NorCal elder care owner charged in death

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SACRAMENTO, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- California authorities said they filed manslaughter charges against the operator of senior-citizens care facility in the death of an elderly dementia patient.

Silvia Cata, 52, of Sacramento may be the first elder-care provider in the state to be charged criminally rather than civilly in a case involving the death of a resident, the Sacramento Bee said Tuesday.

Cata was jailed Monday on charges of elder abuse and involuntary manslaughter that were filed by the California attorney general's office. The agency last year said it was intensifying its scrutiny of nursing homes and other facilities.

Cata was accused of allowing Georgia Holtzmeister, 88, to develop massive bed sores that resulted in her death from sepsis in June. The Bee said an emergency room doctor told investigators the sores, which were classified as Stage 4 pressure sores, were the worst he had ever seen.

Bed sores develop in bed-ridden patients when they are not moved frequently.

Holtzmeister had been a resident of the Super Home Care facility since 2007. The Bee said Cata and her husband were listed on state records as the only care providers at the home.

The small care facility, which houses only a few patients at a time, has run afoul of state inspectors in the past for sub par recordkeeping and administering over-the-counter medication without the guidance of a physician.