Margaret Rog was 75 years old and the sole caregiver for her 76-year-old husband, a blind man with dementia and Alzheimer’s who could no longer care for himself.
On August 20, at their home in Morgantown, West Virginia, he went to the bathroom and could not get up from the toilet on his own. Rog could not lift him either. She left him there without water, food, or his medications while she went to sleep. According to investigators, she heard him moaning in pain for hours and did not call anyone. Nineteen hours passed before a speech therapist arrived for a routine visit and found him unconscious.
He arrived at the hospital with heart and respiratory failure, a pulmonary embolism, sepsis, rhabdomyolysis, and wounds in the area where he had remained seated. He died on August 31 at Ruby Memorial Hospital. Rog admitted to police and her own family that she knew he needed help. She now faces charges of abusing and neglecting an incapacitated adult and paid 75.000 dollars in bail after pleading not guilty.