Elder abuse heartbreak continues

I will continue to be amazed at the playful actions of those charged with protecting our citizens. This is the third installment of the flagrant case of elder abuse of which my friend’s mother, Dorothy, is the victim. In this case, which is one of hundreds, if not thousands across the country, the judge decided to call another conference after hearing what appeared to be more lying and perjured testimony from the law enforcer and health care administrator, as transmitted to me by the witnesses who attended. A health assessment of Dorothy was requested from the current nursing home in which she is incarcerated.

This woman’s health has deteriorated somewhat since she was forced to leave her home for six decades. This had to happen after the guardian of the law had Dorothy moved from a nursing home to a hospital and then to another nursing home within thirty days. It is ironic that in open court, one of the excuses put forward by her was that moving someone like her from one place to another would be detrimental to her mental and physical state. The “place” they were referring to was the well-appointed home of her daughter, Diane, where Dorothy has repeatedly said that she wants to go if she is not allowed to stay in her own home. I must make it clear that this is not an accusation against any nursing home because they fulfill a necessary and dignified function.

On the day of this last hearing, Dorothy was not allowed to attend. Her legal guardian did not make arrangements to have her there. When Diane left several messages for the fourth party in this case, the attorney appointed by her mother who was supposed to represent her, asking her to make it happen, did not get a timely response, so Diane called the nursing home. . The social worker told her that the director of the nursing home said, “It will not be safe for Dorothy to leave the nursing home.” This woman went on to say that before being transported anywhere, she Diane would need to be trained by staff. She made a follow-up call to the correct department at the facility, where she was told it would take five to 10 minutes. She was denied the right to have this done before the conference. Diane has been loading her mom in and out of her car for a long time without incident, but she suddenly needed to be trained to do it. It was another blatant attempt to prevent this elderly lady from making her own voice heard in the courtroom in front of a State Supreme Court judge who is responsible for this whole situation.

It should be noted that the next day, Dorothy’s safety was not a concern for her to leave and go to a doctor’s appointment (who was not her usual doctor) who was about the same distance from the courthouse. While there was an original excuse that there weren’t enough funds to transport it, suddenly funding was no longer an issue. Dorothy and Diane are required to do this consistently. I am not sharing anything that cannot be verified. The trail of evidence is easy enough to follow, but the pomposity of the offending parties is such that they don’t care.

There were several people who came to the last conference to show their support for Diane and her mom. They all seem to have gotten the same thing out of this judge’s courtroom taunt: that it’s apparently legal to take Dorothy’s last bit of money out of her account while she waits morosely in a place she did nothing to deserve. be put in I can say this because the alternative to her own house would be living in Diane’s house. The care administrator had sent a letter to the previous conference judge stating that the house met all the standards necessary for a disabled person to live there safely. Dorothy, at the age of eighty-seven, has some knee problems that make it difficult for her to walk, but she can do it quite easily with the help of a walker. The bathroom renovation she would use came all from Diane’s money.

According to the sources, Dorothy’s appointed attorney did little to fight for his client to attend the hearing, nor to get her out of the nursing home. This whole alliance has given the appearance of some form of collusion, but I can’t say for sure until I receive more information. It seems the “game” they play is to rant about things in the courtroom that are unsubstantiated, but once said, become part of the public record. It is another abuse of the legal system that has not been controlled by the judge handling this case. Until this latest hearing, she constantly interrupted Diane in most of her efforts to talk about herself, but with this case gaining national awareness among guardian abuse sites and more, she had no choice but to listen.

It should be noted that the main actors in this abusive situation are well positioned. There are clear conflicts of interest; at least as most people see it. He has a legal guardian who is the former vice president of one of the bar associations; a health care administrator who sits on the boards of various groups that are supposed to protect the people they take advantage of, and a judge who is a state supreme court justice. His influence intimidates or crushes all legitimate complaints against him. The appearance of wrongdoing is obvious to anyone who knows about this case, including people who have been to the hearings.

My life is about seeing everything from a higher perspective; one where I look at people from more of a soul base. Also, I am very aware of life lessons, both physically and spiritually. This makes me see things in a different light than most. I will always try to give the benefit of the doubt to someone who makes poor judgments, wrong decisions, or attitude errors. The people involved in this case of guardian abuse have given me reason to question much of what I have learned. It has happened gradually; first thinking that all people are intrinsically good, then observing how greed can weaken the mind and break out into a lack of common sense. If there had been any, then the court could see that there is only one child who he sincerely loves and does everything possible to have the mother’s wishes carried out for him.

I leave you with the actual words of eighty-seven-year-old Dorothy. She hand wrote her plea to leave the nursing home the night before the conference. There are several other letters written by her in the last two years, but Diane was always accused of dictating them. This had an independent witness to validate that these words were not coerced or delivered to Dorothy in any way. Some of the letters are much more emotional in asking for her release. As an aside, the care manager, under oath, told the judge that Dorothy is acclimating well. The judge also assigned this woman and her company to take care of Dorothy’s health care. My efforts are for all people to realize that there is impeccable focus on the part of many people who are designed to help, not hinder, our seniors and others who are incapacitated in some way. It does not mean that they are incapable of making their own decisions, nor that loving members of their families cannot handle it.

09/18/11

To whom It May Concern,

I want to go home more then [sic] anything else in the world. There is nothing wrong with me. Being at home will make me the happiest person in the world. You never realize how beautiful your home is until you’re not in it.

Please help. I want to go home.

To be honest,

Dorothy