State of Texas Forces Couple Into Nursing Home, Takes Over Their Finances

State of Texas Forces Couple Into Nursing Home, Takes Over Their Finances


Radley Balko
September 11, 2009

Awful story from Texas, where elderly couple Michael and Jean Kidd were made wards of the state of Texas, then held against their will while the state took over their finances.

In November Michael fell and broke his hip. He was taken to a Plano hospital and into surgery. After a few days, the hospital called the state Adult Protective Services to report Jean had been in the waiting room for days and wasn’t eating...

A judge determined the Kidds were incapacitated and unable to care for themselves. The state took over the Kidds lives, sent them to the Countryside Nursing Home in Pilot Point, and is now burning through their money to pay for their care.

The state refuses to give the Kidds an accounting of how it is spending their money, the reason apparently being that because they were deemed mentally deficient, they lack standing to even ask for financial records. The couple was given a court-appointed attorney (paid for from the Kidds' savings), but he looks to have worked all of 10 hours on their case. According to neighbors, the state has since allowed the Kidds' home deteriorate, and didn't even bother to lock the doors after taking the couple into custody. The local Fox affiliate reported at the end of last month that state officials were also planning to sell the couple's home at auction. Media coverage seems to have pressured a local judge to put off the sale, at least for now.

The same station reports that the judge has clarified an earlier order barring the Kidds from talking to anyone about their case, and allowing them access to their own medical records. But they're still being kept in the nursing home, and still can't access any record of how the state is spending their money.

Please read entire article from Reason at link below. This sure sounds like something the Texans learned from The Probate Court of Cook County:


http://reason.com/blog/2009/09/11/state-of-texas-forces-couple-i