Guardianship Abuse: The Most Insidious and All-Encompassing Form of Elder Abuse

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, Conn., for short-term rehabilitation for the severe stroke she had in March 2010. BEWARE:  Your legal authority can be undone without Due Process in a matter of weeks behind closed doors.  ~ Marjorie Partch: map@marjoriepartch.com

RECENT 2013 UPDATES:

http://www.scribd.com/collections/4351502/The-Kieran-Costello-Collection-Candidate-for-Probate-Judge-in-Westport

PLEASE SIGN DOROTHY'S PETITION, TO THE RIGHT! And explore some videos of similar tragic stories in Connecticut, RIGHT, beginning with the case of Daniel Gross, whose daughter brought his suit to Supreme Court, changing State Law in March 2012 for all of our protection.

BASTILLE DAY UPDATE:

The Daniel Gross case has not only changed Conn. State Law, but is bringing us into the mainstream media.  Check out the latest AARP Bulletin: http://pubs.aarp.org/aarpbulletin/20120708?folio=40#pg58

But the War for Justice is not over …

July 26:  DAUGHTER SUES NURSING HOME FOR FRAUD; NEGLIGENCE; UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE BUSINESS PRACTICES; EMOTIONAL DISTRESS; AND CRUELTY
http://www.scribd.com/doc/101295410/Daughter-Sues-Wilton-Meadows-Nursing-Home-for-Fraud-Negligence-Cruelty

THIS IS JUST IN FROM THE CONN. PROBATE FRONT:  DAMNING JUDICIAL DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL MEMO:
http://articles.courant.com/2012-05-02/news/hc-green-southington-farm-20120502_1_josephine-smoron-smoron-farm-sam-manzo

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August 15:  A snail's pace.  Three months have gone by.  The Court-Appointed Conservator for my mother, Mr. Matthew Caputo, a real estate attorney in Norwalk ~ you can see why they would prefer him ~ has once again submitted his resignation.  We hope this triggers a new hearing within the next week or two, to finalize and approve our progress with Money Follows the Person.  Meanwhile, my mother, and I, and the house have all been approved by the State. We are poised to make the necessary modifications to the house, with help from Church & State ~

Next frontier:  The mortgage is in default, with foreclosure looming. I don't have the standing to request a loan modification … or to bring suit on my mother's behalf.

LAST HEARING:  WESTPORT PROBATE COURT ON TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012, AT 3 P.M. ~ IT WENT QUITE WELL, WITH HELP FROM THE STATE PROGRAM THE MONEY FOLLOWS THE PERSON.
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Dear Assistant Attorney General Hulin,

CC:  Conn. Long Term Care Ombudsman Dan Lerman;
Conn. Dept. of Social Services Case Worker Tyrone McMillan, MSW;

Senator Blumenthal, Congressman Himes, Senator John Kerry, Bruce Gormley (cousin of Superior Court Judge Joseph T. Gormley, who liberated Daniel Gross from Probate Bondage), State Senator Edith Prague, State Senator Bob Duff, various media professionals, and members of the Unitarian-Universalist Society in Stamford, the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, and the Unitarian Church in Westport, The Interfaith Council of Westport-Weston; family & friends

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I am glad that you will be attending the 3 P.M. hearing in Westport next week, May 15, thank you for letting me know.

As you know, my mother's Court-Appointed Conservator, Mr. Matthew Caputo, has already petitioned the Probate Court to resign, and is now petitioning to sell the house and have his Accounting through November 2011 approved. It was due July 27, 2011. He seems to have decided to move ahead without securing my waiver to grant him the carte blanche that he was requesting. As you know, I was reluctant to do so, even with my mother being held hostage; however, my attorney is not particularly litigiously inclined toward Mr. Caputo, although we are concerned about not compromising our position with regard to suits against Wilton Meadows.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/82978905/Accounting-from-Conservator

As you also know, it is my wish to fulfill my mother's wish, and my sacred promise to her, to have her taken care of in her own home for the rest of her life. I feel more strongly than ever given recent events that her life will be considerably longer, healthier and happier at home, where she will receive so much more individual attention and stimulation from our friends, our congregation (the Unitarian Church in Westport) and the Interfaith Community; and be better supported with the proper care of her private medical experts and specialized therapists ~ and my own full-time devotion. The neglect of her delicate skin is deplorable ~ two more advanced carcinomas were finally removed last Wednesday, after 11 months of my Complaints to the DPH. I loved to massage and moisturize her skin every day at home ~ she deserves that TLC at this time in her life, rather than a dislocated shoulder, injured wrist, broken tooth and skin sores; isolation and boredom; constant irritations from other residents, medical equipment and staff ~ she deserves her beloved Mozart rather than muzak. (She requested Beethoven the other day, and for the third week in a row that I take her to the bathroom, "so I can go by myself, sitting up.")   

Last week, after ignoring my Complaints about her open sores for 11 months ~ not to mention the sores themselves ~ Wilton Meadows finally ~ no doubt under pressure from the Dept. of Public Health, scheduled a trip to their dermatologist, at the ungodly hour of 9 A.M.  My mother does not normally wake up before 11 ~ partly due to her strokes, and partly due to the narcolepsy-inducing seizure medication they insist on giving her, even though her neurologist and she and I had made the quality-of-life decision to discontinue it.  I asked them to reschedule for an afternoon time so that my mother's sleep would not be disrupted, and it would be easier for me to travel up from NYC.  They refused.  As you pointed out, I am lucky they informed me of the appointment at all (the night before).  They don't have to.  I didn't care for their dermatologist nearly as much as my mother's private doctor of many years, but it was nice to hold her hand for three hours ~ for the first time in over 18 months.

I kept my mother out of a nursing home for more than seven years before she went to Wilton Meadows for stroke rehab and was kidnapped by them. We also paid considerably into a "state-wide asset protection plan" ~ a partnership between her LTC insurance carrier [Met Life] and the state, to protect the house. This was paid into for several years, earning "credits" against potential Medicaid claims on the property. Under the Medicaid "Caregiver's Exception," I am also entitled to keep the house. And, finally, under her Durable POA I also could have (and should have) transferred everything into my own name. This never would have happened to her if I had done so, to my terrible regret now. I was never in a rush to do that, however, because I never intended to allow my mother to go into a nursing home. It was always my intention to create whatever she needed at home. Had I ever anticipated this turn of events, I would have sold the Roton Point property to pay for the house, and put it into my name, for herprotection. But I was preserving her familiar status quo for her sake and simplicity for tax purposes.

We have petitioned the Probate Court that Attorney Rick Ross and I be appointed as Co-Conservators, so that I may resume my commitment to my mother's proper care, and begin to right this terrible wrong against our entire family. I understand that preventing foreclosures is an area of expertise for Mr. Ross, and I have been looking into federally sponsored loan modification programs. My mother is a shoo-in, and I would welcome the assistance of Congressman Himes' office toward this end.

If Wilton Meadows wishes to make the case that I am "crazy" ~ which surely they should have done in July 2010, following Due Process with Rules of Evidence, rather than being permitted to subject me to "double jeopardy" at this late date ~ then that would mean that they illegally evicted my mother's disabled dependent(s) from our shared home.

Our joint bank accounts were frozen without a hearing. My mother's residence was changed without a hearing. The attached check ~ made out to me, and not to my mother ~ shows just $5,000 that I clearly deposited, in May 2010, a gift/loan from concerned friends, for the express purpose of dealing with the crisis developing at that time at Wilton Meadows. 

The illegal seizure of our funds prevented me from retaining an attorney to defend our Constitutional Rights from this "Abomination of Justice," in the exact words of the Unitarian Church in Westport's Director of Social Justice, David Vita ~ see his articles and letters.   

Without access to these funds, we were subjected to the absolute tyranny of Wilton Meadows' manipulation of the Probate Court.  This is not the America that most Americans believe in.  If not for the nearly constant interventions of the Ombudsman Program, my mother would still be locked in total isolation with no one to truly love her, and advocate for her needs, wishes and Rights.  No one would have reported her injuries including a dislocated shoulder in January 2011. This report ~ and the resulting Citation ~ has definitely improved her care at Wilton Meadows.  There have been multiple Citations, with more coming.

This is a shameful and systemic abuse of power over Law-abiding, innocent and vulnerable Citizens, many of whom have no one at all to speak or act on their behalf.  We must develop effective PROTECTIONS, and additional recourse for families without the financial resources to fight back against this "deadly force" exercised through the esoteric, hidden and costly channels of the Probate System. This abuse must be PREVENTED, and not merely redressed AFTER the harm is inflicted.   

How can it be that the only real recourse is a prohibitively costly and lengthy Appeal to Superior Courts ???  What kind of Democracy is THAT?  Why don't THEY have to stand on that kind of ceremony to TAKE our Rights away?  How can it be so much more difficult to restore them ???  The relevant Statutes were revised in 2007 ~ it is up to the Governor and the Attorney General to enforce these laws. 

A year ago, Superior Court Judge Edward Karazin took a very dim view of Wilton Meadows' attorney's persistent argument that it was "too late" to correct their "mistake" ~ whether due to fraud or negligence ~ of ignoring my properly designated authority, and the relevant Statutes.  The Judge asked Attorney Angelo Marogos incredulously and repeatedly if that was just his personal opinion, or his interpretation of the Law.  Finally the Judge said, "'Too late'?  That your legal argument?  I guess you and I went to different law schools."  His Opinion looms large behind our current negotiations, but the clock is still ticking ~ and Justice delayed is Justice denied.

No amount of "restitution" can ever make up for the pain and suffering my mother and I have been subjected to, being separated in these most precious years, months and days of my mother's life. This should be a time of peace and comfort for my mother; not misery, isolation, neglect and abuse. She should have unrestricted access to her own private medical specialists and rehabilitation therapists, and unrestricted access to my caring presence and support. 

We should be supported at this time, in our own home, surrounded by our beloved friends and precious belongings, full of the memories of our shared lifetimes together.  But these shared personal belongings ~ gifts between the two of us exchanged over our entire livetimes ~ have been plundered by those "charged" with my mother's protection; but profiteering from her exploitation. 

We are being kept out of our own home by a Life-and-Death Game of Checkers ~ delaying tactics, not even Chess ~ played by privileged players, paid to play, out of my mother's pocket.  And until March 23 they enjoyed complete Immunity ?!

Thank you for your interest in my mother's welfare and Constitutional Rights, Attorney Hulin.

~ Marjorie Partch.