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Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg |
The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering a bill introduced by Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg, aimed at preventing ethical conflicts from arising in guardianship cases.
Mason
was prompted by “Unguarded,” a three-part Richmond Times-Dispatch
investigative series published in November, which revealed that VCU
Health System and other health care providers in the Richmond region had
taken hundreds of low-income patients to court and asked to have their
lawyer appointed the patients’ guardian, putting him in charge of the
person’s medical decision-making and finances.
The
attorney frequently had the patients discharged from expensive hospital
beds, placed in poorly rated nursing homes, maintained a list of up to
120 wards at a time and rarely visited them, the investigation found.
“I understand there’s a shortage of
guardians,” Mason said in his testimony before the committee Monday
morning. “What I’m trying to get at is ... if you come to the court on
behalf of the hospital, you cannot then become the guardian to the
person you’re trying to get out of the hospital.”
Mason
referenced a fact exposed in the Times-Dispatch investigation that, in
at least 13 cases, the lawyer resigned from being the patient’s guardian
unless the person was admitted to VCU Health System again, in which
case he could resume his authority.
“I am not making that up,” Mason said. “You ought not to be able to do that.”
Laura
Rossacher, spokeswoman for VCU Health System, said that the health
system does not take a position on Mason’s measure, Senate Bill 1072.
She said last month that the health system is in conversations with
community partners about possible collaborations on guardianship, but
would not give further details.
“It’s
one of the most horrific situations that I have ever seen,” said Sen.
Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond. “It was shocking in all of its aspects.”
Morrissey said that he would have
proposed legislation on the issue himself, but didn’t believe there was
enough time to pull it together.
“It’s
not the individual’s attorney who becomes the guardian; it’s the
hospital’s attorney trying to kick the person out and then becomes the
guardian,” clarified Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, the committee
chairman, who was learning of the scenario for the first time. “That’s a
conflict of interest — a clear-cut case of a conflict of interest.”
Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City, agreed.
“I
support what Senator Mason is trying to do,” Norment said. “In the
practice of law, there is a very fundamental caveat and that is to avoid
even the appearance of impropriety, and at a minimum, that is the
threshold of this situation.”
Sen.
Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, said that he agreed with the spirit of the
bill, but thought that the language was too broad and would ultimately
raise costs for guardianship cases without conflict. He suggested
focusing the bill to hospital-sponsored guardianship petitions.
The
Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia did
not take a position on the policy proposed by the bill, but had
technical concerns, including that some rural jurisdictions may have no
eligible guardians for incapacitated people under the proposed law.
The
committee instructed Mason to work with the Office of the Executive
Secretary to refine the bill and to come back with amendments on another
day.
Full Article & Source:
Mason pushes bill inspired by RTD's 'Unguarded' investigation
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