Just before one o’clock in the afternoon on January 25th, 2013, I received an email from Jill Bechtold at Mathis & Murphy, P.A.. Attached was a scan of a letter — dated January 21, 2013 — which she had received from someone named Sam Chavin at Woodland Terrace.
Jill wrote me:
I received the attached letter from Woodland Terrace. Based on their response, my plan is to talk to their attorney. I suspect that you and your mother signed a release to HIPAA when she was placed in the facility. I am hopeful to speak with the attorney and have them review the file and see the release. If we cannot get them to agree, we may have to open the estate.
One additional thought is that your mother was Baker Acted (the second time) in January 2012. Do you have any court paperwork from the action? My thought is that the records may be sufficient to show you or your sister are the appointed legal guardians. It may not work, but I believe it is worth a try.
Right now I have called the author of the letter asking for the name of the attorney. Just wanted to keep you in the loop. I will let you know when I hear back.
-Jill
Attachment: Letters of Administration Request
I replied to her an hour later with the following email:
Dear Jill,
I do not think my mother signed anything at any point that would be legally binding; the primary reason I never assumed Power of Attorney was because by the time we realized it, we were told she was not competent to grant it. (And I’m ignoring for now all evidence that points to the fact that the only reason she was not competent was because she was flooded with mind-altering drugs, against all my very specific and direct approvals, for months.)
You can see details regarding everything I signed for Woodland Terrace at the following links:
http://kathiegagne.com/2012/07/31/returned-admissions-forms/
http://kathiegagne.com/2012/07/30/admission-pocket/
http://kathiegagne.com/2012/07/23/a-call-from-rosa/
http://kathiegagne.com/2012/07/20/incorrect-fax-more-rudeness/
http://kathiegagne.com/2012/07/17/consent-form-follow-up/
http://kathiegagne.com/2012/07/16/rosa-requests-consent/I am sure that I have copies of all of the forms mentioned there. I will get them this weekend and then fax them to you on Monday morning.
I do have quite a bit of paperwork from when mom was Baker Acted, and I will fax that to you as well.