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A free press
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Volume 21, NO. 1209 NEWS ARTICLES
SERVICES ADVERTISING
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IS BUREAUCRACY
KILLING A YOUNG EPILEPTIC WOMAN? Arrogant hospital intern
sets off a chain of events that destroys a family,
daughter by Harry V.
Martin She is but a pawn in the hands
of the State, a large attorney firm, and care home providers. They control
her life through psychiatric drugs which leave her mostly in a lethargic
condition. Her parents have fought to regain her custody for years and now
they have been restricted to one short visit a month. Such a visit brings
pain to the eyes of Nancy who wonders why they won’t take her home and why
they leave her in this place. Nancy’s life changed when an
arrogant intern doctor at Stanford University Hospital made the wrong
call. This intern took it upon herself to declare that the parents of
Nancy were “over medicating” the young woman for her seizures. She reduced
the amount of medication Nancy was receiving only to start her seizures
again. A neurologist had prescribed the exact dosage that the parents of
Nancy had been administrating. A neurologist at Stanford University
Hospital interceded and restored the proper dosage to Nancy which stopped
the seizures. Nancy went home with her parents and that should have been
the end of it. But the intern, ignoring the
Hospital’s neurologist and Nancy’s personal neurologist, notified Adult
Protective Services and filed a complaint against Nancy’s parents, stating
they were over medicating her and therefore were abusing
her. Adult Protective Services made
five or six calls on the parents of Nancy, investigating the allegations
of the intern. Then things became silent. Adult Protective Services knew
or should have known that Nancy’s private neurologist and the neurologist
at Stanford University Hospital acknowledged that the dosage Nancy was
being given by her parents was correct and necessary. At this point the
files should have been closed – and that is exactly what Nancy’s parents
thought. But not so! The Adult Protective Services’ files were not
corrected to reflect the reports of two neurologists
Over a year later Police
arrived with an Adult Protective Services agent[1]
and whisked Nancy away; placing her in a psychiatric ward for “her
protection”. Under the law her placement was illegal. The psychiatric ward
reduced Nancy’s Phenobarbital seizure medication to the same lower levels
as the intern had recommended – a dosage vetoed by the Stanford
neurologist; the seizure began again. While this is all going on the
District Attorney’s office files charges against the parents for abuse of
Nancy for over medicating. The District Attorney’s file show no mention of
the neurologists reports contradicting the allegation. Nancy was never
allowed to go home again. The Stanford neurologist’s interceded but it
didn’t matter because they had to hold onto Nancy after that because of
the injuries they did. They had other things they tried to pull, like the
burn injury to the top of Nancy’s foot which Stanford doctors, themselves,
had caused five months earlier by a misplaced IV that they then refused to
treat, then called this a neglected foot injury of unknown origin after it
had already been treated and healed. Despite all that, the District
Attorney Office continued the criminal case against the parents for 14
months before it was dropped. The reason the District
Attorney’s Office kept the criminal charges of abuse and neglect so long
was to allow the State of California to secretly apply for and obtain a
temporary conservatorship over Nancy. As long as the parents were under
criminal charges, they were not eligible to fight the conservatorship.
Even when the State went to court over the conservatorship they told the
judge that they could not find the parents. The parents were visiting
Nancy every week at the care facility. In fact the District Attorney’s
Office had the couple arrested on felony abuse charges. The District
Attorney’s Office offered to drop the charges down to a misdemeanor and a
slap on the wrist. The parents refused the offer. The parents rejected any
lesser charge for fear that a plea bargain would mean they would never see
their daughter again. When one judge ruled favorably
for the parents, the State went shopping for a new judge. The new judge
ignored the expert testimony of the neurologist in favor of written memos
from the State. The law does require more credence in court for live
witnesses as opposed to written memos. The Public Defender’s Office
represented Nancy. Because the conservatorship was awarded to the State,
the parents were denied by the court to the discovery process. The parents
were stripped of any legal rights in relationship to their daughter. The
Court even reduced the amount of time the parents would have for
visitation rights. Nancy saw her parents less and less and felt deserted.
The drugs they were giving to
Nancy began to eat away at her esophagus. “They’re killing her, she can’t
swallow,” the parents complained. The esophagus problem continued,
however, until the parents suspect that Nancy has throat cancer. The
parents have not been allowed to see Nancy’s medical records. Nancy had a
precancerous condition two years ago which was left untreated by her State
conservators. The parents have gone to State
and Federal Courts – including the United States Supreme Court, but the
Federal Courts have rejected the case on the basis they don’t have
jurisdiction. The State has paid $2 million dollars in Court to keep
Nancy. The parents have had no way of amassing such a sum and have, at
times, represented themselves in Court. The parents’ visitation rights
were reduced to one hour per month. When the parents are allowed to visit,
Nancy keeps asking to go home and doesn’t understand why she cannot. Many
times on their visits the parents would find Nancy in a comatose
status. But there is much more behind
this case as to why the State, Courts and others want Nancy – and victims
like her. (To be continued next
week.) |
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Napa Sentinel · 1627 Lincoln
Avenue, Napa CA 94558 |