DeSantis launches probe of office overseeing guardians after death, resignation; advocates want action

Carol Berkowitz

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday his administration is “vigorously” investigating the state office overseeing professional guardians in the wake of its director’s sudden resignation, adding he may ask for legislation to fix the beleaguered system.

The Orlando Sentinel reported this month that a man died after professional guardian Rebecca Fierle of Orlando issued a “do not resuscitate” order against his wishes. A judge found Fierle had “abused her powers” by filing such orders for numerous incapacitated clients without permission from their families or the court. Fierle resigned from 95 Orange County cases during a July 11 hearing.

The next week, she resigned from additional cases in Seminole County during an emergency court hearing, but it was not immediately clear how many cases were involved because the hearing was closed to the public.

Carol Berkowitz, executive director of the Florida Office of Public and Professional Guardians, which oversees investigations and discipline of the more than 550 professional guardians in the state, abruptly resigned July 12, three days after the Okaloosa County Clerk of Court and Comptroller produced an investigative report on Fierle. The state’s Department of Elder Affairs confirmed Berkowitz’s resignation Tuesday but has not said what led to her departure.

 “We were obviously concerned with some of the reports,” DeSantis said at an event at the Florida’s Turnpike headquarters in Ocoee. Richard Prudom, the secretary of Elder Affairs, “is pursuing it, and I told him to pursue it vigorously.”

He said he told all agencies to “take six months, you’ll figure out what’s going on, figure out what needs to be done,” adding the agency heads have been reporting back to him over the course of July.

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DeSantis launches probe of office overseeing guardians after death, resignation; advocates want action

Florida Elder Affairs chief details changes to troubled guardianship program, says he asked top official to resign

Carol Berkowitz resigned as executive director of the Florida Office of Public and Private Guardians on July 12, 2019. (Florida State Guardianship Assn.)

Florida Department of Elder Affairs Secretary Richard Prudom’s office revealed Wednesday that he asked the state’s top guardianship official to resign after learning of a “significant backlog” of cases and that he has since worked to close those cases and address the complaints.

“Secretary Prudom is leading the Office of Public and Professional Guardians and has made and will continue to make administrative changes moving forward,” the department’s spokeswoman, Ashley Chambers, said in an email to the Orlando Sentinel. “… He was made aware of the significant backlog of cases needing completion.”

Prudom, in an interview with Spectrum News, said that backlog had more than 80 complaints against guardians — all of them since closed.

"We have made mistakes in our office. We have not processed these complaints as efficiently and quickly as we need to," Prudom said in that interview. "We need to be more responsive to the complainants and their rights. I take personal responsibility for that. … I’m really sorry. It should have never come to this."

The Orlando Sentinel reported July 23 that Carol Berkowitz, the executive director of the Office of Public and Professional Guardians – the state agency that handles complaints and discipline of more than 550 professional guardians in Florida — had resigned abruptly after officials began investigating Orlando guardian Rebecca Fierle for placing do-not-resuscitate orders for people against their will and without court permission.

At the time, neither Prudom nor Berkowitz would comment on the reasons for her departure. Prudom’s office has not responded to requests from the Sentinel for an interview with the secretary.

The firestorm surrounding Fierle began after the death of Steven Stryker, a 75-year-old Cocoa man to whom Fierle had been appointed as a guardian. Investigators found that Stryker died at a Tampa hospital after staff could not perform life-saving procedures because of a DNR order Fierle filed against his wishes.

Chambers said Prudom has been working with the staff of OPPG to close backlogged cases and reply to the complainants with its findings. He also has changed how the investigations are handled, she said.

“Once an investigation has been completed, the report and its findings will be shared with the complainant and the guardian rather than waiting for the administrative [disciplinary] process to take place,” Chambers said.

Prudom is also streamlining the investigations to focus on complaints that indicate the guardian may have broken the law, and he will “continue to work on long term solutions, including legislative recommendations” for the next session of the Florida Legislature.

Late last week, Fierle resigned from all her cases statewide, writing that she would not seek to be reappointed to any cases already taken from her or seek to be appointed as a guardian again in the future.

She had once been a guardian in at least 13 Florida counties and handled 95 cases in Orange County alone. Guardians are appointed by judges when someone is deemed to be incapable of making decisions on their health, property or personal matters.

There is statewide guardianship complaint line, run by the Office of Public and Professional Guardians: 1-855-305-3030. Complaints can also be submitted on the guardianship webpage at elderaffairs.state.fl.us/doea/oppg_complaint.html.

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Florida Elder Affairs chief details changes to troubled guardianship program, says he asked top official to resign