A Reading woman has been arrested and charged with neglecting her care-dependent elderly mother, leaving the woman with open wounds and extreme malnutrition.
Lakisha Porter, 46, of the 200 block of North Second Street was arraigned Tuesday before District Judge David Yoch on one count of neglect of a care-dependent person. She was placed in Berks County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
According to police:
Police were contacted by staff from the Berks County Office of Aging on Feb. 14 about an elderly woman who had been taken by ambulance to Reading Hospital on Jan. 31.
The woman had open wounds and pressure ulcers on several parts of her body.
Porter, the woman’s daughter, had been her caretaker since 2013. Records obtained by police show that Porter was paid just over $11,500 from Nov. 17, 2024, through Jan. 31 to provide 70 hours per week of care for her mother.
Porter told hospital staff that her mother, who had been bed-bound for nearly a month, had stopped eating, drinking and taking medicine for about a week. She also said her mother had stopped talking several weeks prior.
The woman was treated in Reading Hospital until she died March 30. Doctors deemed the pressure ulcers on her body as the main cause of her death.
Doctor told investigators that the pressure ulcers and other open wounds — including one so deep that bone was visible — were signs that she was being neglected. They typically occur when a patient is bed-bound and not rotated or off-loaded.
In October 2024 the woman had been hospitalized for potential heart failure and advanced stages of dementia, later returning home and receiving hospice care.
An investigation showed that hospice care was discontinued in early December because Porter was refusing medical treatment for her mother.
Hospital records revealed that between the woman’s October stint in the hospital and her return there in January she had lost 67 pounds. There were no records of her receiving any medical care in that span.
Police obtained a warrant to search Porter’s home, finding it filthy.
It was determined the mother had been staying in a first-floor room that appeared to have formerly been a dining area.
The mattress in the room was stained with feces and other debris, and mice droppings were found behind the bed. Other items in the room were also stained with feces and urine.
The house’s kitchen floor was covered with dirt and debris, and moldy, burned and rotting food was found throughout the room.
Rooms on the second and third floor were also found to be in poor condition. Food remnants were found, feces and saturated toilet paper were discovered and trash was seen strewn about.
Police filed neglect charges against Porter because of her mother’s condition and the state of the home.
Source: Berkshire mont
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