Hospitals can call a preferred private fiduciary that will assess your situation and may petition the court to declare you legally incapacitated.
If appointed your guardian, the fiduciary can charge substantial fees to manage your finances and care.
In one Sun City case, neither the hospital nor the fiduciary contacted the son of an elderly couple with dementia before taking action. The couple had not wanted their son contacted, but experts agree that is typical for people with dementia.
Fiduciaries, along with probate law firms, often have relationships with hospitals that they have carefully cultivated as part of their marketing strategy, The Arizona Republic has found.
Court records and interviews show some hospital social workers and doctors often call favorite fiduciaries to manage care of their patients.
"The role of our case managers is going to be proactive in getting patients into long-term care," said Bill Byron, spokesman for Banner Health, which operates 13 hospitals in Arizona and 10 outside the state. "What they have done (in making referrals) is not . . . incorrect or inappropriate."
One case in 2007 involved Charles and Julia Gustafson of Sun City. A case manager at Boswell called Childers & Berg after Charles came to the hospital with leg ulcers. Doctors would not allow him to go home because of concerns that Julia could no longer care for her husband.
Court records show that Childers & Berg assigned its own care managers, who determined both Charles and Julia needed protection; each suffered from dementia. Childers & Berg's staff arranged for both to be moved from their home into an adult-care home and petitioned the court for guardianship.
But Julia's son, Ray Ireland, says all of this happened before he was even notified that his stepfather was in the hospital.
"I hadn't heard from my parents in almost a month. I didn't know what was going on. . . . Then I got a call from my mother's court-appointed counsel that my parents were in the custody of Childers & Berg," said Ireland, who is a retired firefighter in Clark County, Nev.
Court records show that from January to March, Childers & Berg and its attorney charged total fees of $27,015.
"The reason they didn't inform me was for their own monetary benefit, in my opinion," Ireland said. "And it is sanctioned by the state of Arizona."
Full Article and Source:
Maricopa County Probate Court - Hospitals Can Call Fiduciaries for Their Patients
Is some governmental authority actually doing something about these crimes. It is far more than elder abuse - it is intentional financial exploitation, depriving the elderly of their assets, even denying most of them of rights to their own self-determination. Strange tough, there are only fiduciaries appointed to those who have assets to be seized, the poor have the freedom to determine their own destiny.
ReplyDeleteI guess targeting the disabled and elderly is okay.........selective targeting
ReplyDeleteThis is OUTRAGEOUS!
ReplyDeleteSee this story from Illinois as well. Hospitals can also threaten and bully people into doing what they want:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wifr.com/news/headlines/A_Growing_Trend_in_Medicine_112579604.html
No, anonymous, I don't think the govt is really doing anything about these crimes as yet.
ReplyDeleteNASGA is working hard to get the ball rolling and I am pleased they are.
As usual, it's all about profit, this time under the guise of "care."
ReplyDeletethank you arizona republic for keeping on this national tragedy now our suspicions are confirmed we knew the hospitals are prime hunting grounds and this is sick sick sick because the hospital folks are the ones declaring a patient incomeptent oh yeah right like we believe their diagnosis and how much drugging is going on to ensure the target is woooooozie ? knowing full well who the fiduciary buds are and they know the net worth of their tgarget hmmmmm anybody a bit worried and in the case highlighted the tag team of the protection racket did all of their dirty work without notifying the family of their intent heck we knew this was going on and it is wrong talk about conflict of interest and this is getting bigger folks remember rehab is involved as prime hunting grounds big business and the suits in dc are a no show shame shame shame on you elected politicians when will one of the elected politicians step up and take this on?
ReplyDeletethere are two types of people: predators and their prey
thank you nasga what would we do without you i am so worked up over this
These white collar crooks should be behind bars.A group of cons that deceive,lie,and manipulate.
DeleteA fiduciary named childers is not for the benefit of the client,only for his purse. He uses all aspects of manipulation and purgery to gain his power. The love of money. Evil group, stay away.
This group of private fiduciaries(childers) are the worst. And they are on the arizona fiduciary supreme court? A corrupt state this is.
ReplyDeleteA lying, con artist that should be working on a dirty used car lot.
Put him behind bars for fraud and embezzlement.