An Essex County judge has agreed to name an independent "guardian" to examine the validity of the documents presented by Vito Loiacono to support his acting on behalf of his grandfather, Joseph Judd — the 83-year-old Gloucester man whose family has raised a number of allegations about the handling of his case under SeniorCare, Inc.
The motion, heard in probate court, was brought by SeniorCare, the Gloucester-based nonprofit services provider for McPherson Park elderly housing on Prospect Street, where Judd lived for 31/2 years.
Attorney Larry Vern, of Boston's Sullivan & Worcester, said his client — SeniorCare — received in November "a letter that sort of looks like a power of attorney," through which Loiacono sought all of Judd's medical records.
That and a health proxy presented by Loiacono "looked like something from the 1700s," said Vern; SeniorCare has not released the records.
In Massachusetts, such documents do not need to be prepared by a lawyer. Loiacono's were prepared and notarized, as required, by Robert Burke, of Gloucester, a family friend who has a law degree but works as an architect. He said the papers were in order.
Loiacono, who has questioned the timing of SeniorCare's court action on the heels of his request for his grandfather's medical file, said: "I presented those documents to (SeniorCare executive) Scott Trenti in June, when I first talked to him. He expressed no problem with them then.
"I showed the same papers to the medical records department at Addison Gilbert, and they gave me my grandfather's records," Loiacono said. "Same with Seacoast."
Vern told the court SeniorCare also questioned whether Judd, 83, who is illiterate and has dementia, was "influenced" to sign the documents.
Under the motion, the court-appointed guardian ad litem will also consider whether Judd needs a permanent guardian.
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Judge Eyes Naming Guardian in SeniorCare Case
Story is hard to follow, but seems to me that if there is an agency involved, looking to protect itself against charges of inadequate care, and the world of aging care is what it is, in the eyes of government, that grandson will be pushed out and a third-party guardian appointed, especially if there is any money to be sucked out of the old man's estate by a so-called "fiduciary" stranger.
ReplyDeleteThelma you are very insightful. This case is not about any $$. This elder was in a program and was rushed to the hospital with BS over 600. The case manager was pushing family members out, had control of meds and over 16,000 dollars are not accounted for. The Agency did their own internal investigation and surprise cleared the Case Manager of any wrong doing. The grandsonson got DPOA to protect his grandfather and keep him from going back to the program. When he requested all the medical records the agency hired a high power attorney to question the authenticity of the documents. To sum it up, they don' want to release any of the medical records because they don't him to know what happened. I was a case manager at this agency. When I started to ask questions about why they did their own investigation they trumped up charges against me and fired me. The grandson is awaiting word to see if the attorney General will launch a new investigation. This Agency over see's a program paid for by tax payers $$. It is a Non Profit. The agency is trying to take the DPOA and Proxy way to prevent the grandson from getting the documents that could put them in a very bad position if an investigation is done.
ReplyDeletei can hear the sucking sound all the way to my foxhole i have to wonder just how many of these bogus guardianship cases exist oh thats right there aren't any count state or federal database so the numer of wards is a mystery any wild guesses folks? if the elderly man has property and or any money elsewhere he is a target if he was indigent his poa would not be an issue hey another thing whats this ~~~ non profit? how do they get around this there certainly is profit in this
ReplyDelete"SeniorCare, the Gloucester-based nonprofit services provider for McPherson Park elderly housing on Prospect Street, where Judd lived for 31/2 years."