Woman cleared, but saddened by events

A Gaffney woman will be cleared of any wrongdoing in the wake of a decision by the 7th Circuit Solicitor's Office not to prosecute a charge that the woman gave medication to a relative who was a patient at the Peachtree Centre nursing facility.

Rosemary Phillips was charged in February by Gaffney police, who alleged that she had given medication without prescription to her mother through a feeding tube on Jan. 28.

"It was a decision by the prosecution not to pursue it," Assistant Solicitor Michael Morin confirmed Thursday.

Phillips said she was glad to have the charge dropped, but saddened by the events overall. She can now have the arrest expunged from her record.

"My mother was there (at Peachtree Centre) for 10 years," she said. "I went five to six hours every day."

Phillips said she didn't give her mother anything but did flush her mother's feeding tube with water, which she said she had done before and never before was told she wasn't authorized to do so.

Following the charge, Phillips said her time with her mother at the nursing facility was restricted to supervised visits. "It took away precious time with me and my mother," she said.

Phillips said her mother died in August.