Florine

The face of evil does not always appear with horns and red skin.

Early in 1999, Melvin's grandmother (Ms. G, we'll call her) endured a stroke that has left her partially paralyzed. She's a large woman, one you would not want to try to carry around too often. Her mind has not quite been the same, either; she occasionally forgets that she has endured the stroke, and that she no longer can live in her home of many years; that she requires constant care. She's clearly not clear enough in mind to handle all the complicated machinations of daily life. She requires help.

She made some terrible choices in her life. She estranged her grandchildren, presuming that they were not the product of her son's fooling around, presuming the mother to be a woman interested in entrapping her son. She married a man she did not love, who did not love her. She never learned how to manage money, and when her husband died, she mangled her finances to such a point that she very nearly found herself homeless.

Out of sheer desperation, she turned to one of the grandchildren she had estranged, and, swallowing her pride, asked for his help.

Melvin managed to keep her from losing her home, and sacrificed much of his own money to do it. "You're a nice guy," his lawyer said, when he looked over the paperwork and found how much he sacrificed to keep this lady from losing her home. But more about the lawyer later.

There's a tremendous amount of paperwork involved in dealing with a lady who has nearly no money but requires 24-hour care in a health facility; paperwork Melvin had to do. He endured tremendous stress as he navigated offices ranging from social workers and government offices to insurance companies and hospitals. He heard about how he could get her into a health-care facility without causing her to lose the house, yet still maintain some measure of dignity in her life.

But this rant focuses on Ms. G's sister, Florine.

Florine, who never helped Melvin deal with any of the paperwork, and never expressed a lick of concern about her sister's well-being, suddenly became interested in Ms. G enough to start visiting her at the health-care facility. It seemed a curious thing; Florine never really had anything to do with her sister while the lady was well, and she never really had anything decent to contribute while Melvin was thrashing about the paperwork, except to enquire as to her own things that she fancied Ms. G still held in the house.

Once, Florine (supposedly a trained nurse in her youth), noticed a boil on Ms. G's arm. She kicked up such a fuss about it, presuming it had been there for several days (it had only happened that morning, the result of a mild burn), accusing the staff of doing a bad job, and generally making an ass out of herself.

"She was in such pain for the entire weekend, and nobody at that place would help her," she claimed.

"What side of her body did you find that burn on?" Melvin asked.

"Her left side. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it seems strange that she'd feel any pain on that side of her body, since she's paralyzed there," he said, and proved his point by asking Ms. G if she could feel the burn mark (she couldn't). He also verified that someone had actually been taking care of her 24 hours a day, as needed.

In another incident, Florine stated that Ms. G really should be allowed out of the facility occasionally, and offered to help her out. Melvin told her to leave the lady alone, that he (as the one selected to handle Ms. G's health care decisions) would see to it as soon as he was able, and that Florine should have no part in anything.

Florine pulled her out of the facility anyway. She had her go to the bank, as well as the post office, to handle items that Ms. G really wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with. She had her check how much money she had in her bank account, and had her change her mailing address. Since Ms. G was unable to work the pen (presumably), Florine actually handled the change of mailing address.

When she returned, one of the administrators (upon finding out where they had gone), pointed out that there were severe penalties for taking advantage of people in the sort of state that Ms. G was in, and advised Florine to leave well enough alone.

Unperturbed, Florine eventually called for a meeting with the folks at the facility to complain about the quality of the health care Ms. G received. Imagine the scene; Melvin, his father's brother, Florine, the various people who cared for Ms. G, and other miscellaneous relatives all gathered in a room while Florine made her grand entrance.

"I called this meeting because of the kind of care my sister is getting at this place," she started.

"What exactly are your grievances, ma'am," asked one of the administrators.

"I just don't think she's getting the kind of care she should," she answered.

"Could you be more specific?" someone asked.

Somehow, the conversation was quickly dragged into a discussion about her financial affairs, and how Melvin's father and uncle should have her house rather than Melvin.

"What does this have to do with the quality of care Ms. G is getting at this facility," Melvin asked.

That question, though asked repeatedly, was never answered.

Eventually, Florine found a lawyer who managed to create a Power of Attorney granting Florine the right to handle Ms. G's affairs. Upon careful inspection of the Power of Attorney, however, one can find that it was obtained illegally; one can find no credible witness that Ms. G actually signed the thing without co-ercion and with full command of her faculties.

Florine used this fake Power of Attorney to pull Ms. G out of the health care facility, and back into Ms. G's house, with the understanding that Florine was to provide 24-hour care for Ms. G.

The care wasn't exactly 24-hour. Many times, Ms. G was left alone for several hours to fend for herself. How she could be expected to fend for herself is anyone's guess; she couldn't walk, she couldn't prepare herself a drink, she couldn't even go to the bathroom without someone helping her.

In short time, Florine started having her lawyer send Melvin letters demanding a tremendous amount of paperwork relating to Ms. G's affairs. Melvin, already stressed that his grandmother was being subjected to this abuse, but not wanting to put up with this, opted to get his own lawyer (mentioned earlier in this rant).

Melvin's lawyer looked over everything. Everything.

He looked over all the paperwork that Melvin had regarding his grandmother's financial affairs. He checked out how the money was spent, where it came from, and who handled everything. He found that the house had been mortgaged by one of those fly-by-night mortgaging companies that overcharge their customers, making it likely the customer will never recover. He found that Melvin dug her out of that mess, and had secured the deed for the house by having his name put on it (to prevent exactly the sort of nonsense that Florine was trying to pull). He saw that the Power of Attorney Florine claimed was a sham.

"You don't have anything to worry about," he said.

The lawyer sent Florine's lawyer a politely firm letter advising him that further correspondence from Florine could be directed to Melvin's lawyer rather than Melvin. He also pointed out that the creation of a Power of Attorney in the way that this had been created opened the lawyer up to the possibility of being disbarred, if someone ever felt like pursuing it.

That lawyer responded by saying further correspondence would be better sent to Florine herself.

Florine started finding her life quite complicated. Concerned neighbors occasionally phoned Maryland's Adult Protection Services with details about the hours Ms. G spent alone whilst neeing 24-hour care. Melvin's lawyer sent letters to Florine pointing out that, as the one caring for Ms. G's financial affairs, it was her responsibility to ensure the house's taxes were paid, as well as any of a number of other little issues that she might have forgotten about. The house itself required electricity, gas, a phone, and other utilities that Melvin no longer handled. And nobody seemed terribly willing to help her out; her family easily noticed the pit in her heart, and shunned her. The folks in her church asked her not to return (this would be the second church who drove her away). People she knew for years started saying unpleasant things about her behind her back.

Eventually, her husband had to go to the hospital for some kind of problem, and even though he recovered from it relatively well, she used that as an excuse to get rid of Ms. G. After finding that Ms. G had no money, no claim on the house that could be wrestled from her, and was a complete burdon on anyone who assisted her, she seemed not to want to have anything to do with the lady. But she had to figure out a way to actually pull it off.

Her opportunity came when Ms. G had to go to the hospital for a small problem. After the hospital finished their care of Ms. G, they tried to contact Florine to have her retrieve Ms. G, but Florine avoided their calls. They eventually put Ms. G back into the same health-care facility that she was in to begin with.

Unfortunately for Florine, though she had hoped she would not have to return to the health care facility, she had failed to ensure a certain bill from the facility was paid. In order for the facility to take Ms. G back in, she had to pay this debt, and she could not simply send it in a letter; it had to be hand-delivered. After making such a fuss, Ms. G was returned to the same care she had enjoyed prior to Florine kicking up a fuss. She must have been extremely embarrassed.

I hope those of you who believe (as I do) that evil is its own reward can find comfort in this story. Melvin and I are strongly convinced that Florine's actions have led to a situation where, when her time comes to need help, nobody will be there to provide it. Though I wouldn't wish evil on anyone, I find it comforting to know that moral physics have a basis in reality, and that we may all do well to pay attention to it.

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