National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse: wards death

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Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Trial scheduled to begin for former professional guardian accused in man's death

Rebecca Fierle trial expected to last all week

Photo by: WFTS

Stryker case led lawmakers to change Florida's guardianship law, requiring guardians to get a judge's permission to seek a DNR.

By: Adam Walser

TAMPA, Fla. — The trial of former professional guardian Rebecca Fierle is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Hillsborough County Circuit Court.

Fierle is charged with aggravated abuse of an elderly person and neglect of an elderly person, both felonies, in connection with the death of Steven Stryker in 2019.

The ABC Action News I-Team has been following the case since it first came to light more than three years ago and led to changes in Florida’s guardianship law.

We have completed dozens of stories since 2013 as part of our “The Price of Protection” series, focusing on problems with Florida’s court-appointed guardians.

“Rebecca demanded that his feeding tube be capped”

The Fierle case started with a report prepared by the Okaloosa County Inspector General’s Office, which was released in June of 2019. That report accused Fierle of taking actions that led to Stryker’s death while serving as his guardian.

Stryker, a 74-year-old Navy veteran, had a chronic medical condition that made it difficult for him to swallow and required him to have a feeding tube.

“Rebecca demanded that his feeding tube be capped,” Linda Lanier said in June 2019. Lanier was Stryker’s friend and power of attorney.

She was on vacation in another state when Stryker ended up in a hospital in Orlando.

A judge appointed Fierle as his professional guardian, allowing Fierle to make medical and financial decisions on his behalf. Fierle requested that Stryker be transferred to an assisted living facility in Tampa.

In May of 2019, Stryker had a medical episode and was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital.

According to the investigative report, Fierle requested that Stryker’s feeding tube be removed and requested that a do-not-resuscitate order (DNR) be placed on Stryker.

“Knowing that he’s going to aspirate, because he couldn’t take anything by mouth yet, it’s pretty much a death sentence,” Lanier said.

Stryker’s daughter, Kimberly Stryker, sent an email to the judge in Stryker’s guardianship case on May 9, 2019, that said “his guardian has insisted on including a DNR… despite his vocal opposition."

Email sent to judge in Stryker case by Stryker's daughter regarding Fierle's performance as his guardian.

The email continued, “he is doing much better and is quite lucid and extremely upset that this woman has full control over his medical and financial records."

“To see him at the end literally begging, begging for his life. He was very lucid,” Lanier said. “He knew what Rebecca was doing.”

Stryker choked to death in the hospital six days after the email was sent.

Fierle had multiple prior complaints

Fierle had been the subject of eight complaints to the Office of Public and Professional Guardians, the state watchdog agency appointed to police professional guardians.

That agency had taken no disciplinary action against her at the time of Stryker’s death.

Months earlier, the I-Team previously uncovered out of 132 complaints that the watchdog office received during its first two years, OPPG didn’t revoke a single guardian’s registration.

“You’ve had over 130-some cases and nothing has happened to anybody? That just doesn’t strike me as being acceptable,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in February 2019 after we uncovered many of the investigations opened years earlier had not even been completed.

At the time of Stryker’s death, Fierle had 450 wards from 15 counties under her care.

Adam Walser questions Rebecca Fierle in 2019 — Adam Walser questions Rebecca Fierle after she was removed from more than 100 guardianship cases in 2019.

“I think that there’s going to be action taken, whether it’s administratively, or legislatively or a combination because I think something needs to be done,” Gov. DeSantis said after hearing about Stryker’s death.

The next month, the executive director of OPPG resigned.

Stryker case led to changes in law

Florida legislators immediately began taking action to address the concerns raised by the case.

“I was horrified. I was not aware that that practice was being employed by her or any other guardian. So immediately jumped into action,” Sen. Kathleen Passidomo said.

Lawmakers unanimously voted to amend Florida’s guardianship law in 2020, requiring guardians to get permission from a family member or a judge before requesting a do-not-resuscitate order.

The legislation also changed how guardians are appointed and how many wards professional guardians can be assigned

In February 2020, Fierle was arrested following an eight-month investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Attorney General’s Office.

During a search of her office, FDLE agents found unidentified cremains of nine people and a dog.

Jury selection is expected to begin at 8:30 Tuesday morning and the trial should last through the week. Fierle has pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.

If you have a story you’d like the I-Team to investigate, email at adam@abcactionnews.com

Full Article & Source:

Trial scheduled to begin for former professional guardian accused in man's death

Thursday, September 3, 2020

Judge dismisses AdventHealth from lawsuit by family of man at center of guardianship scandal — for now

Steven Stryker, seen here during his time working for the Environmental Protection Agency, according to his daughter. Stryker died while under the care of Rebecca Fierle, who according to investigators filed a "do not resuscitate order against Stryker's wishes. (Courtesy of Kim Stryker)

By Monivette Cordeiro

A judge has dismissed AdventHealth Orlando from a lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died under the care of a private guardian paid by the hospital company, finding that the plaintiffs failed to comply with Florida’s medical negligence claim requirements.

Robin Treto, one of the attorneys representing the family of 75-year-old Navy veteran Steven Stryker, called the dismissal filed Monday “temporary.”

“We’ll be able to resume claims against AdventHealth in a few months,” he said.

Stryker died May 2019 at St. Joseph’s Hospital after medical staff were unable to attempt to save his life because former guardian Rebecca Fierle signed a “do not resuscitate” order against his wishes and the protests of his daughter, health-care surrogate and psychiatrist.

His death sparked a statewide scandal that led to reforms of Florida’s troubled guardianship system and landed Fierle behind bars on charges of aggravated abuse and neglect of an elderly person.

Stryker was a patient at AdventHealth in 2018 when the hospital asked a judge to declare him incapacitated and appoint Fierle to make all medical, financial, housing, legal and personal decisions instead of his chosen health-care surrogate and friend, Linda Lanier.

Lanier has told the Orlando Sentinel that AdventHealth seemed determined to put Stryker into guardianship and get him discharged from the hospital, despite her efforts to find him a new place to live.

Without the required court approval, Fierle billed AdventHealth for providing services to Stryker and nearly 700 other vulnerable patients over a decade — to the tune of nearly $4 million, according to an audit by the office of Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond.

Months later at St. Joseph’s, Fierle authorized a DNR order on behalf of Stryker and insisted his feeding tube be capped, despite Stryker stating “several times” he wanted to live and medical staff warning her he could choke and die, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Stryker aspirated and went into cardiac arrest, according to the lawsuit. He died May 13.

The lawsuit filed against Fierle and AdventHealth by Kimberly Stryker, the man’s daughter who is in charge of his estate, alleged negligence in her father’s care.

“Rebecca Fierle’s negligence, neglect, abuse, and exploitation of Steven Stryker caused his death,” the lawsuit said. “AdventHealth created, facilitated, and funded the guardianship relationship between Rebecca Fierle and Steven Stryker and is therefore responsible for the actions that led to Mr. Stryker’s death.”

The hospital company argued the complaint is actually a medical negligence claim. Florida law requires that, before filing such a lawsuit, claimants have to conduct an investigation to find “reasonable grounds” for the suit with a corroborating opinion by a medical expert, as well as give 90 days notice to the defendants.

AdventHealth said there are “no allegations” that it played a role in Fierle’s decision to authorize a DNR order on Stryker or that it exercised control over his care after he was discharged from the hospital, court records show.

Treto had argued the claim was not a medical negligence claim because Fierle is not a health care provider like a doctor or surgeon.

“What Rebecca Fierle did and the relationship she had [with AdventHealth], none of that is diagnosed as care or treatment,” he said. “We’re saying they’re ordinary negligence claims.”

When reached for comment, AdventHealth spokesman Bryan Malenius said the hospital company would “continue to respond as appropriate in court.”

Full Article & Source:
Judge dismisses AdventHealth from lawsuit by family of man at center of guardianship scandal — for now

See Also:
Ex-guardian Rebecca Fierle may not stand trial in ward’s death until 2021, attorney says

Ex-guardian Rebecca Fierle asks judge to pause lawsuit by family of man who died under DNR

Marion deputies release video of arrest of former Florida guardian Rebecca Fierle

Attorney General Ashley Moody fires back at embattled former Florida guardian

Guardian at center of Florida scandal appeals judge’s ruling that she broke state rules by misusing DNRs

Ex-guardian Rebecca Fierle charged Altamonte Springs facility $100K, illegally pocketed refunds, investigation finds

Florida Elder Affairs chief announces ‘immediate’ changes as embattled Orlando guardian Rebecca Fierle resigns from all cases

Florida professional guardian Rebecca Fierle: Devoted or dangerous? | Exclusive

Cremated remains of 9 people found at Orlando office of disgraced former guardian Rebecca Fierle

Expert’s complaint against Florida guardian Rebecca Fierle was ignored for years before scandal erupted | Exclusive

Orlando guardian accused of filing unauthorized ‘do not resuscitate’ orders resigns from Seminole cases

Watchdog: In Short Hearing, Fierle Given Guardianship Over Patient

Judge releases confidential information to authorities investigating former Orlando guardian Rebecca Fierle

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Ex-guardian Rebecca Fierle may not stand trial in ward’s death until 2021, attorney says

Rebecca Fierle ignored reporters questions after she was released from the Marion County jail Tuesday. The former guardian is accused of abusing and neglecting a ward who died while in her care, 75-year-old Steven Stryker. (Monivette Cordeiro)

By Monivette Cordeiro

Rebecca Fierle, the former Orlando guardian accused of abusing and neglecting an incapacitated client whose death sparked a statewide scandal in Florida’s guardianship system, may not stand trial until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, her attorney said Tuesday.

And a lawsuit filed against Fierle by the family of her dead ward, Steven Stryker, will be delayed even longer after a judge granted her request to put the civil trial on hold until her criminal case is resolved.

During a hearing Tuesday conducted by conference call, attorney Barry Postman argued Fierle would lose her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself in the criminal case if she was forced to first defend herself against the same accusations in the civil trial.

The disgraced guardian is accused of aggravated abuse and neglect in the death of Stryker, a 75-year-old man who died at a Tampa hospital in 2019. Medical staff were unable to attempt to save Stryker’s life because Fierle had signed a “do not resuscitate” order against his wishes and the protests of his daughter, health-care surrogate and psychiatrist.

Despite Stryker stating “several times that he wanted to live,” Fierle signed the DNR order and opted to have his feeding tube capped May 9, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Stryker, who was using a feeding tube because he had difficulty swallowing, aspirated and went into cardiac arrest, the suit said.

He died May 13.

“If she testifies in a civil case, she’s going to be compelled to testify in a criminal case,” Postman said. “There is an absolute prejudice.”

But Robin Treto, the attorney representing Stryker’s family, said moving forward was important not only for his client but also for the “elderly and the vulnerable in our community to get justice and reform.”

In his ruling, Circuit Judge Kevin B. Weiss said it was an “undisputed fact” that both cases are based on the same circumstances. The order requires check-ins on the status of Fierle’s criminal case every six months starting in January.

Weiss’ order does not apply to the other entities being sued — AdventHealth Orlando and Geriatric Management, Fierle’s business. Stryker was a patient at AdventHealth Orlando when the hospital petitioned a judge to declare him incapacitated and appoint Fierle his guardian.

Without telling the court, Fierle billed AdventHealth nearly $4 million over a decade for services she provided to 682 patients and sometimes double-billed her wards for the same services, according to an audit by the Orange County Comptroller’s office.

Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady suspended all in-person jury trials in March but, as of early July, courts are allowed to loosen those restrictions when local public health conditions improve — though no courts in Florida have met the criteria.

“It does not appear that there will be any — no one knows for sure — jury trials in the rest of this calendar year in criminal cases, at least,” said Warren Lindsey, Fierle’s attorney in her criminal case out of Hillsborough. “We expect the case to be resolved sometime in calendar year 2021.”

Fierle has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.