Tonight, Patricia & Robert Femia join us to talk about the downstream effects of predatory guardianships. Patricia’s mother, captured and isolated from her family, soon succumbed to the psychological torture inflicted upon her. In a classic case of trauma based bonding, she rejected all ties to her daughter and her family. Instead, she identified with her captors. In what was a clear case of the Stockholm Syndrome, and the effects on the family as this unfolded were staggering.
“This horrific ordeal has left me and my family completely heart-broken. My mother was taken care of and had her daughter and son-in-law and grandchildren living closely around her every day. She lived comfortably, was healthy and had her independence for many years. Once this whole scenario unfolded,she died all alone in a nursing home.”
Tune in as Patricia and Robert tell how they managed to survive this attack on their family, and where are they today in managing the damage.
The Devil Lives in Virginia: The Conspiracy that Killed Anastasia Adams – by Yolanda Adams-Bell
“The devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in many and various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force.”
-Wikipedia
The Devil Lives in Virginia chronicles the story of Anastasia Adams’ nine-month ordeal from her abduction to her murder from the viewpoint of her family. It is a story of a family’s desperate fight and struggle to free Anastasia from a system (and its predatory guardianship) that was created to help individuals like her but instead abandoned her to nine months of untold pain and suffering. It is a story of massive obstruction, the powerful and morally bankrupt preying on the weak and those that protect them from accountability. It is a story of public apathy and indifference to the abuse, neglect and torture that is right under their noses and within their line of sight. It is the ultimate commentary on the attitude “if it doesn’t affect me it does not matter, it does not exist”. It is a story of lives – countless lives lost, but most importantly it is a story of two sisters, a bond that only sisters share, and their love for one another.
In 2005 Yolanda became her sister Anastasia’s sole caregiver after she suffered a brain injury. On February 15, 2017 after being hospitalized for pneumonia and developing fluid around her heart and a hospital born infection Yolanda’s sister Anastasia was abducted by Inova Fairfax Hospital, a well-known and major level one trauma center in the Washington, D.C. suburbs of Northern Virginia, through a legally questionable guardianship. While in the custody of Inova’s contracted guardians Anastasia allegedly suffered horrendous neglect and abuse. When Yolanda blew the whistle on what Inova, their guardians, and the Fairfax County Circuit Court, were doing the guardians isolated and then allegedly killed her sister. Nine months after abducting Anastasia the guardians ended her life through dehydration and starvation. After 6 days without food or water, doped up on the opiates Fentanyl, Morphine, and other sedating medications Anastasia succumbed and died on November 16, 2017. Due to the guardians severe restrictions on visitation for Anastasia she died alone, without family or clergy there to comfort her.
Yolanda is now focused on ensuring what happened to her much beloved sister never happens to anyone else because elderly and disabled lives matter.
The unit is on the second floor of the facility and only accessible from the main entrance via a code-restricted elevator the doors of which open into a common area that looks like a hybrid of a hospital ward and prison day room.
Lahser Hills Care Center in Southfield, Michigan.
Image from Lahser Hills website
Legally deaf, Virgil (whose last name is omitted for privacy reasons) stared directly ahead. He made no eye contact, but his expression was one of despair. His only answer to questions from this investigation was given through a single tear that ran down his cheek, which he made no attempt to wipe away.
For 40 years, Virgil had lived in his childhood home in Pontiac under the care of his mother Beth. After she passed away and left the home to Virgil, the neighbors, with whom both mother and son were close, stepped in and helped wherever they could. Virgil was not a wealthy man. He had no savings to speak of, and his only income came via a Social Security check.
However, he did have property.
In late 2016, former Oakland County Public Administrator Jennifer Carney was given control over that property alongside Virgil’s income, identity, possessions, and future after he was placed under her guardianship by Oakland County Probate Court Chief Judge Kathleen Ryan.
The admission sounded like something out of “Logan’s Run” or other dystopian sci-fi movie, not an explanation one would expect to hear from legal associates. Nancy Scott and others who joined her in a peaceful prayer vigil for her mother’s life on Tuesday, August 20, were stunned when representatives from the court-appointed guardian’s office explained that the reason that retired Alabama schoolteacher Marian Leonard was on hospice was because she was old.
According to Medicare.gov, hospice care is supposed to be for people who are certified by a hospice doctor and the patient’s regular doctor that they are terminally ill with a “life expectancy of 6 months or less.” Hospice care is palliative, or “comfort” care, rather than curative care, and it is supposed to be a choice that the patient makes, not a decision thrust upon them without their consent.
That is not what has happened with Marian Leonard. When the state seized guardianship of Mrs. Leonard in February 2018 at the request of St. Vincent’s Hospital and the Department of Human Resources (DHR), she was forced into a nursing home, Diversicare of Riverchase, and forced onto hospice care, against her will and that of her designated Power of Attorney, her daughter Nancy Scott. More
Whistleblower’s! Is brought to you in coordination with Marcel Reid and the Whistleblower’s Summit, taking place July 29 thru Aug. 1st, in Washington,D.C
How bad does the guardian-for-profit system have to become before we stop this protected racket of human trafficking of the elderly by these predatory vultures? The very idea that anyone has to flee this country to escape being trafficked in this system is unthinkable.
Join us this evening as former Minnesota resident Joanne Bougalis, tells of her mother’s capture by a professional guardian and the subsequent deterioration in her mothers’, Katherine Bougalis, health and psychological conditions that resulted from being unnecessarily institutionalized, by the guardian, and forcibly drugged with Ativan and Seroquel. After several attempts to free her mother from the guardianship which were of course rejected by the court which appears to be the protection arm of this dirty business, Joanne and her mother fled the country and are living safely and happily in Greece. Katherine’s assets which were sizable are steadily being accessed by profiteers even as she is denied any access to those same assets. While still living in Minnesota a hearing for Katherine was scheduled. She was also made unavailable for her own hearing by the guardian after a doctor’s appointment was scheduled conveniently for the same time as the hearing.
Fleeing America
The guardian has been made aware in writing three years in a row where his ward is located. He continues to fraudulently report her missing and her whereabouts unknown in his annual reports. He ignores requests to step down claiming his position is supported by the Judge. He was notified both by Katherine’s son and by Social Security of her whereabouts. He took specific steps to delay her social security, and took no steps to provide living and medical expenses for his ward, although it appears from reports the guardian is still paying (someone’s) medical expenses.
Having been stripped of all her rights, via the designation of “ward” of the state and suffering a “civil death”, could Katherine now be viewed as escaped human property? Apparently so! As her owner of record continues to bill her estate each year!
Remember the documentary Edith & Eddie? Edith’s daughter will be our guest this evening to talk about how this all ended. Rebecca Wright will be talking about the documentary and how it exposed this corrupt system of guardianship. Produced by Laura Checkoway, the documentary revealed the devastating effects of the system of guardianship. Treated like property, no regard is given to the crushing pain and devastation that results from tearing people away from those they love and who love them.
When they took Edith away, they promised Eddie she would be back in two weeks. Separated from his precious Edith, Eddie collapsed when he realized she would not be coming home as promised. Please tune in to hear how this all ended, and what happened to Edith after Eddie’s death.
Directed, produced and edited by Laura Checkoway Produced by Thomas Lee Wright Co-producers Karina Rotenstein and P. Corwin Lamm Executive Producers: Steve James, Gordon Quinn, Betsy Steinberg, and Cher A production of Kartemquin Films and Heart is Red http://www.editheddie.com
