Courant: "A shameful abuse of probate."
Foley Hearts Chuck
fit...@gmail.com, patrick.f...@usdoj.gov,
model...@sbcglobal.net, jdr...@nejm.org, let...@courant.com,
Jgerb...@cdc.gov, len...@courant.com, michae...@po.state.ct.us,
con...@po.state.ct.us, executiv...@nytimes.com, managing-
edi...@nytimes.com, news...@nytimes.com, the-...@nytimes.com,
biz...@nytimes.com, for...@nytimes.com, me...@nytimes.com,
nati...@nytimes.com, dv...@cdc.gov, brigidc...@optonline.net,
tr...@hotmail.com, ubi...@courant.com, ma...@concentric.net,
camp...@courant.com, jhorn...@fff.org, thomas...@usdoj.gov,
thoma...@po.state.ct.us, kur...@washpost.com,
georg...@washpost.com, hor...@courant.com,
commissi...@po.state.ct.us, cohen...@aol.com,
FalN...@aol.com, brans...@comcast.net, vts...@comcast.net,
o...@po.state.ct.us, da...@davila-dilzer.com,
scott....@po.state.ct.us, govern...@po.state.ct.us,
attorney...@po.state.ct.us, randall...@usdoj.gov
Cc: fra...@ucia.gov, dr-ahma...@president.ir,
eugener...@washpost.com, hor...@courant.com,
bmi...@newstimes.com, tr...@hotmail.com, rast...@aol.com,
billc...@gmail.com, thomas...@usdoj.gov, amcg...@rms-law.com,
rjmu...@aol.com, paulcrai...@yahoo.com,
sidney_b...@yahoo.com, criminal...@usdoj.gov,
karla.d...@usdoj.gov, christophe...@usdoj.gov
Subject: Courant: "A shameful abuse of probate."
Date: Mar 4, 2008 8:02 AM
This is every day life in Corrupticut, and why we call it a
meatgrinder or the Cannibal
State. Other people's hardships are not to be helped, but rather,
examined
for their value in feeding the cannibals- the so-called courts, the
cops, duh DCF,
duh "mental health" workers union, providing bodies for Yale's
psychotropics
brain damagers to experiment upon, but not ever examine the spinal
fluid of the
epidemic of kids with the brain damage we call autism...
http://www.actionlyme.org/dictionary_of_connecticutisms.htm
http://www.actionlyme.org/DCF_YALES_PSYCHOTROPICS_ABUSE_OF_CHILDREN.htm
http://www.actionlyme.org/AUTISM_YALE_INTERNATIONAL_WASTE.htm
Go, Rick!
You, Helen Ubinas, Colin Poitras, Bill Curry, Kevin Rennie, Denis
Horgan, and the
Courant dudes who undid the DCF-Rowland cabal are our heroes!!
http://www.actionlyme.org/BRAINLESS_BUREAUCRATS.htm
http://www.actionlyme.org/RAGAGLIA_GRANDJURY_DETAILS.htm
Kathleen M. Dickson
ActionLyme.org
===================================================
courant.com/news/local/columnists/hc-
rgreen0304.art.artmar04,0,20990.column
Courant.com
Shameful Abuse Of Probate
Rick Green
March 4, 2008
Rose Quattro is an 88-year-old widow in a wheelchair who just wants to
live quietly
at her East Hartford home, watch some TV, read and perhaps do a little
baking now
and then.
Is that too much to ask?
It is, apparently, for our probate court system.
A phalanx of court-appointed lawyers -- acting on her behalf and on her
dime -- is
fighting Quattro's desire to live her remaining days with her son.
"I just want to know why I am here and why I can't live my life the
way
I'm supposed to at my age? Everybody is making things difficult for
me. Why?"
she asked Probate Judge Steven M. Zelman one day during a hearing last
month. "That's
all I want to know is why."
Quattro and her son James have lived together in a house her parents
built for all
of his 58 years. You can imagine the relationship between these two.
"I am an independent person. I can do things on my own and make sure
that they
get done," she said at a February hearing. "You all know that I was --
I went into a convalescent home that I got discharged [from] and now I
am facing
all these problems. Why? I didn't do anything. I'm treated like a
criminal."
Some criminals receive better treatment than Quattro, who suffers a
variety of chronic
conditions. She is sometimes forgetful, but Quattro and her son say
that she can
live on her own with some help. In court, the lawyers quiz her about
the most private
details of her life. They imply that her son, her only heir, could be
out to bilk
her -- and worse. At one hearing last fall, five attorneys showed up,
all billing
Quattro's estate.
Some of the court-appointed lawyers -- including Steven M. Allen, her
conservator;
Thomas S. O'Grady, lawyer for Allen; and Joseph Prokop, court-
appointed guardian
ad litem -- are openly feuding with Quattro's volunteer lawyers from
Greater
Hartford Legal Aid.
When I read court transcripts and the piles of briefs and motions and
met with Quattro,
her son and her Legal Aid lawyers, I was left with a single,
bewildering thought:
Why?
Quattro's life landed under court control last summer after she was
hospitalized
for an infection and ended up in a nursing home. A dispute arose
between her son
and the nursing home that she was set to be released from. The nursing
home -- part
of the infamous, bankrupt Haven Healthcare chain recently exposed by
my colleagues
Lisa Chedekel and Lynne Tuohy -- went to the probate court, which named
a conservator
for her and appointed a lawyer to look out for her.
While the lawyers and the nursing home bickered, Quattro remained
against her will
at the Haven Health Center of East Hartford, running up a $51,646.63
tab when she
could have been home. She was finally released in November, but still
remains under
a conservatorship, stripped of her rights and without access to Social
Security
and a small pension. Her son pays for a full-time aide to assist him
with Rose Quattro's
care.
The law is clear, by the way, when it comes to probate court taking
away a person's
rights: "If the court of probate having jurisdiction finds a ward to
be capable
of caring for himself or herself, the court shall, upon hearing and
after notice,
order that the conservatorship of the person be terminated."
Marilyn Denny, Rose Quattro's Legal Aid lawyer, said "the question
is,
is [James] taking care of his mother? There is not a shred of evidence
that he has
ever not taken good care of her."
"Her estate is being dissipated. The nursing home still hasn't been
paid,"
Denny said. "They have made her life and her son's life a living
hell."
Probate courts have "a paternalistic attitude toward protecting
people,"
she said. "Sometimes what people need the most is protection from the
system."
Rose Quattro lived a simple working life. She raised a boy, held down
a full-time
job and baked her Italian cookies in a home that she remains proud to
live in. She
deserves better.
Make no mistake. This could be your mother. Or you.
Rick Green's column appears on Tuesdays and Fridays. He can be reached
at rgr...@courant.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Hartford Courant
cowabun...@yahoo.com
YOURSELF A FAVOR AND SCROLL ON BY
Kathleen: The following are NOT permitted:
1. Off topic materials except for an occcasional post with OT
2. Posts with offensive defamatory materials in the title
3.Posts with offensive defamatory materials in the post itself
4. Cross posting
5. Insane conspiracy theories
6. Your lies