AFFIDAVIT: Topeka crash victim neglected to point of sepsis, death

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - According to the arrest affidavit of a Topeka caretaker, the woman who had been left quadriplegic after a 2015 crash had allegedly been neglected to the point of sepsis, which led to her death.

The arrest affidavit for Jennifer Renee Johnson, 35, of Topeka, indicates that she was a personal care attendant who signed up to provide in-home services and help a Medicaid beneficiary, identified as Andera Mauer, with her daily needs and activities. She then allegedly frauded the system when she falsely claimed to the program that she had performed services, when in fact, they had not been done.

The affidavit also alleges that the neglect caused the deterioration of Maur’s health conditions to the point of hospitalization which led to her death.

According to the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, Medicaid pays Personal Care Attendants to provide basic needs for daily life like bathing, meal preparation and housekeeping for qualified beneficiaries.

The affidavit notes that Mauer had been left quadriplegic when her C6 was fractured in a 2015 car accident, from which she had remained bedridden. On Jan. 20, it said she was taken via AMR to Stormont Vail Hospital where she was admitted, however, life-saving treatments proved unsuccessful and Johnson made the decision to stop the treatments and begin hospice.

Mauer was discharged from the hospital on Jan. 26, 2022, and released to Midland Care Hospice, where she ultimately died on Jan. 28.

The affidavit also notes that Mauer’s only authorized Personal Care Attendant assigned to her was Johnson and she was compensated more than $1,270 weekly for her services between April 30, 2021, and Jan. 26, 2022.

Johnson had also told officials that she stopped working for Mauer twice within that time. She indicated the first was when she found she was not supposed to split her paycheck with Mauer.

“At first, we were splitting the money, and then it stopped,” Johnson told authorities. “I just, cause, because I told her I wanted to quit, it was too much going on. I had quit for like 2 months, and then, when I started back up, I was just only getting paid.”

“So when I came back I told her like ‘hey, this is going to have to stop, we can’t be doing this’ and she was like ‘okay okay’ and so I, started having the phone, and doing everything myself,” she concluded.

The second time she claimed to have quit, Johnson told authorities that Mauer had been verbally abusive and would not let her provide the care she was required to. She also stated that she did not notify the company either of the times she quit working as Mauer’s PCA.

Johnson claimed this had happened about three months after she started working for Mauer and that the first time she quit, it lasted about a month. However, AuthentiCare records indicate that during the 288 days from her first day to her last day, she missed a total of nine days and the longest period she went without clocking in was one day.

The affidavit also states that Mauer’s children would stay with her and would also regularly care for her while Johnson was away. It also noted that the Department of Children and Families removed a person from the home, and when doing so, the person said she needed the caretakers to do everything required so she may go back home to Mauer, “because no one else was taking care of Andrea.”

Johnson also claimed she clocked out for the last time a total of three days before Mauer went to the hospital. However, AuthentiCare records also indicate that she clocked out a total of four hours before Mauer was taken to the hospital.

The affidavit notes that Johnson claimed to have taken Mauer to the hospital and that when Mauer found out, she hid Johnson’s phone until Johnson could find Mauer’s phone. She said when she called she stated that she was Mauer’s staff and that Mauer’s mouth and throat had started to swell up.

However, the Shawnee Co. Emergency Communications Center call log lists two contacts from that call - Andrea and Joyce. The affidavit states that Joyce is the aunt of Mauer’s daughter’s boyfriend. A recording of the call also found the caller identified herself as “Andrea Mauer.”

When AMR arrived to transport Mauer, the EMT told officials he made a note of the call, which was not typical as he did not do this for “normal patients,” however he felt Mauer’s condition demanded it.

“Upon arrival, I observed the house condition to be dirty and unkempt,” the note said. “I observed the PT (Mauer) to be extremely lethargic and emaciated. Her eyes were sunken in and her skin was extremely dry and cracked. The PT’s hands were curled inward and her fingernails were approximately 4-5 inches long. I noted the PT’s legs to have multiple open wounds. Her left leg had a dried waste paste on the lower leg. Her caretaker stated this was lotion. I also observed most of her toes to be necrotic and falling off.”

The note contradicts Johnson’s story as she had told officials she gave Mauer daily sponge baths and cleaned and cut her fingernails.

The affidavit also notes that the EMT identified Johnson as Mauer’s caretaker after showing him pictures.

Once at the hospital, staff also noted how dirty Mauer had been and listed several concerns with the condition she was brought in. They took pictures and detailed her injuries.

Staff from DCF indicated that hospital staff found Mauer had not bathed or eaten in weeks and that her colostomy and urostomy bags had not been changed in an extremely long time and are supposed to be changed at least every 2 days. They also said she had dirt and feces at least halfway up her back.

Following Mauer’s death, the affidavit states the doctor who performed her autopsy concluded the cause of death as a result of complications from urosepsis - an extreme response to a urinary tract infection. The doctor also told detectives that Mauer had an infection in most of her body, she had been in kidney failure and her lungs had been filled with green pus - consistent with pneumonia.

The doctor also indicated that the infected pressure wound’s on Mauer’s skin most likely led to her sepsis.

The affidavit indicates the investigation into Mauer’s care found criminal violations between July 25, 2021, and Jan. 28, 2022.

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