Guardianship Dispute Ends in Tragedy

Donald Wastler devoted his life to caring for his sick, aging mother. He cooked her meals, took her to doctor’s appointments and managed her affairs. He was a loyal citizen who volunteered on several community boards, including the Proebstel Neighborhood Association.

On Monday, Donald R. Wastler snapped. Clark County sheriff’s investigators believe he shot and killed his 86-year-old mother, Evelyn D. Wastler, a pet cat and then himself.

The shootings came less than an hour after he sent an e-mail to local media and court officials, venting about a guardianship case that restricted his duties as his mother’s personal caretaker.

Donald Wastler served as his mother’s full-time live-in caretaker. He didn’t have outside work and wasn’t married.

Evelyn Wastler suffered from dementia and was bedridden, according to a guardianship case filed in Clark County Superior Court.

Donald’s sister, Patricia J. Lewis, filed a petition on July 7 asking for the appointment of a guardian ad litem to oversee the care of their mother. In it, she raised concern about the care being provided by her brother. Among her concerns were sanitation problems and Donald Wastler’s “dangerous medical condition,” according to the petition.

Wastler was undergoing treatment for an undisclosed mental illness, according to Van Cleve, and became explosive when he didn’t take his medication.

The petition also claimed that Donald Wastler had prevented other family members from communicating with Evelyn Wastler. In addition, the petition stated that he was living rent-free and using some of her money to take care of himself.

In his response to the petition, Donald Wastler portrayed himself as a devoted son.

“I shop, cook, pay bills, keep up the outdoor property, manage her medication, drive and accompany her to all of her doctor and dentist appointments.”

In an Oct. 7 agreement, Donald Wastler was appointed guardian of his mother, with a limited co-guardian who was to check on the home and report to the court any issues about care or cleanliness in the house.

But in his Monday e-mail, Wastler wrote that the claims against him in the guardianship case were unfounded. During their investigation, detectives said they found several notes and journals in the home that were similar to the e-mail.

Full Article and Source:
Details of son’s dark side begin to emerge

See also:
Details emerge in apparent murder-suicide

Clark County mother, son died in murder-suicide

Dispute over mother's care divided family

Denied Access to Probate Court

A retiring judge testified against the county’s current probate judge during a hearing before the state Judicial Merit Selection Commission.

The commission was conducting the first-day screening for the fall 2008 judicial candidates to fill “Seat 1” on the 1st Judicial Circuit held by retiring Judge James Williams.

Williams told commissioners Judge Pandora Jones-Glover abused her authority as judge by denying a citizen the due process of the law.

Williams said that he helped a mother negotiate a settlement for her minor son injured in an automobile accident. The mother was appointed as guardian ad litem or legal guardian to speak for the son. Williams said as far as he was concerned the matter was settled and referred the mother, who did not have an attorney, to the probate court to supervise the conservatorship for the minor.

Williams: "It was not long before ... the court would not even let her file to be appointed as a conservator for her son," also noting the probate office allegedly informed the mother she needed a lawyer to be appointed as a conservator.

"I did not think that was right ... denying her access to the probate court, I think this is an example of an attitude where the authority of the probate judge was misused. It resulted in a citizen of the state being absolutely denied the benefit of the legal system."

Full Article and Source:
Retiring judge testifies against probate judge

See also:
Eight local lawyers contend for 1st Judicial Circuit seat

Politics As Usual

It is politics as usual in Illinois, but it has cost my mother her life. I am not kidding! This only child lost his mother in an Illinois probate court to estate conservation. Mother did not even receive a 2nd opinion from all her funds.

My Dad had a lifelong mental health disability for which he received a pension. His health deteriorated in the last two years of life with cancer and heart attacks. Mom had early stage dementia. When Dad had a heart attack, Mother was admitted to long term care from Dad's hospital room. Mother entered the facility walking, talking, eating and going to the bathroom by herself. Prior to the facility, she ate breakfast out daily with friends who enjoyed her company. She had not been hospitalized in years. She liked to walk with company.

Dad was allowed, (encouraged....this is about money) to place a "Do Not Resuscitate" on Mom (clearly a violation of her human rights and a violation of IDPH's own regs) on admission from his hospital room. It was witnessed by the long term care staff. He did not have POA and she did not have a living will. She was far from terminal as required. After admission, Mom was drugged with the anti-psychotic, Zyprexa, Its off-label, unapproved use for elderly dementia has been shown to cause death and stroke and is associated with difficulty in swallowing, dehydration and agitation.

In addition, family, (NOT THIS ONLY CHILD) wanted Mom to have "the right to refuse to eat". Elderly dementia patients need reminders to drink and several snacks throughout the day. This is tantamount to murder. I found Mother dehydrated and unable to eat, drink, walk or talk. I requested re-hydration and asked what if any new drugs she was on. I learned of the Zyprexa and requested it be removed. And I applied for guardianship and began the process of getting a second opinion. The guardianship, however, was awarded to a half-aunt because of health problems (surgery) I was recovering from at the time.

The half-aunt, promptly enrolled Mom (another human rights violation) in hospice and left her to die. I visited Mom and was shocked. Her belongings were missing, including false teeth and glasses. I knew something was terribly wrong but had no access to care records. Mom was admitted to hospice despite a supposed protection by the Office of Guardian against cessation of life sustaining measures without due process.

Mother died alone 2 hours after Christmas.

My half-aunt did not attend either of my parent's funerals.

The unnecessary, painful, and torturous death of my dear Mother has begun what has so far become a five year journey for justice and accountability for her senseless death.

See also:
Push The Walker

Predatory Trust

Irving Lincoln Fields - Update

Irving Lincoln Fields (1919 – 1991)

The website has been re-established at:
http://home.roadrunner.com/~tvfields/

The main directory, with links to materials like the AAPL article by Dr.Perr, is now located at: http://home.roadrunner.com/~tvfields/Directory.htm

The information about Tom Fields own case is now linked to:
http://home.roadrunner.com/~tvfields/dir.htm
and:
http://home.roadrunner.com/~tvfields/ILF_Links/Frameset001.htm

Irving's family can be reached by email at:
tvfields@oh.rr.com



See also:
Advocate For the Elderly

The Evil Characters

There is nothing short of revolution that can stop the greed that took my mother's life in order to gain her estate. It was done in a thick collusion with the guardian, the Executor appointed to handle my parent's estate, and a sibling.

Soon after my mother's death, the Executor released the guardian of his bond. We had sued the guardian for excess charges and won a return of approximately $97,000. My own property was vandalized, found to be missing, or never arrived after it was supposedly shipped to me - probably in retaliation.

The massive looting of my parent's combined estates was approved by a judge running for election, who divided the remaining spoils with the lawyers and the law firm that had betrayed my father's intent.

Among the missing items, were all photos, memorabilia, personal correspondence, thirteen Banker's boxes of valuable intimate family papers and documents, as well as an inheritance of nearly 30,000 acres in mineral rights. The worst theft of all was of life, family, and happiness.

For anyone who hasn't read Bleak House by Charles Dickens, you will recognize the evil characters.

Written by a NASGA member

See also:
Estates Depleted by Fees

Facing Budget Threats

A powerful voice for the elderly in San Diego County is facing the same budget threats already dismantling similar programs in other counties this fall.

Chris O'Connell, coordinator of San Diego County's long-term care ombudsman program for Aging and Independence Services, or AIS: "It really is going to be devastating."

"Right now we're in limbo," O'Connell said about the future of the program that hears complaints ranging from quality of care to elder abuse in the county's hundreds of long-term care facilities.

Earlier this fall, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, with a line item veto, eliminated the $3.8 million in state funding for the program that trains and oversees volunteer ombudsmen who advocate for the rights of seniors living in long-term care facilities.

The concern is that inspections by other agencies only happen once a year or once every five years, O'Connell said, making the ombudsman the only regular "outsider" to hear and relay concerns.

If the program is cut, "the bottom line is, the residents will suffer."

Full Article and Source:
Cutbacks threaten voice for the elderly

See also:
Terminated Funding

State Budget Stripped

Postponing Protection for Seniors

Court Work Overload

Guardianship Legislation

Adoption Ban Ruled Unconstitutional

A judge ruled that a Florida law that has banned adoptions by gay men and lesbians for over three decades is unconstitutional.

Judge, Cindy S. Lederman: “The best interests of children are not preserved by prohibiting homosexual adoption,” "The law violated equal protection rights for children and their prospective parents."

A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said the state would appeal, and the case is likely to end up before the State Supreme Court.

Florida is the only state with a law prohibiting gay men and lesbians — couples and individuals — from adopting children. The Legislature voted to prohibit adoptions by gay men and lesbians in 1977.

Some states, like Mississippi and Utah, effectively bar adoptions by same-sex couples through laws that prohibit adoption by unmarried couples. Arkansas voters passed a similar measure.

Full Article and Source:
Florida Gay Adoption Ban Is Ruled Unconstitutional

More information:
The Fight Over Gay Adoption Heats Up

Judge strikes down Florida ban on adoption by gay parents

Judge overturns Florida ban on adoption by gays

See also:

Banning Unmarried Couples

Disbarred Guardianship Lawyer

The Florida Bar said in a release: The disbarment of Jessica Kathleen Miller, a lawyer in Holiday, followed an arrest in August 2007 for contempt of court for violating an order to appear.

She already had violated prior orders to appear on behalf of clients in a guardianship proceeding.

Miller also failed to account for and deliver client trust funds and after being hired to represent several clients, she did not and neglected to return their fees, the release said.

Source:
Florida Supreme Court disciplines lawyers

See also:
In The Supreme Court Of Florida (Before A Referee) Florida Bar vs. Jessica Kathleen Miller, No. SC07-662

Supreme Court Of Florida The Florida Bar vs. Jessica Kathleen Miller No. SC07-2376

Constitutional Rights

The U.S. Constitution guarantees a person can't be deprived of "life, liberty or property" without due process. State law allows a court to appoint a guardian for people who are incapable of making responsible decisions.

Utah Commission on Aging director Maureen Henry says: the statute is vague enough to be problematic, What, for example, does "responsible decisions" mean?

During the past 50 years, the courts have emphasized the due process rights of adults who are mentally ill — requiring that a person admitted to a psychiatric facility be brought before a judge to assure that his confinement is justified; the burden is on the state to prove that the commitment is necessary. But there's no similar system protecting the elderly, charges Henry, who as an attorney specialized in elder law.

If an old person is put in a nursing home or locked Alzheimer's unit and she doesn't want to be there, the burden is hers to work her way out, not on the state to prove to a court that she needs to be confined. And in legal matters, Henry notes, the person who bears the burden of proof is more likely to lose.

Henry says: That's not to say that families or facilities are ignoring the law. But there is no system in place to deal with the complexities of self-determination for old people — "and that forces everyone, nursing facilities, patients, families, caseworkers, into that gray area where no one is really clear about what is right and wrong."

There's no one whose job it is, at any level of government, to look at the folks in nursing facilities or locked units of assisted living facilities to make sure that they either agree to be there or that they were admitted following legal procedures.

Old people are often talked into — occasionally even tricked into — moving into nursing homes and assisted living facilities by well-meaning relatives. In the vast majority of cases, family members don't even try to get guardianships before admitting an elderly relative to a facility, because it's not clear under what circumstances they should, and they're expensive.

It's pretty easy for a family member to get uncontested guardianship, the experts agree (although it can cost thousands of dollars in legal fees). When the Deseret News went to court to watch guardianship proceedings, it was startling how quickly someone could be stripped of all decision-making rights. Once the paperwork is in order, "hearings" average seconds, not minutes.

Full Article and Source:
Who should make choices for the elderly?