5th March 2000
Recently an old neighbour of mine was railroaded into the Gold Coast Hospital. He was held AGAINST HIS WILL, in a secured ward. An assessment board deemed that he was a danger unto himself. They ruled that he was suffering from dementia, therefore he was not able to decide his future.
This man who rode the Rails during the depression years in America, who later flew with Douglas Bader, the famous legless ace and after the war went on to become a company manager, is a man of great pride and personal dignity. Yet in this day, in his adopted country he was simply pulled out of his home, frog-marched into a maximum-security hospital ward and awaited the final decision on which nursing home he would be assigned to.
This man has an abhorrence of nursing homes. This man was without a soul in the world. This man was attended by a nursing order and this man was deemed to be of 'diminished responsibility' by his solicitor.
Perhaps I should never have listened to the 'ramblings' of my old friend. A week before I left for a holiday to New Zealand, I took his plea for help seriously. He asked me to protect him by accepting the Power of Attorney. I said I would think about it. I did; I discussed it with the old man's doctor, the old man, my wife and myself at the old man's resident on a Medicare funded house visit. All agreed that the proposal was morally correct.
This old man then went off to a new solicitor, made a new Will and then appointed myself as his Power of Attorney.
A week later, the very day I left for New Zealand, the authority's moved.
For two months now I have been fighting to have this man's affairs removed from his old solicitor. Everybody is ducking for cover.
Recently the Gold Coast SUN, picked up the story from a parliamentarian's office. It was to be a major story, for this sort of thing is but the tip of the iceberg. But guess what! …The paper would not run it for fear of defamation EVEN THOUGH THE SOLICITOR WAS NOT NAMED.
The bite of this story is simple. This old man made a Will out that named the attending nurse as a major beneficiary. The solicitor was both executor and trustee of his Will. It was these two people who wanted him placed into a nursing home. It was these two people who tried to negate the Power of Attorney invested in myself. It was the nurse who called on this old man and then told us both that "she knew what I was up to and believe me you will not get away with it.' Just who 'we' and 'it' are remains with her.
The old man was finally released into our care. He will be 86 next week and looking after him is one of the greatest challenges I have ever been presented with. Sleepless nights and a severe bout of pneumonia have called on resources I never knew I had, but it is worth one smile.
But this old man made one mistake, he made me sole beneficiary. And that has put me right in the firing line.
Not only was he nearly placed into a nursing home against his will, but he has now been classified as 'diminished responsibility' by those who want to divide the spoils of his life's work.
This is an all too common occurrence. How many people like this old man are suffering from professional abuse? How many old people are being shunted into institutions and their estates wound up?
I would like to hear from others on the matters outlined here. I believe that this practise and 'masked' care, must be exposed. I have personally found that my actions, along with the intentions of my old friend have left me not only caring, but also being the target of bureaucratic and legal abuses that are becoming intolerable.