The husband and daughter of a Chester County woman have been charged with abuse and neglect in her death
The woman was found in disturbing conditions, authorities said.
The husband and daughter of an ailing Chester County woman have been charged with abuse and neglect in connection with her death, authorities said Monday.
Kaci Nightingale, 38, of Coatesville, was charged with neglect of a care-dependent person, Medicaid fraud, and related crimes in connection with the death of her 71-year-old mother, whose name authorities did not release.
Richard Nightingale, the woman’s 76-year-old husband, faces a similar neglect charge. He told police he was the primary caregiver for his wife, who suffered from dementia, was nonverbal, and could not get out of bed on her own.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said the conditions in which the woman’s body was found in July 2021 in the Nightingales’ West Lincoln Highway home were extremely disturbing. An autopsy found that she’d died from a stroke, but authorities said she had severe and untreated bedsores covering her body.
Henry said Kaci Nightingale collected a Medicaid paycheck after representing that she worked as a personal-care assistant for her mother, services Henry said she failed to provide.
“The defendants were responsible for caring for their vulnerable mother and wife, and they continuously ignored that duty,” the attorney general said.
Henry added that it was troubling that Kaci Nightingale collected public funds while neglecting her mother’s care and announced an investigation by the Attorney General’s Medicaid fraud division. Nightingale had been employed by a private home care agency since 2016, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said.
Bail for both Kaci and Richard Nightingale was set at $150,000.