Ailing Mother Left On Floor For Days In Lower Makefield: Court Records

LOWER MAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP, PA —A township man has been charged with neglect of his care-dependent 76-year-old mother, who authorities said was left on the floor for a week after falling. Other incidents of neglect were also reported.

Derrick Leigh Warren, 46, was arraigned Tuesday before District Judge Corryn Kronnagel on felony charges of neglect of a care-dependent person and abuse of a care-dependent person, plus misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and simple assault. He was sent to prison instead of posting $150,000 bail.

The Bucks County District Attorney's Office said Lower Makefield Township Police responded at least on three occasions for neglect reports to a home in the 1400 block of Overlook Road. The home was shared by the son and his mother.

In a criminal complaint obtained by Patch, authorities said the mother was found unresponsive on the living room floor on Feb. 10. On two other occasions since November, she was found on the living room floor, lying in her bodily waste for up to a week, the affidavit states.

On Nov. 23, the woman called 911 to tell a dispatcher she was on the floor of the foyer of her home for several days, unable to walk or crawl, the court document reveals.

At that time, during a hospital visit, doctors determined that she had fallen, had an irregular heartbeat, and needed a medication readjustment, the criminal complaint states. Authorities state that Derrick Warren did not attempt to move his mother.

After the fall, authorities said she refused to go to rehabilitation but agreed to receive in-home care, which was expected to start the day after her discharge but no home health care agency visited her, the affidavit said. The investigators were told that if a patient doesn’t answer the phone and consent, a nurse cannot visit the home.

According to the court document, the woman visited the hospital a second time on Dec. 7 after being found unresponsive on the floor.

Doctors found blood clots in her lungs and determined that she had suffered a stroke, the affidavit said. Her doctor attributed the primary cause of her clots as the result of her not taking her blood thinner.

Derrick Warren told investigators that when he saw his mother the morning of Dec. 6 her head was down, she was shaking and trying to talk, but he couldn't understand her, the affidavit said.

Before he left for work that day, Warren said he gave his mother something to drink and over-the-counter medications, but not her prescription medication, the complaint states.

When he returned around noon, Warren said his mother’s health appeared to be deteriorating, but he did not call 911 for two hours, court records state.

The mother's status was unknown at this time.