Opinion ID: 2160038
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Hearing on the Petition

Text: On February 12, 2002, as originally scheduled, the hearing on George Washington University Hospital's petition for the appointment of a permanent general guardian and conservator for Ms. Orshansky commenced before Judge Christian. Ms. Castro appeared for Ms. Orshansky and, without objection, waived her presence. The judge confirmed that all present, including Ms. Castro, agreed that Ms. Orshansky was incapacitated within the meaning of the statute authorizing appointment of a permanent guardian and conservator. Ms. Pollack, who appeared at the hearing with her counsel, Mr. Teitelbaum, renewed her jurisdictional challenge, which the judge again rejected. With these preliminaries out of the way, the hearing focused on two interrelated questions: whether Ms. Orshansky needed to be returned to the District of Columbia, and whether the court should select Mr. Jordan or Ms. Pollack as her permanent guardian and conservator. Mr. Jordan, the Hospital, Ms. Castro, and Dr. Meyers of APS all called for Ms. Orshansky's return to the District and the selection of Mr. Jordan. Ms. Pollack opposed those recommendations. Four witnesses testified: Mr. Jordan, Dr. Meyers, a Washington neighbor of Ms. Orshansky named Sheila Muldihill, and Ms. Pollack. Mr. Teitelbaum advised the court that a fifth intended witness, Ms. Orshansky's sister, Rose Orshansky, was unable to appear for health reasons. He asked that the hearing not be concluded until Rose Orshansky could testify. The judge denied that request, but stated that Mr. Teitelbaum could file a motion for reconsideration or an appeal if he saw fit to do so. Mr. Teitelbaum also sought to introduce affidavits from other relatives of Ms. Orshansky, but Judge Christian excluded these affidavits on hearsay grounds.
In his testimony, Mr. Jordan reported that he visited Ms. Orshansky in her New York apartment on February 1. He found Ms. Orshansky in a wheelchair, clean and with her hair brushed, and very calm though physically frail. When Mr. Jordan spoke with her, Ms. Orshansky was very confused and thought she was still in Washington, D.C. She did not understand who he was or what was going on. Ms. Orshansky was attended by a woman whom the family had retained as a full-time, live-in aide. Mr. Jordan was informed that this woman was not a nurse or dietitian but had prior experience living with and caring for another elderly woman. Mr. Jordan inspected the apartment and found it to be furnished rather sparsely with a sofa, a few chairs, two day beds, and what have you. Mr. Jordan also glanced in the refrigerator and saw that there was food. In the course of his visit, he spoke at great length with Ms. Pollack. She explained to him that she had brought Ms. Orshansky to New York because she was unhappy with the care her aunt was receiving in the Hospital. She was taking Ms. Orshansky to doctors in New York for an ulcer on her foot, an eye problem and other reasons, and she believed that her aunt now was receiving the care she needed. Mr. Jordan voiced a concern that Ms. Orshansky did not have a full-sized bed with rails to prevent her from falling, and Ms. Pollack told him that a hospital bed was being purchased. She also told Mr. Jordan that family members had been visiting with Ms. Orshansky now that she was in New York. Mr. Jordan did not see any other relatives of Ms. Orshansky during his visit. Based on these observations, Mr. Jordan expressed the opinion that Ms. Orshansky was not getting the care that she deserves, simply given the fact that the lady has the wherewithal to be given anything she wanted. And, he stated, I don't think it's going to get any better. I think it's going to get worse. Mr. Jordan did not explain this prediction. He discounted the fact that relatives might have good intentions, would like to come by and see her, because I think in the long run it's not the best thing for Mollie Orshansky. Mr. Jordan expressed concern that the live-in aide hired by the family lacked the medical skills he thought necessary to respond to an emergency such as a heart attack or an asthma attack. [4] He believed that Ms. Orshansky needed professional medical care around the clock. Instead of being taken to see doctors, he thought that what she really needs is to be in a facility where the doctors are there where they can come to her. Mr. Jordan opined that Ms. Orshansky should be returned to Washington and either put back in her well furnished apartment, where healthcare professionals could attend to her, or else put in a nursing home. Because Jane Pollack was responsible for Ms. Orshansky's removal to New York, he did not consider her to be a proper candidate for the positions of guardian or conservator. Conceding that he was not a medical expert by any stretch of the imagination, Mr. Jordan did not explain his qualifications for offering his opinions about Ms. Orshansky's medical needs. No medical or other expert evaluation of Ms. Orshansky's needs or appropriate placement was offered in evidence at the hearing. On the question of the need for a conservator, Mr. Jordan testified that he had determined that the bulk of Ms. Orshansky's assets, including her account at Merrill Lynch, were held in a revocable trust of which she was the sole beneficiary. [5] Ms. Orshansky had created the trust in 1981. She and her sister, Rose Orshansky, were the co-trustees and each had authority to write checks on the Merrill Lynch account. Mr. Jordan learned that Merrill Lynch had lifted its freeze on the account, apparently at the behest of counsel for Rose Orshansky or Jane Pollack. Mr. Jordan had not discussed the account with Rose Orshansky, but Merrill Lynch had advised him that no extraordinary checks had been written on it. He acknowledged that he had no reason to think that Rose Orshansky was misappropriating or mismanaging trust funds. Nonetheless, Mr. Jordan recommended appointment of a conservator to prevent the improper diversion of Ms. Orshansky's assets. His principal concern was that Ms. Pollack had told him that approximately $90,000 in the Merrill Lynch account belonged to Rose Orshansky as her share of the proceeds from the sale of jointly owned property. Mr. Jordan also noted that Rose Orshansky and numerous other relatives were residual beneficiaries of the trust. More generally, Mr. Jordan expressed the view that this is one of these unfortunate situations where you have somebody who has plenty of money and obviously it can be some temptations at time [sic].
In her testimony, Dr. Meyers reviewed once again the events that led up to Ms. Orshansky's hospitalization. Dr. Meyers said that Ms. Orshansky told her during one of her home visits that she wanted to stay in Washington, D.C., and did not want to go to New York. Dr. Meyers also stated that APS feels that the family does not have the best interests of Ms. Orshansky at heart. The reason Dr. Meyers gave for this conclusion was that the family did not cooperate with APS's requests for financial information. Dr. Meyers also questioned why Eugene Shapiro had allowed Ms. Orshansky to sink into the condition in which APS found her. However, Dr. Meyers described how suspicious Ms. Orshansky was of Mr. Shapiro when she saw them together on November 19, and acknowledged that Ms. Orshansky stymied APS as well when it tried to help her because of her reluctance to admit that she needed assistance. Although Ms. Orshansky at one point agreed to see her regular physician and two home care service agencies, she refused to follow through with the appointments. Dr. Meyers told Ms. Orshansky's relatives about the appointments when she set them up, but never informed the family that the appointments were not kept. Dr. Meyers did not so inform the family, she said, because she was waiting for Eda Shapiro to fax her Ms. Orshansky's financial information first.
Ms. Castro called Sheila Muldihill, a long-time friend and neighbor of Ms. Orshansky in Washington, to testify. Before Ms. Orshansky was hospitalized, Ms. Muldihill kept in touch with her by telephone. She said she last visited Ms. Orshansky in her apartment a year ago and took out a number of newspapers, but then I had pushed her as far as she could be pushed, and no more. Ms. Muldihill mentioned her efforts to get Ms. Orshansky to see a doctor, and Ms. Orshansky's expressed desire to go to New York: I tried to get her to go to the doctor. Well, the doctor had moved. And then she wanted to go to New York, but she couldn't go to New York until she'd gone to the doctor, and blah, blah, blah. So, we discussed this, or she told it to me regularly. Ms. Muldihill reported that many of the residents of their apartment building had asked about Ms. Orshansky and really cared about her.
Finally, Jane Pollack testified. She described at some length a close and long-standing relationship that she and members of her family in New York had with Ms. Orshansky, how they had been visiting her regularly and looking after her, and how they had been unable to convince her to accept help as her ability to care for herself was declining. When Dr. Meyers notified the family of the extreme situation in which she found Ms. Orshansky, the family was prepared to take further steps. It held off doing so, Ms. Pollack testified, because Dr. Meyers reported that she was visiting Ms. Orshansky and had succeeded in persuading her to accept a home care worker. Ms. Pollack said that she relied on this report after confirming it directly with her aunt. The next thing the family heard, Ms. Orshansky was in the hospital. Ms. Pollack described why and how she removed Ms. Orshansky from the Hospital relying on her authority as Ms. Orshansky's health care agent under the health care proxy. [6] She testified that she brought her aunt to the apartment that Ms. Orshansky owned in the same building in which her sister, Rose Orshansky, resided so that Ms. Orshansky's family would be able to visit with her and care for her both physically and emotionally. According to Ms. Pollack, her aunt had purchased this apartment in 1987 so that she would have it in [the] circumstances that she's in now, and had stayed in it regularly during her frequent visits to the city. After bringing Ms. Orshansky to New York, Ms. Pollack hired an aide who had thirteen years of experience caring for elderly people to live with her aunt and look after her. Ms. Pollack had been monitoring her aunt's care very closely, and saw that the aide is very dedicated and ... takes good care of her. [7] Ms. Pollack also took Ms. Orshansky to see Rose Orshansky's doctor, who examined her and found that she did not need to remain hospitalized. [8] The doctor discussed Ms. Orshansky's diet and nutritional needs and the best course of therapy for her. Ms. Pollack understood that Ms. Orshansky would benefit from physical therapy, and said that the family was in the process of deciding where it would be furnished. Ms. Pollack believed that her aunt was in much better shape, mentally and physically, than she had been in at the Hospital. Having researched nursing facilities in the New York area, Ms. Pollack also believed that her aunt was far better off in her own apartment than she would be in a nursing home. [9] Ms. Pollack confirmed that her aunt's pension checks were being deposited in the Merrill Lynch account which was held in the revocable trust that Ms. Orshansky had established. Ms. Pollack testified that Rose Orshansky, as co-trustee and co-signatory on the Merrill Lynch account, began paying all her sister's bills for her about two years ago, when she discovered that Ms. Orshansky was neglecting her financial affairs. Contrary to the testimony of Mr. Jordan, Ms. Pollack said that she did not know of sale proceeds or any other funds in the Merrill Lynch account that did not belong to Mollie Orshansky. Ms. Pollack testified that while she had little knowledge regarding the trust, she understood simply that Rose Orshansky had lent her sister money in 1987 to help her buy the New York apartment in which she now was living. Ms. Pollack testified that while Ms. Orshansky was not able to take care of herself, she knew about the petition in the District to appoint her a guardian and conservator and emphatically opposed it. This testimony came out after the Hospital's counsel informed the court during a break that Mr. Teitelbaum had delivered to him and Ms. Castro a typewritten statement signed by Ms. Orshansky and two witnesses in which she purportedly stated her views. Questioning the propriety of securing the statement from Ms. Orshansky without the knowledge of Mr. Jordan or Ms. Castro, Judge Christian asked for an explanation. Mr. Teitelbaum responded that her lawyer has never spoken to Mollie Orshansky  a startling piece of news the significance of which all concerned overlooked at the time. [10] Ms. Pollack then resumed the stand and testified that it was she who typed the statement after Rose Orshansky brought it to her in handwritten form and told her that her sister had made it. Ms. Pollack also testified that she herself had read the Hospital's petitions to Mollie Orshansky and tried to explain them to her; that her aunt was very agitated about the proceedings; that she was absolutely capable of saying what appeared in the statement; that I have personally heard her say the things that are in there; and that she has said every single one of those things. Mr. Jordan opined that, based on his interviews with Ms. Orshansky, she could not possibly have made the statement attributed to her or even understood it. Ms. Castro opposed admission of the statement on hearsay grounds. But if Ms. Pollack's testimony is to be believed, Ms. Orshansky has expressed the strong desire to continue living in her New York apartment near her sister and other relatives, and is dismayed by the prospect of being put in a nursing home. She does not want the court in the District of Columbia to supersede the trust and health care arrangements that she made and to appoint her a guardian or a conservator, and is unhappy and angry about strangers purporting to represent her against her own wishes. We discuss the significance of Ms. Pollack's testimony concerning the wishes of Ms. Orshansky in Part II.C.2.b(iii), infra.