Nurse cleared of force-feeding patient who died
A nurse who was accused of force-feeding a patient in a care home who later died has been cleared of all charges.
Mariamma Kailath was found not guilty of assault by beating and of failure to discharge a duty to take reasonable care for Peter Egan's health and safety by feeding him in a manner likely to cause him harm – at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday.
She was found not guilty of a third charge – which accused her of failing to keep proper records of his care – after direction from Recorder Nigel Daly at court on Thursday.
During her trial Kailath, 56, said she saw no sign of 83-year-old Mr Egan choking or struggling when she fed him liquids.
The alleged incident was said to have taken place on July 27 2014 when she was a nurse at Priory Nursing Home in Wellington, Telford.
Kailath, of Whitchurch Road, Wellington, had started working at the home just days earlier and Mr Egan had only been a resident for a very short time.
Claire Bates, a healthcare assistant at the nursing home, previously told the court she had seen Kailath feeding Mr Egan about 200 millilitres of prescribed energy drink from a beaker.
Kailath said the fluid was a supplement drink she gave to him after he had not eaten much breakfast.
Mr Egan died later the same day, and the court heard medical experts had found no causal link between his death and "what had happened before".
