Friday, October 1, 2010

Conservator Fought Him, Then Billed Him

For 10 weeks, Matthew Keenan lay in a coma, the victim of a hospital error that plunged him into respiratory arrest and cut off oxygen to his brain. A judge appointed his mother to serve as guardian and conservator for her comatose 37-year-old son. Twice, his father called a priest to perform last rites. Then he awoke.

He had no idea where he was. He could move nothing but his eyelids. Then his fingers.

It was the start of a long, remarkable, some might say miraculous recovery. He learned to use his arms again, to sit up, to feed himself, to use a wheelchair, to regain a brain that survived a nearly fatal injury.

Yet when he rolled into a Boulder courthouse three years ago and petitioned to be free of his guardian, he ignited a legal battle that persists to this day.

The bank chosen to manage his money jumped into the case, allying itself with his guardian. Both billed him for the time they spent challenging him in court.

[H]is bid to lose his guardian and conservator escalated into a nasty, costly court fight.

Although Keenan's guardian resigned months later, his conservator — Colorado State Bank and Trust — has charged almost $300,000 for litigation costs before and after a judge summarily replaced it.

Full Article and Source:
Bank Appointed as Disabled Man's Conservator Fought Him, Then Billed Him

7 comments:

  1. Please join NASGA, Mr. Keenan,and work with us to reform the system.

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  2. It could happen to anybody. We think guardianship involves the elderly and it mostly does - but not always. And here's a case to prove it.

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  3. What a remarkable recovery you have made. And I am sure at the time, you thought that was the hardest thing you'd ever do in your life. But now, you're in a bigger fight.

    You have strength and stamina and those qualities will get you though this fight too.

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  4. This is one of the many, many things wrong with the current system.

    A ward should not have to pay to be abused. The fact that the ward pays both sides is just plain wrong.

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  5. I will pray for your continued recovery, Mr.Keenan, and your continued strength to fight off the vultures.

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  6. I am glad to see your case getting publicity and pointing out the many flaws of guardianship.

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  7. I feel your pain. I had Guradian/Conservatorship of my mentally ill father until i was Forced to give it up to the Criminal Patricia Ayers in Denver because of the threats of her then married boyfriend John V Egan III. I was just arrested tonight because my father called me to take him to see the attorneys who provide pro se clinics at Adams County Judicial Center. It took two years to get dental treatment for my father. Now he doesn't have pants that fit him. She has REFUSED to provide the funds to pay for them. I've been buying the things he needs out of my own limited funds.

    These criminals need to be stopped!!!
    So do the Judges who are reported to be taking payoffs from these criminals.

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