Alleged lack of care in Carl DeBrodie case ‘amazes’ family attorney

The attorney for Carl DeDrodie’s family is speaking out about the alleged oversight that led to the untimely death of the disabled man.

As ABC 17 News previously reported, new allegations released in a civil lawsuit reveal DeBrodie was forced to physically fight another resident for the “benefit and amusement of Paulo and her family” and those events ultimately caused his death. Sherry Paulo was the manager of Second Chance Homes, where Carl was living before he died.

The lawsuit also contends that Callaway County Special Service employees Tiffany Keipp and Melissa Delap falsified documents which claimed they made face-to-face visits with Carl. The two were required to report any suspicions or allegations of physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, or neglect of Carl as well as any misuse of Carl’s funds or property to authorities, including the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Mental Health Division of Disabilities.

“We know that if someone were treating him and examining him like they were supposed to, they would know he was [in] pain. They would’ve found out what was happening and they would’ve moved him from the facility,” Rudy Veit, the attorney for DeBrodie’s family, said.

“It amazes me the lack of care and the conscious indifference and reckless disregard for someone who is entrusted to their care,” he continued, adding, “What surprises me is that there were so many people involved in this, with the cover-up.”

Veit said Carl’s “medication records were being doctored on a continuous basis.”

Delap said in her reports that she had made face-to-face contact with Carl in October 2016, November 2016, December 2016, January 2017, February 2017 and March 2017. Those meetings also never took place.

“You’ll see medical records showing the medications he was given on April 17, the day when they reported him missing,” Veit said. “The medical records show that they were giving him medicine up until the day he was reported missing.”

Veit said the system failed DeBrodie and there needs to be “policies and procedures in place and some type of check and balance system” to prevent something like from happening again.

“You can never do enough to stop someone from being crooked, but you can make it so that they are not likely to do it and so they are going to get caught sooner,” he said.