Daughter Charged With Elder Abuse in Mom's Death

BY SUSAN L. OPPAT News Staff Reporter June 13 Revised June 16,2007

Salem, Michigan, The daughter of a Salem Township woman who froze to death in March has been charged with vulnerable adult abuse for reportedly leaving her mother - who had Alzheimer's disease - alone for 26 hours.

Subrenia Dout, 45, faces up to four years in prison if convicted of the felony charge. She was scheduled to undergo a preliminary examination in 14A-1 District Court Thursday, but the hearing was delayed until Aug. 9.

State Police Trooper Greg Setla said Dout told him she left her mother, 67-year-old Djuna Fay Clark, alone at about noon on March 15 to help a friend. She said she didn't get anyone to care for her mother while she was gone, and when she returned the next day at 2 p.m., her mother was gone, Setla said.

Police searched for Clark in the cold for the rest of that day and found her wallet on Eight Mile Road - more than 3 miles from her home. On March 17, Clark's body was found in a ditch along Pontiac Trail, five miles from home, and she was not wearing a coat.

The county medical examiner's office concluded Clark died of hypothermia.

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Leaving someone that is entrusted in your care that has Alzheimer's disease alone for any period of time is neglectful, this is the result. We suffer everyday when we see Clara struggle to perform the most basic tasks, as a result of the fall that required neurosurgery and left her wheelchair bound when her self imposed care keepers (abductors) left her alone for several hours , drugged in a motel room.

The Michigan authorities clearly demonstrate leaving a vulnerable adult alone for any extended period of time to fend for their self is elder abuse and there should not be any exceptions to this rule in order to protect the perpetrators when the lives of a vulnerable adult depends on it.

Florida has an elevated elderly population, lets start giving elder the protection they deserve.

Everyone in Florida who hopes to join the ranks of the elderly someday, should be outraged by the treatment that Clara's received while abducted, August 21,2005 - August 5, 2005 .

Please write our governor and other authorities and let them know this is not acceptable,
Even Social workers should be held accountable and held to the same standards as others

Lets stop protecting the perpetrators and giving a little more thought to the victims who have to live with the consequences the rest of their lives.