Mollie’s debilitated physical condition made her pathetic. This was a temporary circumstance for her. That’s my response to her situation. It’s not indisputable fact. The dictionary app has pathetic and pitiable in the same definition. They don’t need to be the same word to express the same view. As a polyglot, you may be aware that in many cases exactitude is needed, while in other cases it’s not. Miriam-Websters has this entry for the first definition of pathetic: having a capacity to move one to either compassionate or contemptuous pity. One might have compassion for Mollie and contempt for Burkhart here.