Monday, May 18, 2009

Held Captive

Jan. 2006, my husband Gary E. Harvey, age 55, suffered a tragic accident leaving him severely brain injured. As his wife and sole advocate, I’m fighting to ensure he gets the best possible care and quality of life. We’ve been abused and taken advantage of by Chemung County, CCNF, APS, DSS, Attorneys, and Supreme Court.

I pray that Gary has a full recovery. A man who served his country should not be treated this way! No matter what, I want him home where he’ll be loved, safe, and properly cared for.

The County is divorcing me from my husband and holding him prisoner.

All they care about is money. I only count when it comes to keeping health insurance on Gary and paying the bills; an obligation - not a WIFE. We are not rich and don’t want to see our home and all we worked our entire lives for, taken by the county.

While in Chemung County Nursing Facility-CCNF, Gary lost weight, teeth, and suffered black eyes. He laid in bile & feces, had defective feeding tubes left unattended, and received less than adequate oral care. All this with no justifiable reason as to how or why it happened. His tongue is like coarse sandpaper; his bottom lip is half gone due to their lack of compassion and aggressive behavior. During the time I was assisting with his care, he did not have any of these issues. The facility fails to mail or notify me of incident reports regarding accidents where he has received cuts, bruises, etc.

Adult Protective Service-APS restricts visitation to family (only) ... which means no friends; so he has only me. I feel harassed by staff when they prevent me from taking him out of his room for a change of scenery. I have also been instructed not to kiss or hug my husband. The list is endless. We lost all spousal rights; and my husband is being treated beneath the dignity of an animal rather than a human being.

My husband is a very strong man, a fighter who would not want me to give up on his recovery; nor have I. He has beaten many obstacles and tragedies in his life and I will never stop fighting to help him beat this one. I feel the more stimulation he has, the better his outcome will be. I am all he has and will do anything for him. I do not treat him as if something is wrong which adds to his confusion. Gary needs love - not mystery and abuse.

Who but his wife should decide for him?

May 2009 ~ Guardianship abuse victims recognized during Elder Abuse Prevention Month

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's right, the guardianship has all but divorced this couple.

Is that what Gary Harvey would want? No. Does it matter what he wants? No.

Anonymous said...

Sara, I am so sorry for the emotional and financial distress your State Government and all their beurocratic mismangement and substandard care from Provider Agencies. Another example of why Government needs to get out of the Business of Providing services and get out of our family unit. Gov't tears families apart by stealing our vulnerable family members for the money they can exploit from families and the Federal funding (kickbacks) they get to feed State Gov't coffers. Unscrupulous court appointed 'professionals' are profiteering off this Gardianship scam. They are expert at using the State courts to strip all rights and assets of our vulnerable family members.

Maybe its time American's Stood Up in unison and contracted the UN, World Health and other International oversight Agencies to launch an investigation into the USA for all the autrocities our country is committing upon vulnerable citizens for Greed

Anonymous said...

Maybe the terminology is not sufficiently accurate. We keep referring to "it" as GUARDIANSHIP. The practical reality is OWNERSHIP, anyone want to disagree with the term as an accurate description of "it"(the pattern & practice of so called guardianship). Now the next word that fits is "slavery". So what we really have is the "NEW(CURRENT)AMERICAN SLAVERY SYSTEM"
I'm thinking to challenge some media and/or shows(Oprah, Michael Moore, etc.) on that level. Afterall, slavery didn't end quickly, too much money involved_ what's different about so called guardianship?

Anonymous said...

Gary E. Harvey is a married man. Gary belongs at home with his wife.

What is the mystery? What is so complicated or unusual about this request?

Wake Up America! This could happen to YOU or YOUR LOVED ONE!

Via the guardianship system which is a "front" to generate and launder money for the racket, for the organized crime mob bosses (corrupt judges) under color of law and their greedy probate pals to secure ownership of an innocent person with court approval, turning, churning the "marked" person into a ward, a product to generate money for the probate machine.

Ownership and slavery would certainly be better word choices to begin to describe how the guardianship system was twisted and turned to work in the best interest of ....the guardian.

Don't believe this can happen? That is what the system depends on, operating in the dark, laying in wait for their next victim.

Any Volunteers to become a Ward of the State?

Anonymous said...

You've made a good point, Anonymous 3. Guardianship is ownership of another human being.

What gets me the most is they don't target the able-bodied; no, they wait until the person can't fight back and then they take everything.

And they effectively dispose of anyone who would fight for the person.

SH said...

Yep slavery all right but I prefer to see it as a concentration camp and how our tropps were treated in WW1. America is not the land of the free anymore or home of the braves. This is just an example of how our government treats those who defend it. I am all for media attention.

Anonymous said...

No one wants to be in a nursing home, including the workers!

Everyone wants to be at home if they are ill or disabled.

Gary Harvey belongs at home with his wife and familiar surroundings.

Chemung County Nursing Facility and Chemung Co. should hang their heads in shame.

caring for seniors said...

By all means, transfer your husband into a respectable health care facility where all his needs will be taken cared of dutifully and compassionately. Saying that your husband is treated terribly is an understatement. You have every right to demand that he must be taken out of the so-called "facility" where he is treated in a way no human being should be. He is a soldier for crying out loud. If this is the manner his country repays him, then others who risk their lives for the country should think a million times before serving the nation.

Anonymous said...

Whoever is "handling" this case for APS should be fired.

APS is supposed to be protecting adults?

How is confining them in a nursing home "protecting" them.

Gary Harvey is subjected to a multitude of infections and virus by his mere presence in a nursing home.

And that's not even considering the lack of care.

I am sorry, Sara, for what you are going through. But, I know without you, Gary would be all alone and likely give up.

Anonymous said...

Free Gary Harvey!

Anonymous said...

Good point, caring for seniors, Gary Harvey is a veteran. We often hear the call to support the troops - what about supporting those who have served their country already?

Do we forget them now that they've served their purpose? I hope to heck not.

Anonymous said...

There is always another side to every story! Sara is not telling the truth. I have a long history with Gary Harvey that began at age 17. I was married to him for 19 years and had 2 children with him. These children have been treated terrible by Sara. She lost custody of her own daughter at age 12. The story posted is very far from the truth. I wonder why she doesn't tell how the "accident" happened. There is so much more to this story.

Anonymous said...

All I have to say is WHY HASN'T SARA the kind person she portrays herself to be MENTIONED GARY'S CHILDREN!!! or what she has done to them durring Gary's stay in the nursing facility? Thats right she wouldn't make herself look bad by telling the world how she tried to ban Gary's own children from seeing him! Come on! And everyone is really missing the most important fact, she tried to suffocate her husband when she cut the balloon on his trach! The equipment wasn't defected from my understanding but Sara was upset because something didnt go her way and threw a tantrum. Now who in their right mind would give a person who would do this to their own husband legal guardianship?! Maybe Sara should stop trying to bein the spot light and research her husbands condition renduring the removal of his feeding tube and maybe then she would realize the county is only trying to keep Gary comfortable not starve him or kill him! Gary wouldn't want to live like this he was a very active man! How do people actually think this way of living that Gary has had to endure, being hooked to feeding tubes and respirators etc. is what he would want! No one would want to live like that! My personal opinion is that Sara needs to stop thinking about herself and think about her husband and what he would want seeing how she has stripped Gary's children's rights to their father away! Everyone needs to remember there are ALWAYS 2 SIDES 2 a STORY and I'm afraid you all have been taken by Sara's whitty stories and selfish acts! WAKE UP AND SUPPORT GARY HE IS THE WE SHOULD BE THINKING ABOUT NOT SARA AND HOW SHE FEELS!!!

Anonymous said...

Wake up and support Gary????

Tell me, how is allowing Gary to be starved and dehydrated to death - executed - supporting him?

If you wish to support Gary, support his right to live.

You are correct that no one would "want" to live "that way". No one would choose it. No doubt about it that Gary would rather be normal. Anyone would.

But, no one wants to get cancer, either, and that doesn't mean we should execute cancer patients. No one would want to be born with Downs Syndrome, or severe autism or horrible deformaties. Are we just going to execute people because we impose our personal "standards" of quality of life on them? Where does it stop?

How Gary's wife treats or doesn't treat his children has no place in this discussion. This is about Gary Harvey's right to live -- and the county's attempt to kill him.

That's all.

Please withhold your personal comments and bias against Sara Harvey and stick to the subject.

Anonymous said...

Oh darn I wish I had seen the comments left on this board a long time ago. I can attest to the 2 last May and June anonomys posts above.

For the very last anonymous post, sara's so busy trash talking and diminishing the reputation of Chemung County, CCNF, APS, DSS, Attorneys, and the Supreme Court, saying she was 'abused' and 'taken advantage of'. Is her trash talking contributing to 'facts'? The personal comments and bias are merely character witness testimonies that do not support yet another one of sara's custody battles.

let's think about his interests - she realistically can't take care of him at home, if she doesn't have enough money to pay someone $19/hour for a supervised visit what makes you think she can hire an in-home nurse to take care of him at home??? She isn't an RN, and that's what he needs. she probably wants custody back b/c of a pension, ss benefits, life insurance who knows. and if the care he's getting was/is so bad, why didn't she have him transferred to another facility before she lost custody??!! probably would have cost her more than she was willing to pay for. And now she's really paying for it, and Gary suffers. maybe now that she's not allowed to visit him, his kids can finally go and see their dad.