By Marcia Southwick
In most states, if you are deemed incapacitated by a court, it will
hand your rights over to a professional or family guardian who then will
make all decisions for you. Given that state courts are backlogged,
and judges are faced with stacks of papers, it’s no wonder that a
tendency to treat every case with uniformity has developed.
Unfortunately, one size does not fit all, and many elders and persons
with disabilities are not being treated as individuals with dignity but
rather as second-class citizens without equal protection under the
law—as a non-person. The descriptions of how removal of rights has
caused suffering are heartbreaking.
Now that someone (often a complete stranger) has been appointed
Dictator over your life and assets, and now that this Dictator has
almost no supervision and little accountability for how your assets are
spent, how are you feeling about it? Not too great. How is the
guardian feeling? Power drunk.
Even though guardians can control every aspect of people’s lives,
they aren’t monitored by outsiders. They pay themselves out of your
estate in addition to having the right to claim that anything they do is
in your “best interest.” If that means selling your house and throwing
you into a lock-down unit, so be it. If your spouse of 50 years fights
for your freedom, they will simply, on your behalf and “in your best
interests”, get you a divorce from that pesky spouse. If your family
doesn’t like it and wages a court battle, the guardian can use YOUR
money to hire a lawyer to battle back, quickly exhausting your estate.
And, what are your families chances of winning if you are in one of the
many jurisdictions where the judge, the guardian, who was very possibly
appointed by the judge, and the guardian’s lawyer are old pals?
One example out of many in which guardians became increasingly
tyrannical can be seen in the case of Evelyn Schwartz. Evelyn was born
in 1916, widowed early, and, having had no children, lived alone for
many years. She had been a secretary to the dean of a local Mayfield
Ohio college, and at the time she was deemed “incompetent”, a very
alert 93-year-old woman who had been declared fully capable by her
physician.
For fifteen years, her caretaker, a young man named Dean, had been
seeing to her every need. He had a heart attack, however, which caused
Adult Protective Services to come knocking. At that moment, her life
was changed forever.
Evelyn didn’t expect or welcome this intrusion into her life. She was
receiving excellent care and had a close-knit group of friends. She
had put a financial Power of Attorney and Health Directive in place,
which meant that she was well prepared for the future. As most of us
do, Evelyn desperately wanted to remain in her own home. Instead, a
professional guardian was appointed over Evelyn.
In the documentary The Unforgivable Truth, produced by The
Silver Standard for the EARN Project, Evelyn can be seen picking typos
out of the court document declaring her to be—in their
assessment—incompetent. Can we really trust those who are not educated
enough to construct a simple document to assess others’ mental capacity
(overriding the judgement of medical professionals)? Do we really want
them to have the right to use this assessment to imprison someone for
life after having rob them of their entire identity, and given that
identity, and all the powers and possessions that come with it, to
someone else?
In a YouTube video, Evelyn describes losing her rights: “Everything
is turning against me. It’s the most unfair thing I have ever
encountered in my life! I’m in my 90s and should not have to put up
with anything like this—
I’m treated like a common criminal. I have nothing left to live for . . . I don’t deserve this, a prison sentence!” (view article).
Many elders in her situation have compared being forced into nursing
facilities as no different than criminal incarceration, yet their only
crime is aging and their rights are less than an incarcerated criminal.
The “hearing” was held in front of a magistrate (not a judge) in a
civil court. Those giving testimony did not have to swear under the
penalty of perjury. Evelyn’s Power of Attorney was not allowed to speak
(view article).
Often the senior citizen in question is not even allowed to be present
at those hearings to determine the direction of their property and their
very life.
Evelyn entered a world of psychological and financial devastation in
which the guardian stole, destroyed, or sold off many of her and Dean’s
belongings. One of Evelyn’s friends, upon mentioning to the guardian
that he could be fined five thousand dollars for removing Dean’s
belongings without giving proper thirty-day notice, received this
response: “YOU HAVE NO MORE AUTHORITY THAN A HORSE’S ASS” (view article).
To me, that phrase captures the one-sided power that guardians have
over protected persons and anyone who tries to help. Lord Acton, the
19th century politician, said, “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts
absolutely.” Unfortunately, that is still even more true today.
Full Article & Source:
From The Silver Standard’s Elder Abuse Reform Now Project: "YOU HAVE NO MORE AUTHORITY THAN A HORSE'S ASS" - said the guardian with a chuckle
See Also:
Evelyn Schwartz, Gone Too Soon
The
Elder Abuse Reform Now Project (EARN) Presents: The Unforgivable
Truth: How We Have Turned America's Greatest Generation into America's
Abused Generation
JOIN The EARN Project
3 comments:
Wow! What an article!
Evelyn sure was sharp. It's a crime that she was not able to fend them off simply because she was in her 90's. Rest in peace, Evelyn.
It appears Evelyn Schwartz was a lot more competent than the lawyers and those out to get her. May they all rot in hell.
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