Thank you for your support of my mother's wish to live in her own home, and have her daughter [me] be the one responsible for her care and her affairs, as she legally designated me to be, more than five years before I brought her to Wilton Meadows Health Care Center in Wilton, CT, for short-term rehabilitation for the severe stroke she had in March 2010. ~ Marjorie Partch: map@marjoriepartch.com
PLEASE SIGN DOROTHY'S PETITION, TO THE RIGHT!
UPDATE 3/19/12: JUDGE RECUSED
The Probate Judge has finally recused himself from this case.
UPDATE 3/23/12: BROKEN TOOTH
Why am I ~ the unwanted visitor ~ the one pointing this out? The AG's office is asking this, and other questions, such as: When was her last dental exam? 4/2/12 ~ No word yet on dental treatment. I'm requesting her own dentist, to no avail. The tooth had broken into more pieces when I saw it on Fri., sharp points digging into her swollen, reddened lower lip. This just in: It was treated on Fri. I was just told they claim she had a chipped tooth upon admission. An outright lie. She now also has pneumonia, diagnosed when I pointed out her cough. 4/28/12: Her cough is improving, thank God, but I can do nothing to make them cap her painful tooth.
UPDATE 3/26/12: CONSERVATORS & COURT-APPOINTED ATTORNEYS CAN NOW BE SUED! Until this Conn. Supreme Court Ruling, they were IMMUNE. This is a game changer. But not for us, because I'm being extorted to relinquish any future claims.
THE CASE THAT SET THE PRECEDENT:
His daughter's words could come out of my own mouth:
From the woman who fought for Justice for FIVE YEARS after her father's death:
CONDEMNATION FROM YALE LAW PROFESSOR JOHN H. LANGBEIN:
________________________________________________
February 25, 2012
Dear Asst. Attorney General Charles C. Hulin and
Mr. Tyrone McMillan, MSW (for the CT Dept. of Social Services)
cc: Dept. of Public Health, Elected Officials, Media & Friends
Mr. Tyrone McMillan, MSW (for the CT Dept. of Social Services)
cc: Dept. of Public Health, Elected Officials, Media & Friends
Thank you both for your presence at the Hearing at the Norwalk Probate Court on Tue., Feb. 14, concerning the petition to resign from my mother's Court-Appointed Conservator. Having succeeded in liquidating virtually all of my mother's modest "estate," and paying himself and his own attorney more than $70,000 [See Accounting] to do so, and facing my litigation in Superior Court, it is perfectly understandable that Attorney Matthew Caputo should wish to resign.
For one thing, that would mean I would have to bring a whole new suit in Superior Court all over again. ~ So I am very glad that you did not accept the "automatic" transfer of power to the State that he, the Probate Court and Wilton Meadows were attempting, once again bypassing Statutes that stipulate a different procedure ~ exactly as they did in July 2010. This transfer would also make it impossible for me to sue the nursing home on my mother's behalf, which they would obviously prefer ~ just as they preferred to work with an agreeable real estate attorney as my mother's Conservator, rather than her concerned daughter making troublesome complaints about safety issues at Wilton Meadows ever since her admission on April 7, 2010.
And we obviously hope that the Norwalk-Wilton Probate Judge, Honorable Anthony DePanfilis, will agree to recuse himself from this case, as our attorney has requested [LINK TO RELEVANT LEGAL DOCUMENTS].
Hon. DePanfilis has shown persistent resistance to following State Law http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0457.htm over the past 18 months of this case, in apparently allowing hearsay "testimony" to be given against me by the self-serving Wilton Meadows Administration, behind my back ~ but never taking sworn statements either from them or from me, nor from other witnesses of mine to horrifying incidents at Wilton Meadows; nor statements from my cousin, Ms. Linda Napolillo. In 18 months there has been no Due Process ~ no evidence presented, subject to objections, rebuttal or cross-examination, nor any observance of the Rules of Evidence that a Probate Court is required by Law to follow.
If not this (convenient) prejudice, then what is his reason ~ other than the obvious financial opportunity for all the Wilton Meadows and Probate players ~ for not following my mother's clearly and legally established intentions? He can hardly claim ignorance of her wishes, or that he conducted any reasonable evaluation of them ~ please see his own "Transcript" ["LEARN MORE"]: as inaccurate as it is ~ it does not show my repeated Objections to the proceeding, or the Court's repeated admonition that it was "too late" ~ it also does not show any Due Process concerning the proper flow of events; in fact, it proves just the opposite. [Our attorney has requested a copy of the actual tape of the July 27, 2010 "Hearing."]
This just in March 19, 2012: The Norwalk-Wilton Probate Judge has agreed to recuse himself.
My Complaints about my mother's mistreatment at Wilton Meadows date back to her Admission, which was terrifying. Aides tore a protective splint off her "stroke shoulder" without any regard for the delicate and painful shoulder, or her vulnerable "stroke arm," which hospital staff had treated like a fragile egg. It was merely an obstacle to their "inspection" of her, like a piece of merchandise being delivered.
Within 48 hours, she was then brutalized by their Medical Director, Dr. Radin, who made her scream in pain when he examined her ears. When I protested, he bellowed at me, in front of her, that he was going to examine her, his way, or throw us both out on the street. I had him removed as her "attending" soon after, and he has had it in for me ever since. At the time, many nurses were sympathetic, and Wilton Meadows' Administrative Director, Mr. Andrew Krotchko, told me he had received other similar Complaints, and another doctor was assigned.
This new doctor, Dr. Perlin, was happy to write prescriptions for herbal treatments for my mother, and did so. He wrote the orders, and the nurses administered the herbs to my mother ~ despite Wilton Meadows' untrue allegation that I did this myself, the record should show that Dr. Perlin wrote the orders. I never gave her any herbs directly while she was at Wilton Meadows. I wouldn't, and I didn't. (At home we consulted a professional herbalist, and this was a continuing treatment, which Dr. Perlin approved.)
Within a week or so of her arrival, my mother's feeding tube was painfully dislodged from her stomach, again due to the staff's rough handling. I had had it placed, and replaced, at Norwalk Hospital, for her, acting as her Health Care Representative, because I felt it would be temporary ~ and it was, thanks to the special attention that Wilton Meadows' speech therapist and I gave to my mother.
He trained me how to reintroduce food by mouth very cautiously and gently, but then the staff wanted to take over ~ with none of his safety measures. They refused to follow his instructions. They insisted that they had been feeding residents for years ~ but very few of them had stopped eating by mouth for months. The speech therapist intervened on his time off, and finally held a training session for the staff ~ as he had already done with me. Their dangerous feeding methods led to a conflict witnessed by Mr. David Vita, Director of Social Justice at the Unitarian Church in Westport. But he has never been allowed to testify.
Earlier, many of their CNA's had no idea what the medical term "NPO" means ~ (no food or liquid by mouth) ~ which made it dangerous for me to leave her unattended, even long enough to alert the "supervisors" ~ who were never to be seen on the floor.
* * *
Mr. Jeffrey Greenberg, a building contractor in Stamford and a concerned member of the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, has also visited my mother on countless occasions, and never been heard, despite several attempts to testify in this case. Despite both these friends' willingness to be appointed as Co-Conservators along with me, neither Mr. Greenberg nor Mr. Vita has ever been allowed into the Judge's Chambers. He once asked jokingly if they and my cousin (up from New York) were there to bid $50,000 apiece for some of my mother's property he was selling off.
I have support from both these congregations, and the Interfaith Council of Westport-Weston, as well as the Unitarian-Universalist Society in Stamford. Ms. Marcia Kosstrin, also a member of the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, is a licensed Occupational Therapist, whose repeated Complaints to the CT Dept. of Public Health concerning my mother's neglect have also been ignored by the DPH (sample letter attached).
Hopefully, our request to appoint Attorney Rick Ross, a colleague of my attorney, Mr. Richard Raphael's, as Co-Conservator along with me, will allay any false allegations that Wilton Meadows has taken to making against me ~ of which I have only learned subsequent to my legal actions ~ especially if the question is heard by a new Probate Judge. Mr. Ross is a highly experienced elder care attorney and litigator with an excellent reputation in CT and New York City.
Wilton Meadows' move to have a real estate attorney appointed as my mother's Conservator in my place ~ with no Due Process to remove me as her legal Durable Power of Attorney, Pre-Designated Conservator, Attorney-in-Fact and Health Care Representative ~ was a pre-emptive strike, designed to block any (correctly) "perceived threat" of legal action FROM ME, once all our joint accounts were frozen. Initially, they merely claimed that I did not exist, rather than presenting evidence that I was unfit, as they are now claiming.
Unfortunately, I did not approach the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program or the DPH before the Conservatorship was accomplished, in July 2010. I did finally involve the Ombudsman in Jan. 2011, after I was barred from even visiting my mother for six weeks over the holidays, because the nursing home staff observed me recording my mother's perfectly coherent statements (in Nov. 2010) about coming home for Christmas. It's heartbreaking that she has spent the past two Christmas holidays in isolation in that institutional environment.
When I was finally permitted to see my mother again, thanks to the Ombudsman's Intervention in Jan. 2011, she was covered with the worst bruises I've ever seen on anyone in my life. The Ombudsman's Investigation revealed that her shoulder had been dislocated, in what she described very clearly as an assault; and he recommended a Complaint to the DPH. I wanted to call the FBI!
It took four months for the DPH to conduct their Investigation, but when they did, they issued a Citation, with fine (May 11) to the facility for the mistreatment [SEE DOC].
While I am glad that there is all this interest in my mother's welfare, I am wondering ~ how long is it going to take for her deplorable skin condition to be properly addressed?
~ How am I the questionable one, if I never had a single Complaint against me in seven years in caring for her at home? She was hardly hidden from view (as she is now), I brought her to several doctors' and therapy appointments every week.
I have been pointing out her terrible skin sores since June 2011. This shows that my standards are obviously higher than Wilton Meadows' ~ or anyone else's. One sore in particular was finally ~ and only then under pressure from the DPH ~ biospied, and shown to be a carcinoma. [SEE DOC] So I am hardly exaggerating. But my mother had to wait more than three months for that Investigation ~ and treatment ~ from June to October. What now?
Please note:
The above picture of pustules is an example,
and not my mother’s actual skin per se.
She has large scaly, scabby patches,
which are becoming surrounded by
these puss-filled sacks on her legs.
If I am the only person pointing out the open sores, bloody scabs, scaly patches and bumps on her skin ~ whose fault is that? Why is no one else investigating? Why isn't Wilton Meadows "self-regulating" this care? Why doesn't her Conservator do anything? Or how about the Judge? Does she have to wait another three or four months for the DPH? And if the DPH rules that it is an "acceptable" level of discomfort for my mother to endure, does she just have to simply live with the terrible itching and pain that could easily be prevented by proper moisturizing? That's all I did at home for seven years, and that's what I would do now. At this point, puss-filled pustules are forming ~ I would never allow this to go on at home. From what I understand, that's indicative of staph infection. Would she be allowed to remain in MY CARE with this number of DPH Complaints ~ and Citations? [SEE DOCS]
Wilton Meadows' response is to forbid me to "inspect" my mother! And they constantly threaten to curtail my visits. They insist on "supervising" both my cousin and me ~ as if WE would harm my mother. They are finally moisturizing her face now ~ because that shows ~ but not her legs.
Last Friday they refused to even take an unopened bottle of skin lotion from me, because they "don't know what's in it."
~ As if I might add arsenic to moisturizer for my mother ??????
Wilton Meadows has turned this around, and created a fiction that they are somehow protecting my mother from ME ~ and also from her college friends and my cousin ~ when they are only protecting their own mercenary interests. I never did any of the "reckless" things they have [recently] accused me of doing, with the single exception of applying yogurt to her ~ as one of the CNA's present at the time concurred: "to rebalance the healthy bacteria" ~ so that was hardly a reckless thing. Over-medicating her with a sedating seizure medication, that's reckless.
My "reckless" solution for that in the Spring of 2010? Desperate attempts to have Wilton Meadows confer with her private neurologist ~ as is her Patient's Right, as well as the Right to Refuse (harmful) medication ~ which he had discontinued prior to her hospitalization for the stroke in March 2010. Their Medical Director told me that he doesn't "believe in" neurologists, or psychiatrists. The response? Her neurologist is forbidden to speak to me now. After I found him for her in the first place, and worked closely with him for years. They deny that I asked them to speak with him in 2010, so that's that. The DPH refuses call him to confirm that he told me his hands were tied to intervene unless Wilton Meadows called him. The DPH Cited Wilton Meadows for not "educating" ME about my mother's "need" for the medication ~ Keppra ~ (well known for its side-effect of narcolepsy, which suits Wilton Meadows' purposes all too well ~ it's medical duct tape). When I'm the one who found this medication for her, as an alternative to Depakote, with her neurologist ~ who I also hired for her in 2004!
As for my own motives, I had seven years in which to transfer my mother's entire "estate" into my own name ~ given the sweeping authority she invested in me with her Durable Power of Attorney [SEE DOC].
However, I never did that, out of sensitivity to her dignity. But had I transferred the house and other property, this never would have happened, and for that reason I regret it. That is what I should have done to PROTECT HER.
In June 2010, Wilton Meadows was trying to push my mother out the door because her Medicare benefits were due to expire. I did not want the responsibility of maintaining the feeding tube at home, and wished for her transition off it ~ which she did in August ~ and I had to get the house ready for her return. I asked them to keep her for a few more weeks, because I also needed a respite break, having been with her 12 hours a day since March 13, because she was so delicate. By the end of June, she was stronger, and a good team of caregivers had gathered around her.
Wilton Meadows was not "concerned" about sending her home until they discovered that she had assets in her name, and anticipated my legal actions. (I wanted to get her home first.)
I am now asking, Why is it so hard to give her legs the moisturizing they need? She tends to get eczema if her skin is neglected ~ but this is the worst I've ever seen it. It looks like it's becoming dangerously infected at this point. Isn't neglect to the point of a staph infection developing ~ "reckless"?
Again, most of the relevant legal documents have been posted here, for easy access for all concerned:
Thank you again, and for whatever you can do,
and God Help the other residents at Wilton Meadows without family to advocate on their behalf,
Marjorie Partch /for/
Dorothy S. Partch
212.420.9187 / 203.912.3528
__________________________________________
Ms. Marjorie Partch
c/o The Unitarian Church in Westport
10 Lyons Plains Road
Westport, CT 06880
Attn: Mr. David Vita,
Director of Social Justice
203.227.7205, ext. 14
http://www.facebook.com/dorothypartch
