Trial begins in neglect case


By AMANDA STEWART
astewart@manassasjm.com
Tuesday, January 8, 2008


In August 2003, Charles Furry couldn't walk.

He could barely move.

He couldn't get to the bathroom by himself.

He couldn't speak.

He needed help to perform the most basic tasks.

And Joann Williams, a nurse's aide assigned to help him, didn't, prosecutors said in Prince William Circuit Court Monday

On the first day of her three-day non-jury trial, Williams, 47, pleaded not guilty to abuse and neglect of an incapacitated adult, obtaining money by false pretenses and five counts of making false statements.

Defense attorney John Carroll argued that Furry's condition was deteriorating long before Williams was assigned to his case.

For about two months in the summer of 2003, Williams, working with the Woodbridge-based Sierra Home Health Care, was assigned to provide personal care to Furry, a 55-year-old man diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gerhig's disease, among other illnesses.

Her job was to visit his apartment, bathe and feed him, perform light housekeeping and identify any other medical needs he might have, Assistant Attorney General Steven W. Grist said.

Prosecutors said Williams provided "grotesquely inadequate care."

On Aug. 21, 2003, Williams's nursing supervisor, Isatu Wurie, visited Furry's apartment and found him sitting, immobile, in an armchair. He was covered in urine and maggots, prosecutors said. Williams was not there.

Wurie called a non-emergency number for paramedics.

When the paramedics responded, they took Furry to Potomac Hospital for treatment.

Prosecutors argued that Furry's condition on that day indicted that Williams had not been caring for him.

About two weeks after paramedics took him to the hospital, Furry died of Lou Gehrig's disease, according to court records.

Prosecutors also said that Williams made false statements by submitting aid records to her employer indicating that she had done certain tasks to care for him. The records had to kept in order for Medicaid to pay her, prosecutors said.

In late spring 2003, officials from Prince William County's Community Services Board recommended that Furry be moved to a nursing facility, where he could receive more care, Carroll, Williams' attorney, said.

Furry refused to go, he said.

After that, Sierra Home Health Care was hired to provide at-home care for Furry.

Williams, a newly hired nurse's aide, was assigned to Furry; he was her first client, Carroll said.

Soon after she began caring for him, Williams noticed his condition deteriorating. She saw sores on his swollen feet and noticed he was no longer able to walk.

At that point Williams asked for help, Carroll said.

"She notified Sierra Home Health Care ... and she received no help," he said in opening statements.

In July, a jury found Wurie, the nursing supervisor, not guilty of abuse and neglect.

Williams' trial continues today.

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