MY FATHER WAS GRANDPA-NAPPED in WALTERBORO, SC- Walterboro Home of the Peep Holes in the Holiday Inn Walls.
Irene A. Masiello (PRWEB) August 8, 2003 –
5644 [email protected]
I always thought that if one did the right thing the right things would happen. When I faced my responsibilities in Walterboro, SC as an ethical & moral citizen, a loving & caring daughter and, as advised by legal council, a Â?reasonable & responsible person,Â? and by my disabled & elderly DadÂ?s primary care physicians, I learned otherwise.
My brother lived by that principal as well. In 1969, he entered a downed & burning USAF plane in Viet Nam rescuing 5 crewmembers. He was decorated, at age 19, with the Bronze Star & the SoldierÂ?s Medal of Valor. He perished from service related illness in 1986 leaving behind 2 young sons.
My parents had left the cold winters of the Northeast behind in 1976 to seek Â?PARADISEÂ? in the south. My mother died in Sept.1999 after a lengthy & depleting illness leaving me my DadÂ?s next of kin. Dad had life long mental health issues that were documented by his physicians. Additionally, he was diagnosed with dementia/AlzheimerÂ?s in 1996, was medicated for its psychotic symptoms, had insulin dependent diabetes & suffered severe hearing loss & wore two hearing aids. He was disabled since 1975.
In July 1998 DadÂ?s internist told Mom & me that Dad must surrender his car keys, was Â?at risk of being financially exploitedÂ? & noted it in writing in Dad’s medical records which I have in my possession.
Mom lacked the physical energy to cope with enforcing the doctorÂ?s mandate; Dad was a very difficult man. Just prior to MomÂ?s death, Dad had a very serious car accident in front of a school (prior, he had 2 other less serious accidents) when he rear-ended another car & was cited at the scene by police.
My intervention was needed to protect Dad & the community.
If I had not, would Dad’s incompetance create what happened recently in CA when an elderly man struck and killed 8 people in a farmer’s market?
When Mom died in Sept. 1999 DadÂ?s psychological & physical condition deteriorated quickly; they had been married 52 yrs. Dad made violent threats (witnessed), he was incapable of caring for his most basic needs, couldnÂ?t manage his health care, medication or finances. I was compelled to make decisions to care for & protect Dad as directed by physicians and lawyers.
My attorney listened to what I told him about Dad and then advised me to have Dad evaluated by the independent county mental health psychiatrist. That resulted in Dad being immediately & involuntarily committed; the independent county mental health psychiatrist felt Dad was a threat to himself & others. Dad had several guns, was violent, had delusions, was unable to take care of himself & refused to voluntarily give up driving.
DadÂ?s doctors also warned me that I was in grave physical danger as well for Dad would be angered by me not allowing him to continue to endanger himself and the community by driving. Both physicians knew me, Mom and Dad well and they completely supported my intervention and the removal of Dad’s driver’s license for everyone’s well-being.
When my Dad was committed I informed my DadÂ?s neighbors of his medical history clearly indicating to them before witnesses what doctors & attorneys recommended. It was well known in Walterboro that Dad was impaired for he couldnÂ?t medicate himself, was frequently disheveled (the Sheriff reported thinking that Dad was homeless) & couldnÂ?t manage any financial dealing even making change. His medical records clearly indicated that his ailments exisited for years and that he required and was receiving 24 hr. a day care 7 days a week, couldnÂ?t find his way back into a doctorÂ?s office, was a suicide threat, was violent and required assisted living.
Despite this neighbors refused to heed my admonitions to yield to the medical & legal recommendations & the familyÂ?s interest. My family & others were aware that my mother felt that certain people were a danger to her and my father and that she felt stalked for their assets. Before she died she named the person(s) she feared would exploit my father for his assets. She tried to change her will with the help of a prominent citizen and, her daughter, my Dad’s endocrinologist to try and protect Dad.
Almost immediately after Mom died one of the people she named stated before witnesses that my Dad Â?should be taken advantage of.Â?
That is exactly what happened. Although the neighbors, whose business it WASNÂ?T, were made aware of the situation by me before witnesses these STRANGERS INVADED the sanctity of my family & Grandpa-napped my father.
They seized control of his life, his home, his assets and got themselves named as his heirs. The wife of the man who stated my Dad “should be taken advantage of” placed a homeless woman as an aide in my Dad’s home. Then, both of them “brow beated” Dad into marrying the aide within 2 months after she was placed in Dad’s home.
I implored my attorney at the time to act & get a court order. It wasn’t done.
Fraudulent information was contained in documents filed in Probate Court by my fatherÂ?s attorney; this was an attorney my father was taken to for he had NO knowledge of this attorney prior to Mom’s death and he could not drive at this point for myself and his doctors had revoked his license through the SC Highway Dept.
That attorney was absolutely aware that Dad was unable to manage his life for he had DadÂ?s medical records indicating dementia/Alzheimer’s, knew my Dad was committed, knew my father was disabled and deaf and Dad was placed on an antipsychotic drug.
That attorney was then made aware by certified mail recieved by his office (& signed for!) that information he provided the Court was fraudulent and very clearly linked to the interlopers. He received (by certified mail) official NYC records indicating there were improprieties linked to the person who stated Dad should be Â?taken advantage ofÂ? and Mom had warned us about.
Mail for my family members sent by this attorney was sent to the former next door neighbor of the man who stated his exploitive agenda before me and a witness.
Family members who never lived together nor in Brooklyn had their addresses appear on legal documents as being that of THE FORMER NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR of the man who said my father: “should be taken advantage of!!”
My father carried a paper with his name, address and phone number in his wallet because he couldn’t remember his address let alone someone he never knew.
HOW did the person my mother warned us about land up having his next door neighbor’s address in Brooklyn land up on the probate application of MY MOTHER’S WILL for my family members?
How did my father’s attorney get that address? WHO GAVE IT TO HIM? MY father couldn’t provide his own address?
Notifications were sent to those relatives named at the address in Brooklyn.
Does my father’s former attorney have those envelopes stamped “addressee unknown” or has there been postal fraud, too?
I sent my father’s attorney official NYC documents, maps, certified surveyor’s maps, copies of deeds, telephone directory pages clearly showing that the man stating an exploitive agenda was connected to the address that attorney placed on legal forms before the Probate Court.
My father’s attorney failed to acknowledge my admonitions & the information provided in objective medical records and the documents mentioned above. He failed to protect my father. That attorney allowed the man’s (who stated my father “should be taken advantage of”) wife to be named as a power of attorney, too!
That attorney slandered me, changed my DadÂ?s will in spite of his being informed about the improprieties & made the interlopers the new heirs. His firm now represents THEM!
I implored Social Services and the sheriffÂ?s office to act to no avail. The system failed to protect a helpless and ill elderly man and he died as a result. My DISABLED father was GRANDPANAPPED & died while the system watched & did nothing.
I had to stand by and watch Dad die while those around him were more concerned with his assets than in his well being, his health, welfare & his wishes. I listened helplessly as “the wife” my father knew for only 2 months and who had “brow beaten” him to marry her inquired from the hospital administrator as to whether Dad would have an autopsy performed on him after his death while he was still alive!
That woman had a prior history of marriage to an older man 20 years her senior. That man was immediately cremated after his death.
My father was immediately buried after his death, therefore, denying family members an opportunity to get to Walterboro to attend the funeral. This woman asked a nurse at Colleton County Hospital the night before my father died: “how long is he [my father] going to be around?”
No SC attorney will take my case or sponsor my NY attorney. I called attorneys referred by the AlzheimerÂ?s Association before ANY of this happened. Those attorneys refused the case when Dad was alive!
I called the attorney for the magazine I write for in NY who was a member of the Bd. of Directors of the National Academy of Elder Attorneys. He referred me to an attorney in Mt. Pleasant, SC who refused the case as well.
After Dad died I continued to call law offices to no avail. Two SC attorneys unwilling to take the case recommended my NOT retaining a SC attorney stating: I will never get adequate representation. WHY: I am not a Â?good ole boyÂ? but rather Â?a Yankee woman.Â?
My brother & myself worked hard with our parents to acquire our familyÂ?s assets. We both did what was RIGHT. IÂ?m denied what my parents intended me to have because I was a reasonable and responsible member of society. I took actions as directed by my conscientious, legal & medical counsel. I placed my DadÂ?s well being & that of the community ahead of my own Â?best interests.Â? I took the moral & ethical stand to protect all and, therefore, MY DAD IS DEAD, I am slandered, denied due process, am mandated to be my own attorney and I am disinherited because I did what was right.
If my father had killed 8 in Walterboro like the man in CA wouldn’t everyone point at me and say:
WHY DIDN’T YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!
I did and look what happened.
If you are disabled, elderly, ill or even a conscientious citizen take heed; YOU ARE IN DANGER IN WALTERBORO!
I am a pro bono columnist for HealthWise Magazine in NYC. I have press credentials:
Police Department of the City of New York
Press Identification # 15004
My attorney barred from SC:
Elizabeth Hall, RN, ESQ
Pro Bono Attorney (718)747-3211
Queens (NY) Pro Bono Attorney of the Year 2002
A NYS Pro Bono Attorney of the Year 2003
References:
Columnist & feature writer- 4 years
HealthWise Magazine
Bayside, NY
Editor-in-chief: Deborah Agosta
Phone number: (718) 224-5863 X-303
Feature article: TOXIC MOLD
FIRST: For Women Magazine
Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Features editor: Amy Capetta