I have three of my sisters trying to have my guardianship removed claiming I am abusing my mother mentally by not allowing her to see the family and keeping her isolated. They wrote letters to the judge, who re-opened the case. In their letters, to prove they are good candidates for guardianship they state they are visiting mom weekly. So I am isolating my mother from family, but they are seeing her all the time. I was shocked. I can come up with call and visitation logs showing the family is visiting them at will and disprove their allegations. But the real problem, is the Ombudsman. One of the sisters complained, and the Ombudsman agreed. I contracted the Ombudsman to get the report, and was told she doesn't have to give it to me without my mom's consent. Even though mom is deemed incompetent. My mom can barely speak, and doesn't respond to questions is a clear manner. I thought there was a freedom of information act, but she said that doesn't apply. There is nothing I can do to get the report. It is a little hard to defend myself without seeing the allegations. I have in no way abused my mother. I have never stopped anyone from visiting, and have actually encouraged people to see her. She was allowed "outings" when she was doing better. The sisters are upset because the nursing home required my signature to release them from liability. They said they don’t have to ask my permission because it is their mother too. That is really where the problems started. It got mad enough that they were complaining to mom that I refused to let them take her out. Then mom would go into a tirade and the staff would have to call me. When I got there, she’d start on me, saying I locked her up there and there is nothing wrong with her. Basically I don’t know what my rights are with the Ombudsman. I feel I should have some rights to be able to contest report. I felt like I should have had some input in the report considering I am the guardian. That’s doesn’t even mention that the sisters, and their kids constantly harass me. I had to quit social media and block numbers. I need advice. Anything at all.
The attorney I trust. She is very good, and rather expensive, and well known in court. I feel it is helpful to have a lawyer the judge that may have a professional relationship. If the judge knows the lawyer from other cases, then they can communciation better. Much better than I could, that is certain.
I did file a HIPPA complaint aginst the NH for the social service work calling my lawyer and sharing information reguarding my mother ligiated abuse by me and my wife. That just stems me. I don't know what she could have against us, other than we're from IN and the other family are local in IL.
I think I will file a seperate complaint with the state for the same social worker for omitted, deleting, or otherwise not updating her patient notes. I found out that she has nothing in the records for a month. I called had asked and it had something to do with medicaid (which was a bunch of BS). That she talks to my mother every day, and will update it with one big note in a few days. She is one bad apple.
A court subpoena isn't negotiable (unless there are deep corporate pockets and a corporate lawyer argues with the attorney issuing the subpoena). The only reason I can think of that would allow the nursing home the right to refuse compliance would be the HIPAA laws. Then there could be an issue of federal law vs. the local court's authority, i.e., a jurisdictional challenge.
Check the guardianship appointment documents to see if you have authority to waive HIPAA laws for your mother, just for the purpose of getting the medical records.
I'm not completely comfortable with your attorney's attitude that the Ombudsman's reports would just be "thrown out." This sounds like a simplistic, nonresponsive position. A cautious attorney plans for likely events, which include that the judge would be influenced by the ombudsperson's reports.
Social workers usually play things pretty close to the vest. I'm surprised the one in question is making accusations, contacting your attorney, etc. So stop that; ask your attorney about getting a TRO (temporary restraining order) to prevent her from maligning you, releasing information (and comments, even lies, about your mother's behavior issue could be considered a breach of HIPAA laws).
Under the legal doctrine of respondeat superior, if the social worker is employed directly by the nursing home, it can be considered liable for the social worker's inappropriate behavior, slander, lies, and breach of HIPAA laws, while acting in the capacity of representing or handling NY activities.
If the social worker is an independent contractor, the NH ownership and management might be considered liable if there's an employment contract in place, depending on the terms of the contract.
Threaten, or at least put the SW on notice of slander and libel suits, and be sure to notify the NH administration of her behavior. Your attorney should handle this.
How in the world did the NH get a "free" attorney? This doesn't make any sense at all. SOMEONE is paying that attorney - this isn't the kind of pro bono case an attorney would accept.
You need to do some investigation into the ownership of the NH; check with your state to see if the NH is incorporated in your state, if it's an assumed name, or what kind of corporate status it has. Usually corporate Articles of Incorporation are available online. See who the officers are, what the state of incorporation is, and contact them by e-mail if possible (read receipt requested), to notify them of the SW's behavior.
Further, I've not heard of an attorney harassing someone in this kind of situation - in corporate takeovers, in marital matters, perhaps, but I find it difficult to believe an attorney could stoop so low as to become involved in a harassment action against your mother.
However, if this is happening, you need to remove your mother from that situation ASAP, or go all the way up the corporate ladder of NH ownership to reach the execs who manage the facility (or chain) and let them know of the actionable behavior that's occurring.
I don't recall offhand what the regulatory status of NHs is, so that's another avenue although filing a complaint with a regulatory agent isn't going to get action as quickly as legal action.
If your attorney's not comfortable getting aggressive, find someone who is. Contact and/or search the state and local bar association records to locate a law firm that handles nursing home complaint issues.
If this was me and my mother, I'd be using every tool at my disposal to expose what's happening. Just make sure you only make public the accusations that can be proven.
What do your sisters hope to gain?
I was upset about the bs the omsbudman could be saying, and then stonewalling me. I tried twice, and they said even with a court subpoena, they can refuse to give me the report. But the lawyer said they'll just toss out anything the omsbudman refuses to supply us with copies.
I found out it is the social worker at the NH is the problem. She is one one that is friends with my family that live in the near by town. I requested my mom's records from the NH and the solcial worker deleted the last months of her records. Not only that, she called my attonery and left a message that I was abusing my mom, stealing her money, and making up lies about my mothers behavior issue. All of these are not true.
The worst of all, after reading the NH records, is when the social work filed a complaint with the omsbudman in Feb 2015, and they got a free IL attorney who has been calling mom, my mom's behavior problems has gotten very extreme. Her flight risk went to a 15.5 (where 5.0 is consider high risk). She threatens the stafff. Tells them to call the police, she isn't staying here anymore. She threaten and tried to burn the place down. She has threaten and attempted suicide several times in the last month, and we had to send her to a mental health facailty which put her on lithium. All this happened the same month my sisters sent letters to reopen the case. It is all way out of hand at this point.
you disagree. The judge will appoint an Independent Guardian since you are now in a nursing home and unable to fulfill all your duties as Guardian.
Something is missing from the story it seems. Relationships do not get this far out of control without a long history. My main question is how and why did you pursue guardianship? Were sisters notified as required by law? Was there POA's in place? Who had those?