Friday, August 21, 2009

Legal Guardian Denies Family Contact

Carol Kinnear, a retired Belleair Elementary teacher in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, signed an update to her trust in June 2008.

Her wish was clear: For the rest of her life, regardless of her health, she wanted to stay home.

The trust provision, her daughters thought, would assure she could do that.

On Monday, Kinnear, 78, was taken from home and moved to an unnamed facility, the act of a court-appointed guardian. She would be treated there for "high anxiety and confusion," the guardian wrote in an e-mail. Her children, blocked from contact, were told it was in their mother's best interest.

Earlier this year, to safeguard their mother's estate after money had come up missing, they had filed for guardianship in a Pinellas court.

Now they find themselves the victims of unintended consequences, guarded against by the person they had sought for help.

Kinnear's first guardian, Sandra Scott, caused her to fall after giving too high a dose of medication, said Kellee Watt, 45, of Indian Rocks Beach.

Teri St. Hilaire, who replaced Scott on July 1, didn't return phone calls and e-mails from the daughters.

Full Article and Source:
Legal guardian denies Alzheimer's patient her home and family contact

Sandra Scott certified with the Center for Guardianship Certification, an allied foundation of the National Guardianship Association (NGA).

Teri St. Hilaire is certified with the
Center for Guardianship Certification, an allied foundation of the National Guardianship Association (NGA).

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I could literally scream. EVERYBODY KNOWS MOVING SOMEONE WITH DEMENTIA SYMPTOMS FROM FAMILIAR SURROUNDINGS CONFUSES HIM/HER AND FEEDS THE ILLNESS!

This guardian should be immediately removed and then prohibited from acting in a guardian capacity again.

Anonymous said...

Isolation is the cruelest weapon of an abusive guardian.

I am sorry for what you are suffering, Kinnear family.

Anonymous said...

More members of the NGA.

What a disgrace to that organization.

Anonymous said...

Yes, this is the second or third article posted this week of guardians abusing the elderly or disabled -- and those guardians belong to the NGA.

What's the NGA doing about this? Are they even keeping track?

Anonymous said...

How can the guardian get away with this?

This is outrageous.

The laws are supposed to be "in the best interest of the ward". How can being denied family be in anyone's best interest?

Unbelievable!

Are you watching, Judge?

Darlene said...

The guardian would not allow anyone to visit my friend for over six weeks. She said he needed to get settled in and adjusted to his new place (a grungy "retirement" home.) He was alone and afriad and "stole" the phone on two occasions to call me to pick him up. Of course, I could not do this. I was so worried about him. This is isolation that works for the abusive guardian and the owner of this horrible home.

Anonymous said...

The guardian do not care about the ward. All they care about is the money they are making through the ward's assets. Secondly, they isolate the ward so their friends and loved ones will not have information for complaints.

Anonymous said...

What kind of monster would do this to anybody?

Anonymous said...

Why was Kinnear appointed a stranger as a guardian rather than her daughters?

Well we don't know, but if there was a lot of money in the trust, that's a pretty good guess.

Kinnear's guardian should be removed now and family should be given the opportunity to care for her person and her property.

Anonymous said...

Darlene, you've hit on the main reasons why isolation from family and friends should NEVER be allowed: the ward feels alone and afraid.

When guardians isolate their wards, judges should immediately remove them, and then order them to repay the estate whatever fees they have collected.

Anonymous said...

Kinnear's wish that regardless of her health, she wanted to stay home should be adhered to by anyone in charge of her health care and by the courts.

What's happening is that the money which could and should be used for Kinnear's care is being eaten up by her guardian, the attorneys, and the court.

And what does the judge do about it?

Nothing.

I hope the Kinnear family files a complaint on this judge.

Anonymous said...

This is a typical guardian abuse story. Hell for everyone except the guardian who prospers.

Anonymous said...

Biggest Mafia Family
D C F - looking for victims
Guardians - Abuse and Brainwashing
Attorney - stealing from family
Judges - forcing people losing their civil rihts

Anonymous said...

It's happening again to a friend of mine
by this same guardian! Has she NO conscience
whatsoever? Kidnapping is a very serious
crime! Maybe worse than murder because
of the enormous grief and isolation the ward
and her friend continue to suffer. This is the
perfect time for the staff to do the right
thing before the damage is too far gone.


Murder

Anonymous said...

A "LIFE-ECTOMY" ...The surgical removal of someone's life. Where is your shame Teri St.Hilaire? One invisionment I have of hell is being isolated from my loved ones. The other would be to have all my hopes and dreams ripped out from under me. All that's left is a profound, lonely, sense of utter hopelessness
where death IS one's only hope. Would you do this to your family member? When you spend the ward's nest egg, do you ever feel bad? I think
you ARE incapacitated. Your turn will come. At least the ward will one day be with God...

Thelma said...

A NASGA member worked with legislators to get a Bill to STOP
the isolation in California. She succeeded!
It can be done everywhere that people work together.
Hearing video:
http://nasga-stopguardianabuse.blogspot.com/2013/06/linda-kincaid-reports-california-senate.html

Anonymous said...

If the wards are permitted to have contact with their loved ones, then they would obviously relate the horrible details of their secret life on death row. Of course the loved ones would reveal the incomprehensible truth about the fact that there is little hope, if any, to change the ward's demise

Anonymous said...

The pain and loss of my beloved Love in my life is so, so deep... She and I are now slowly dying together. I want so badly to save her but the guardian that owns her must keep her isolated until all the loot has been devoured. When that happens, if she is still alive, maybe I'll have a chance to visit her in the meager facility she'll be placed in under Medicare...I have done nothing wrong whatsoever yet false allegatio
were made I could not answer to. She did nothing wrong but save for a retirement.Of course her suffering is
far worse than mine but I know all the gory details she not told about. The whole thing is so unbelievable and tragic! My hands are so tied to help her in any way except by writing this, it might touch the heart of someone who can help her and other humans in slavery in our freedomless country. God and I are with you always...

Anonymous said...

This guardian;Teri St.Hilaire,is the worst of the textbook cases.
I am paralizied to say or do anything.
What she HAS DONE and will CONTINUE to do is obliterate the lives
of her property; the ward, and also, myself. It's diabolical!
Most every law that can be broken, she has broke. I can NOT think of anybody who lacks a consci more than her! She will not stop until until ahe bleeds her property and all those in her way to the last drop!
Her property, the ward, was my very best friend. May God show me the answers of how to slay this pathetic, monster before she destroys any more innocent lives!!! Soon this story will
have names and faces. When it does, it may help others to come forward and take a stand. Guardianship abuse will be a punishable, non-invisable, crime.
Our mothers & fathers can go shopping without the threat of being sentenced to death row...

Anonymous said...

This guardian has no soul. It's a simple as that.