Wife charged after allegedly leaving husband with dementia on toilet for 19 hours before his death
A woman from West Virginia has been arrested after allegedly leaving her husband on the toilet for 19 hours without food or water.
The 76-year-old with dementia was admitted to hospital on 21 August, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime.
According to the complaint, a speech therapist found the man in a ‘dangerously poor condition and unresponsive on the toilet’.
He died on 31 August from sepsis and heart failure, as an autopsy concluded that the injuries sustained while stuck on the toilet were ‘significant contributing factors to his death’.
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His wife Margaret Louise Rog, 75, told the Monongalia County Sheriff's Office that her husband went to the bathroom at around 3pm on 20 August in their home in Orchard Crossing in Morgantown.
Police said in the complaint that for the next 19 hours, Rog allegedly ignored her husband, who had previously been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, dementia, legal blindness and multiple other conditions.
Officials accused Rog of not calling 911 or asking anyone for help.
Rog allegedly ‘left her husband unattended and unresponsive in the bathroom’ and went to sleep.
She was arrested on 15 September and was taken to the North Central Regional Jail.
According to court records reviewed by PEOPLE, Rog has been charged with ‘abuse, neglect, or grossly neglect an incapacitated adult creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death’.
Rog has pleaded not guilty to the charges, with a bond set at $75,000.
Her preliminary hearing is set to take place next week on 25 September.
Dementia is a general term for a collection of symptoms that affect memory, thinking, and daily life, while Alzheimer's disease is a specific brain disease that causes those symptoms, according to the Alzheimer's Society.
Anish Vij