Seattle woman: 'Guardianship system stole my mother'

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From her earliest days, Dorothy Haskell of Spokane lived life her way.

"My mother was very strong willed, independent and opinionated," said her daughter, Lori Haskell.

After getting married and raising two kids in Spokane, Dorothy Haskell had no intention of leaving the house that she and her husband built, even after he died in 1984, according to Lori.

"This house was her pride and joy, she did not want to leave it. She loved this little house, she really did," Lori said.

Neighbors agree that Dorothy was a force to be reckoned with.

"Always jokingly thought in my mind that she would have to be drug kicking and screaming from her house because she was very independent and liked where she lived," said Janet Sanders, who lived next to Dorothy Haskell for more than 20 years.

But when Dorothy reached her mid-80s, her physical and mental health were declining. Lori said she wanted to move her mother into assisted living in Spokane, or to Seattle where Lori runs her own law practice.

"I brought it up to her several times, she would not discuss it."

Lori says when she drove her mother to an assisted living facility in Spokane just to take a look, Dorothy refused to get out of the car.

Legally, Lori couldn't force her mother move--not unless she were declared totally incompetent. Lori says she and her mother's doctor felt that Dorothy should be evaluated.

The experts determined that Dorothy was still legally competent, a decision that Lori says left her in a difficult position.

"If my mother won't move and she is still legally competent I have no authority to move her," she said.

Lori continued to travel back and forth between Seattle and Spokane. There were happy visits for birthdays and holidays, but Lori says there were clashes when Dorothy fired people Lori had hired to help.

Oddly enough, it would be Dorothy's dog "Duffy" that set in motion the events that would change everything. After a visit to a Spokane veterinary clinic, the veterinarian's wife, Kathryn Rush, struck up a friendship with Dorothy.

"She told me that she liked elderly people and she wanted to work with my mother and she had been checking in on her. And it was not a formal situation, she was kind of doing the 'good Samaritan' thing," Lori said.




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Seattle woman: 'Guardianship system stole my mother'