Guardianship, the legal process of taking away an adult’s rights to make life decisions, is intended to protect vulnerable people from neglect and abuse. In Richmond, VCU Health System and other health care providers have used the process to remove poor patients from hospital beds, sometimes against the wishes of family members, with the help of a local law firm.
A year-long Richmond Times-Dispatch investigation — which included analyzing more than 250 court cases and interviewing nearly three dozen people — found that vulnerable patients lose their rights at the Richmond Circuit Court in brief hearings where they are rarely present nor have a lawyer to represent them. T
he result is that one attorney, Shawn Majette, who represented VCU Health System and health care providers in the majority of guardianship cases in Richmond over the past six years, is given the power to make discharge, medical and financial decisions on behalf of up to 120 strangers at a time.
The investigation found that, in more than 90 percent of the cases reviewed, the attorney appointed to represent the best interests of the person being considered for guardianship was the same person, who had a close working relationship with the attorney representing the health care providers and who was also appointed the person’s guardian in the majority of cases. It also found that Majette frequently placed his wards in nursing homes that received poor ratings from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, including placing several people in the nursing home considered to be the worst in the state by CMS.
The series detailed the experiences of Ora Lomax, 87, who lost the right to make decisions for her husband, William, in his final weeks, after their 63 years of marriage, and of Richard Richardson, a 38-year-old paralyzed man, who VCU Health System and its attorney, Majette, threatened in court to have put out on the street if the judge did not grant the hospital’s request for guardianship.