Korean Vietnam War Vet Inside VA System Held Against HIs Will

NOTE:  The journalist who wrote the article below, Michael Volpe, will be a guest tonight on a special episode of T.S. Radio with Marti Oakley (8:00 pm EST) and he will be speaking about this case. So we thought it appropriate to re-post the article so everyone can re-read and re-familiarize yourselves with it.

After the article was published, Mr. Hughes said hopefully, "Maybe now someone can help me...."

Norman Hughes Jr., 81, is a Korean and Vietnam War veteran who’s currently paying $7,000 per month to live in the Kirby Pines Retirement Home in Memphis even though he told The Daily Caller he wants to live with a caretaker named Debbie McCoy — at her home paying $2,700 per month — where she has run a VA-certified living assistance facility for fifteen years with no complaints until this case.

“I need somebody to help me get out of here,” said Hughes from his room.

In late 2012, Hughes was living with McCoy when he decided to remove his cousin, Mary Ann Phillips, from a bank account he held with nearly $150,000 in it because of a pattern of unpaid bills and missing money.

According to interviews with Hughes, his son Bernard, granddaughter Cavita, ex-wife Doris Jones, and McCoy, Phillips was enraged by the move and approached the VA with a series of unsubstantiated charges which were filed formally on December 29, 2012.

Philips claimed that Hughes was unshaven and dirty, that his room was a mess, and that he had developed a bed sore at McCoy’s home.

But Bernard and Cavita Hughes said they both visited Hughes regularly during this time period and would have noticed if it wasn’t clean and safe.

In early 2013, Norman Hughes went to the Memphis VA to get treated for a form of neuropathy. While in the hospital, Phillips told him he needed to take some tests with another doctor.

Phillips took Hughes to see Dr. Felicie Wyatt, who specialized in internal  and geriatric medicine, telling him he needed routine tests.

Instead, Dr. Wyatt tested Hughes for his mental competency.

Hughes, his son, and McCoy all insist he was tricked into seeing this doctor.

Buoyed by Dr. Wyatt’s competency determination, Phillips and the VA maneuvered the case into probate court where Memphis attorney Keith Dobbs was appointed VA guardian — he named Phillips conservator.

According to court records, Dobbs has been receiving 7% of Hughes monthly retirement income for more than a year.

Full Article and Source:
Korean, Vietnam War Vet Inside VA System Held Against His Will

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