A criminal complaint filed in the Western District of Pennsylvania last month says Leon Price, 50, in a 911 call between himself and Kelly Titchenell refused to send an ambulance to her mother unless he indicated she was going to the hospital. Titchnell made the 911 call in July 2020, according to court documents. In the complaint, Titchenell’s attorneys said she described her 56-year-old mother, Diania Kronk, as “jaundice, incoherent and rectal bleeding” to Price. But Price “bluntly” told her that no emergency services like an ambulance would be sent to her mother because it would be a “waste of resources,” the complaint says. “No emergency services requested came that day as a result of Defendant Price’s actions, and as a proximate and/or direct result of the lack of emergency medical care, Diania Kronk died,” according to the complaint. If Price had sent for an ambulance or some kind of emergency help, the complaint says, Cronk would have at least suffered less and could have had a “more dignified” death. The lawsuit also states that Price must have been aware of the seriousness of the situation due to Titchnell’s “pleading tone and description of what was seriously wrong with her mother.” “Price had no authority, statutory or otherwise, to arbitrarily deny services” to Kronk or Titchenell, the lawsuit alleges. Cronk died the next day. “I believe in myself that my mother would still be alive if they sent an ambulance,” Titchnell said, according to the Washington Post. “It shouldn’t have been his decision. He should have sent an ambulance and let the professionals decide if he should go to hospital or not.” Two years later, in Greene County, Pennsylvania, officials have charged Price with involuntary manslaughter, the Post reported, which carries a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine along with five years in prison.
