I will continue to be amazed at the playful actions of those charged with protecting our citizens. This is the third installment in the flagrant case of elder abuse that my friend’s mother, Dorothy, is a victim of. 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 It was passed on to me by the witnesses who attended. An evaluation of Dorothy’s health was requested from the current nursing home in which she is incarcerated.
This woman’s health has deteriorated somewhat since she was forced from her home for six decades. This had to happen after the law keeper 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 her excuses 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 worthy function.
On the day of this last hearing, Dorothy was not allowed to attend. Her legal guardian made no arrangements to have her there. When Diane left several messages for the fourth party in this case, her mother’s appointed attorney 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 the staff. She made a follow-up call to the correct department at the facility, where she was told it would take five to ten minutes. She was denied the right to have this done before the conference. Diane has been getting her mom in and out of her car for a long time without incident, but she suddenly needed training to do it. It was another brazen attempt to prevent this elderly woman 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 so she left and went to a doctor’s appointment (who was not her regular doctor) who was about the same distance from court. 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 forced to do it on a constant basis. 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 mockery: that it’s apparently legal to take the last of Dorothy’s money out of her account while she waits dejectedly in a place she did nothing to deserve. be put into I can say this because the alternative to her own house would be to live in Diane’s house. The health care administrator had sent a letter to the judge from the previous conference 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 so quite easily with the help of a walker. The renovation of the bathroom that she would use came entirely from Diane’s money.
According to sources, Dorothy’s appointed attorney did little to fight for her client to attend the hearing, or 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 get more information. It seems that the “game” they play is to rant about things in the courtroom that are baseless, 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 her, 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 people who are taken 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 a more soul base. In addition, I am very aware of the life lessons, both on a physical and spiritual level. 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 mistakes in attitude. The people involved in this guardian abuse case have given me reason to question much of what I have learned. It has happened gradually; first by thinking that all people are intrinsically good, then by looking at how greed can weaken the mind and erupt into a lack of common sense. If there were any, then the court could see that there is only one child who sincerely loves and does everything to make the wishes of his mother come true.
I leave you with the actual words of Dorothy, eighty-seven years old. She handwritten her plea to get out of 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. He had an independent witness to validate that these words were not coerced or given to Dorothy in any way. Some of the letters are much more emotional in asking for her release. As an aside, the health care administrator, 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 disabled in some way. It does not mean that they are incapable of making their own decisions, nor that their loving family members 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
