Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Family Members Battle Over Sick Man's Care

A battle is raging between two sides of a family and a sick man is caught in the middle.

Laurie Chism and her brother and sister fear time is running out for their father, 74-year-old Jim Chism.

The Chism children are embroiled in a battle to take guardianship of their father from his wife, who they believe is deliberately letting their dad die.

Chism is being treated at a psychiatric facility in Mount Clemens. He was moved there after having a hallucination the day after Thanksgiving.

His children, who live out of town, say Chism’s wife of more than 20 years ultimately got doctors to sign off on a transfer to a mental institution.

Chism’s kids filed paperwork Monday in Macomb County court to get an emergency hearing to take guardianship of their father.

As for their stepmother, the Chism’s believe she is battling depression over her own struggle with cancer and may be trying to take control of Jim’s assets, including his chiropractic business. We tried to get her side of the story, but she declined.

It’s not yet clear if a judge will take up the emergency petition for guardianship.

Source and Video:
Family Members Battle Over Sick Man's Care

9 comments:

Neil said...

Very tragic story and a lesson of what can happen when family gets into it and won't sit down and work it out.

helensniece said...

It seems the court made a decision, Mr. Chism was surrounded by his children.

Nancy said...

This family needs our prayers.

Scotty said...

I wonder why the step mother did this? Has she always not gotten along with the kids or is this new? It's interesting and tragic.

Karen said...

Facebook reports the Step Mother was not awarded guardianship and that a non-family member was appointed.

The family is excited because they don't realize yet another battle has just begun.

Anonymous said...

Oh Karen is right a 3rd party sounds like a victory but this can go bad fast I hope I'm wrong. Dad should be out of guardianship but we know how that goes being declared a ward is almost always a life sentence how sad.

This is waiting for all of us, so get ready sadly we'll be reading your tragedy on NASGA.

Anonymous said...

Oh, yeah!

When families feud, justice goes our the window for them.

In this instance, weigh the numbers!

Anonymous said...

Like 'Karen' said, the family is overjoyed with the removal of the Temporary GA, who wrote a DNR order on their father. Unfortunately, the new appointment of a professional GA is only a quick fix to withdraw a DNR order. The man is still a court ward, this time, with a stranger legally impersonating him.

Becky said...

I saw this on FB too and the family is pretty much clueless about the storm that's coming.