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Comments by Brian Shilhavy
\nEditor, Health Impact News<\/p>\n
The state of Florida, home to many seniors who have retired in that state, has had numerous investigations this year by local media outlets in the state\u2019s guardianship program that takes away the civil rights of senior adult patients, allowing them to seize their estates, and in at least\u00a0one high-profile case<\/a>, even issue a \u201cdo not resuscitate\u201d order without involving the patient\u2019s family.<\/p>\n See:<\/p>\n Now one local media outlet out of Tampa Bay,\u00a0ABC Action News WFTS<\/a>, has conducted a three-month investigation that uncovered numerous examples of hospitals in Orlando, Miami, West Palm Beach, Naples and other Florida cities paying private attorneys to file hundreds of court petitions to put patients into guardianship.<\/p>\n They report:<\/p>\n Hospitals across the Florida are paying lawyers to go to court to take away patients\u2019 rights, a three-month I-Team investigation uncovered.<\/p>\n An I-Team review of state court records found:<\/p>\n Tampa guardianship attorney Gerald Hemness questions Florida\u2019s use of taking over guardianship so frequently.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly, missing a payment on a car doesn\u2019t seem like it would be a financial emergency,\u201d said Hemness.<\/p>\n Guardianship is supposed to protect people who have been declared incapacitated and are considered in immediate danger \u2013 something that doesn\u2019t often fit the bill for people in the hospital, according to Hemness.<\/p>\n \u201cHow \u2013 if they\u2019re in a hospital \u2013 is their physical well-being at imminent risk? They\u2019re in the safest medical place a person in America can be,\u201d said Hemness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Tampa ABC News I-Team interviewed Jay Wolfson, a medical ethicist at University of South Florida, who said that money can be a factor in the decision to take patients to court in order to gain guardianship over them.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s costing the hospital too much to keep the patient in that bed,\u201d said Wolfson.<\/p>\n The I-Team found Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point \u2013 an HCA-owned hospital where a semi-private room costs $2,100 a day \u2013 requested guardianship for a patient on Social Security, stating in court papers, \u201cThe hospital is at risk of being over capacity and the ward\u2019s use of a bed may deprive others.\u201d<\/p>\n None of the hospitals contacted by the I-Team would say why they pay lawyers to go to court instead of letting state social workers at the Department of Children and Families handle the cases of patients potentially in need of a court-appointed guardian.<\/p>\n For those in the guardianship system, a judge hands complete control of their lives to court-appointed guardians. Those under the care of guardians also lose most of their rights, including the right to vote, drive, marry, make medical decisions, determine where to live and decide which friends and family members are allowed to visit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n AdventHealth is one Florida hospital that paid about $4 million to a guardian named\u00a0Rebecca Fierle<\/a>\u00a0who is currently under criminal investigation for causing the death of a man that was appointed to her care as a guardian.<\/p>\n According to the\u00a0ABC I-Team investigation<\/a>:<\/p>\n Invoices show AdventHealth paid Fierle the $4 million to serve as the guardian for 682 patients at its Orlando hospital \u2013 part of a secret arrangement hidden from the courts.<\/p>\n A court investigation report shows Fierle never disclosed to the judge she was being paid by the hospital \u2013 a violation of state statute, which bars guardians from receiving financial benefits other than those approved by the court.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n On Aug. 5, 2018, a judge approved placing Steven Stryker under Fierle\u2019s care in a hearing that allegedly lasted less than three minutes.<\/p>\n The I-Team obtained the official audio recording of the court proceedings. Laughter can be heard on the recording after the judge decides to push up the hearing date by three weeks and decide the case that day.<\/p>\n Stryker spent two months in the hospital prior to the hearing. After Fierle was appointed his guardian, she moved him from the hospital to multiple assisted living facilities, which investigators reported did not meet his medical needs.<\/p>\n Stryker died in May after Fierle had his feeding tube removed and ordered a \u201cDo Not Resuscitate\u201d order without permission.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Listen to the recording below, or at the\u00a0ABC Action News WFTS<\/a> website.<\/p>\nAdult Medical Kidnapping: Euthanizing America\u2019s Seniors \u2013 Orlando Medical Guardian Resigns After Getting Caught, but How Many More Are There?<\/a><\/h3>\n
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State Appointed Guardians: Power to Make Life and Death Decisions<\/h2>\n