Bremerton man charged with felony mistreatment in elderly father’s death

June 02--PORT ORCHARD -- After telling a hospital social worker he didn't need help caring for his 93-year-old father, a Bremerton man left his father naked on the floor of his house for 11 days until he died in February.

Michael Lee Stanton, 58, was charged Wednesday in Kitsap District Court with second-degree criminal mistreatment, a felony, in the death of his father, Bernie Stanton.

"Although Michael's criminal mistreatment of Bernie was not the proximal cause of Bernie's death, it did result in substantial injury, pain and discomfort in his final days," a Bremerton police investigator wrote in charging documents.

Prosecutors added an aggravator to the charge for Bernie being a "particularly vulnerable victim."

Following an appearance in court Wednesday, where Michael was released without bail, he jumped off the Manette Bridge, according to Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan. Michael survived the plunge and was taken to Harrison Medical Center. A hospital spokesman said Thursday that he had been discharged.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Chad Enright said Thursday that the case had been filed in Superior Court and prosecutors planned to schedule a hearing to revisit bail for Stanton. Enright said because jumping off the bridge violates Bremerton's city code, it could be a violation of Stanton's conditions of release.

Michael had been Bernie's caregiver for 18 months before his death, and in the 11 days when he was on the floor naked Michael provided Bernie with food and water, put a plastic sheet under him and apparently turned up the heat in the room where Bernie was so he would not be cold.

Michael told the investigator that after his father urinated on his clothes and complained of pain as he tried to remove them he cut the clothing off him and allowed him to remain naked.

However, the investigator wrote that Michael did not provide his father with medications, he did not call 911 for help and -- as the elderly man developed pressure sores -- he did not provide him drugs that would have made him comfortable in his final days.

"Michael told me that he was just letting Bernie die," wrote the investigator, who noted that Bernie had health insurance so the cost should not have been a "roadblock to medical care."

The case highlights how caregivers can be held criminally responsible for the death of those in their care.

A South Kitsap woman, Renee Roberta Nash, was sentenced to two years in prison last year after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter for the 2014 death of her 97-year-old father, Harlan Haynes. Nash had originally been charged with second-degree murder by neglect after a coroner's report found that Haynes -- who had been dead for at least two days in Nash's house before authorities were notified -- died of malnutrition and dehydration.

Michael told the investigator that upon returning home from Harrison Medical Center, where he was taken for treatment after a fall Jan. 28, he attempted to facilitate Bernie's needs, but while walking Bernie to the bathroom he fell in the hallway and remained there, naked, for two days. He then moved him to a back bedroom of his East Bremerton house.

"Bernie remained naked on the plastic sheet in the back bedroom for the next nine days until he was dead," the investigator wrote.

A social worker from Harrison had asked Michael whether he needed help after Bernie was treated for his fall, but Michael refused. The social worker mentioned hospice care and made a referral to a Group Health social worker to contact Michael.

"Every one of the 11 days that Bernie was laying on the floor naked Michael could have arranged medical care or called 911 for medical assistance for Bernie but didn't," the investigator wrote.

___

(c)2016 the KitsapSun (Bremerton, Wash.)

Visit the KitsapSun (Bremerton, Wash.) at www.kitsapsun.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.