 6 years in prison
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
© St. Petersburg Times, LARGO -- Nobody came to court on Monday to tell a judge about Muriel Gatting. No family spoke about her life, her joys or her last, miserable days as bedsores rotted her flesh down to the bone. When the 89-year-old Clearwater woman died in 1999, she had outlived anyone who loved and cared for her. All that was left for a judge to hear were accolades for Susan Eileen Foster, the woman accused of neglecting Gatting to the point of death. "Where's the law to protect people like my sister?" said Foster's brother, Dave Manning. "I beg for leniency. Susan doesn't deserve to be put in jail." But a judge sentenced Foster, 46, to six years in prison after her conviction this month of neglecting an elderly person, disregarding statements by her family that she was a loving, innocent woman with a big heart. Foster's prison sentence is to be followed by six years of probation. "There's really no one to speak for Muriel Gatting's family," said Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge John Schaefer. "I think the facts of this case cried out that Muriel Gatting's death was hastened by (Foster's) lack of care." Foster had faced a maximum of 15 years in prison. Prosecutors originally had charged Foster with aggravated manslaughter of a disabled adult, which is punishable by up to 30 years in prison. But jurors rejected that charge when they returned their verdict, deciding instead to convict her of the lesser charge. Foster moved in and started caring for Gatting in 1996. Foster, a waitress, had befriended Gatting and testified that she felt sorry for the woman because Gatting was lonely and had no family. Prosecutors Garry Potts and Cathy McKyton said Foster soon drained Gatting's bank accounts of up to $20,000. She also was convicted of writing more than 50 bad checks off a joint bank account with Gatting. But worse things were still to come. Prosecutors told jurors that Foster simply began ignoring the frail, bedridden woman. Gatting became dehydrated and malnourished as she was confined to a bed. Prosecutors say Foster failed to change bandages or properly care for serious bedsores on her heels and back. She failed even to pick up a phone and call an ambulance while Gatting literally rotted away in bed, prosecutors say. A concerned neighbor finally called state welfare officials. But it was too late. Gatting died at Morton Plant Hospital on April 8, 1999, just weeks after the state took her from the Clearwater condominium. Foster, wiping tears from her eyes, told the judge, "I loved Muriel Gatting very much and I feel so bad ... I'm just very sorry." Her attorney, Roger Rigau, said Foster never knew the seriousness of Gatting's bedsores, which caused complications that prosecutors say led to her death. Rigau said Foster tried to care for the woman. But Rigau said Gatting wanted to die and fought getting treatment or nourishment. He said Gatting didn't want to be taken to a hospital. "Everyone seemed to agree that this woman was abusing herself by refusing treatment," said Rigau, who insisted Gatting would have died of old age even absent the bedsores. Prosecutors denied that Gatting wanted to die and pointed to her first request when an ambulance took her out of her home and away from Foster. Gatting, her tongue so dry it was cracked, asked for a glass of water.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
