Care workers on manslaughter charge following death of Iris, 91
Two care workers have appeared in court charged with manslaughter following the death of a 91-year-old grandmother.
Santhosh Rajan, aged 38 and from Walsall, and Marsha Tulloch, 40, are accused over the death of dementia-sufferer Iris Teale in 2011.
Mrs Teale suffered a fall and broke her leg on October 8, 2011 at the £1,000-a-week Bupa-owned Aston Court Nursing and Residential Care Home in Little Aston.
She went to Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield but her condition deteriorated and she died on October 24.
Rajan, of Bentley Lane, and Tulloch, of Browns Green, Handsworth, appeared at Burton Magistrates Court on Friday charged with her manslaughter.
They were both granted unconditional bail and ordered to return to Stafford Crown Court on May 9. Mrs Teale had lived at the care home, which cares for 55 patients mainly suffering from dementia, for several years before her death.
She was found with an unexplained fracture of her leg on October 8, 2011 and was admitted to Good Hope Hospital. Her condition deteriorated and she died just 16 days later.
The incident prompted an internal investigation by Bupa Care Homes and investigations by Staffordshire Social Services and Staffordshire Police. Initially, Mr Teale found the nursing home to be reluctant to explain how the incident had occurred and in an effort to discover the truth brought a claim for clinical negligence against Bupa Care Homes.
It was not until a year later – on October 17, 2012 – after lawyers for the family intervened that Bupa issued a formal apology to the family for 'failings in the nursing care'.
The inquest into Mrs Teale's death remains on hold until criminal proceedings are concluded. Guy Forster, clinical negligence partner at Penningtons Manches LLP and solicitor for Mr Teale, said the family is committed to finding out exactly what happened.
"It is incredibly frustrating that, more than two years on, the family still do not know exactly what happened to Iris and they feel that Bupa Care Homes has not done all it could to be open about the failings in care."
