Guilty of Homicide, Sisters Grossly Abuse, Neglect 84 yr old Mother

I don't know anyone involved and haven't followed the case. But when I see the condition this poor woman was in, my God, I have no doubt and don't understand how anyone can support the sisters in any way. I'm not being a smart-ss, I mean it, I'm flabbergasted and wondering what I could've missed. When someone is sick enough you call a doctor. Period. Nevermind wishes about being home vs nursing home. The woman had dementia, and may not have known where she was. But forgetting all that, the report says not just bedsores, but one of the bedsores so deep you could see the poor woman's vertebrae! Come ON! When you see bone its LONG past time for help! And covered with ants?! And anyone can believe for a second the daughters were doing the best they could, or that the mother had rather be at home with bed sores to the bone and ants all over her, among the other horrid health conditions, than at a nursing home? Its just, I mean, Well I don't even know what else to say - It's just unbelievable that anyone could conceive of any way of believing any of this was okay. From what I've read, they not only killed their mother, they tortured her for a long time. Who among us wants to end our lives as this poor woman did? Imagine the pain she was in, physical to be sure, and surely mental anguish as well, for hour upon hour, day upon day, week upon week, til rescued for the last week of her life by the paramedics. Breaks my heart. Old people are people the same as anyone: they had lives, were young and full of hope, had dreams, lived their lives, and certainly learned thru experience and gained in some amount of wisdom. Our society does not value its elders as it should, as they deserve. Too often they're treated like 2nd class citizens, or as less than human, etc. And these daughters - when I see the mugshots I see nothing but self-pity and indignancy, as if they truly believe they are in the right. Sickens me. I've seen comments on a couple of sites supporting them, but the details weren't so specific in those stories, and I wonder if those who support them have read what I have about the mother's condition, cuz I just can't imagine anyone supporting such horrors. That is what it is too, something right out of a horror movie. ANd I can't help but feel that at least some people would react differently, be more upset about it that is, if it would've been a younger person, and nobody would accept this if it were a child (as well they shouldn't, but neither should they for ANY human being - even an animal should never be treated like this.) Here's the AOL story link among others if you wanna see what they say about it all.

http://news.aol.com/article/barry-sisters-guilty-of-neglecting/618975?icid=main|main|dl1|link3|http://news.aol.com/article/barry-sisters-guilty-of-neglecting/618975 The previous is the AOL news link, and has the mug shots of July and Jill Berry - it was actually the mug shots that called my attention to this story. I wasn't looking at the headlines, as I was searching for another AOL news story. But the looks on the faces of these women struck me as hateful and selfish and so I then looked at the headline, and then the story, and I'm so mad and disgusted I could spit.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/08/verdict-expected-in-sisters-neglect-case.html The above link had less detail about the mother's condition, and is one where commmentors support the sisters, with one woman saying she knows one of them and saying what a sweetie she is. Surely, they don't know the full story, yet the woman calling the sister a sweetie says she followed the story closely. I just dunno.

------------------------- Finally, I'll end with this one. I was looking for mug shots I could include (but can't find any that will download, tho you'll see them if you go to the aol story) and I came across this story, and decided to copy this portion of it so you can see what I've read and understand exactly where I'm coming from on my opinion of these horrible women. I know, too, a lawyer is supposed to defend his or her clients to the best of his/her ability, but I don't think that should mean lying or misleading anyone, or trying to get guilty people completely off. That's done for money and for future customers (ie more money), surely. If I were an attorney and had clients as these women, I'd have to tell the basic truth and look for some mercy or something, else refuse the case. I just could not try to get the guilty off scott free, its not justice. Well, here is the link to the final story here, and a section I copied and pasted from this story:

http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2009/06/17/83488486/index.xml

But defense attorney Gary Johnson described the Barry sisters as loving caregivers, dealing with their mother, who turned “ornery” and sometimes violent with dementia and refused to live in a nursing home or receive home health care.

To follow their mother’s wishes, the Barrys altered their work schedules and their lives to care for their mother in “heroic” fashion, Johnson said.

Barsanti scoffed at Johnson’s description, saying it was “cowardly” to fail to seek help they knew they needed to care for their mother.

He recounted testimony throughout the trial from hospital workers that described the elder Barry’s condition when she arrived at Delnor Hospital on April 20, 2007.

She was malnourished, dehydrated, had bed sores, feces on her body and under her fingernails and was wearing urine-soaked clothes, according to testimony. Barry died one week later from pneumonia, brought on by cancer and enhanced by her bed sores, malnourishment and dehydration, according to testimony.

Barsanti pointed out that in the four months before her death, there was no hospital or doctor visits or calls to medical professionals. It was during that time that Barry developed the bed sores – one of which was stage four – and dropped from 96 to 70 pounds, he said.

“There was nothing done at all,” Barsanti said. “They saw what was happening to her and they decided not to do anything.”

Barsanti said the Barry sisters’ testimony “should be taken with a grain of salt,” and was not entirely truthful. Each sister testified that they bathed their mother daily, but did not see any bed sores because of their positioning during sponge baths.

“It’s impossible to believe that you could bathe this woman and not see bed sores,” Barsanti said, adding that “anyone that would have seen [the most advanced] bed sore would have called a doctor.”

Johnson argued that the Barrys did everything they could on their own, and were afraid to upset their mother by hiring a nurse or other caregiver. The elder Barry had already suffered a stroke a few years before her death and they were afraid upsetting her would bring on another, he said.

======================== "It takes time for the absent to assume their true shape in our thoughts. After death, they take on a firmer outline and then cease to change." - Colette {Of course the quote has nothing to do with the story in this post above; the subject of death is coincidental only}