From GJS – a harrowing story of one man’s final days and his death….

From GJS – a harrowing story of one man’s final days and his death….

by jmdenison

Of a broken heart.

Thanks for sending this along G****, I really LOVED the story.

Benjamin Alfano lived at Raleigh Hills Assisted Living, where he was frequently visited by his granddaughter. He died in February 2011.

Twenty-seven months ago, Probate Judge Cobb dismissed the pleas of Alfano, his four doctors, four of his five children and Cobb's own court visitor, and awarded control of the veteran's life to Chris Farley, a professional guardian.

Alfano, a 72-year-old amputee with full benefits, would survive only another six months.
Farley moved the veteran out of the Raleigh Hills Assisted Living facility he loved and eventually into a locked-door dementia-care unit in Gresham, and strenuously isolated him from his children.

Alfano's heart burst, literally, in February 2011, and he died at the VA Medical Center.

As Judy Bridges, the Raleigh Hills administrator, submitted in an affidavit, "I believe with all my heart that the move killed him."

Alfano's death devastated his five children, four of whom retained Portland attorney Michelle Burrows to initiate a federal civil-rights suit against Farley, Pagnano and individuals at ODVA.

Of the $407,000 parked in the account when Farley was appointed guardian in 2010, only $220,000 remains.

And that includes another $44,000 that Alfano received in pension and Social Security before he died.

Where did all the money go?

ODVA "disbursed" $26,784 to Farley and another $27,643 to her attorney, Sibylle Baer.

Pagnano the GAL received $19,022.

D. Kevin Carlson, the assistant attorney general at ODVA, received $25,143.

J. Kevin Shuba -- the lawyer representing Alfano's four children -- received $41,560.

But none of those payouts are as galling as Carlson's suggestion, on behalf of Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, that Cobb must hold another $120,000 of the estate in reserve to defend ODVA and Farley against a potential federal suit.

Think about that.

Four of Ben Alfano's children -- Mary, Steven, David and Lisa --believe the conservator and guardian made decisions that contributed to their father's "wrongful and untimely death."

And Carlson wants to pit what's left of their father's estate against them.

None of those children plans to be in Guardianship court.

"She has never listened to anything we've said," Steven Alfano notes.

"And we're beaten down. Dad is dead. We lost him. And the health toll this has taken on Mary and me, especially, has been huge."

They have, however, filed an objection.

Further degrading the estate, they argue, "would be both an injustice and simply ethically wrong in any code of conduct."

-- Steve Duin is an Oregon reporter on this story

***End of Story****

Does this sound familiar? Haunting echoes of the Illinois Probate court?

I wonder

jmdenison | February 27, 2013 at 1:43 am | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/p209wH-Ce

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