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| April Jones |
Earl Key, an Indiana systems programmer, has
seen his children suffer from the same disease that afflicted his late wife:
Huntington's. Huntington's affects
250,000 Americans. It reduces mobility and muscular function. At first, it causes twitching called
chorea. At a later stage those afflicted
become unable to care for themselves. Its most famous victim was Woody Guthrie,
author of "This Land is Your Land."
April
Jones, Key's stepdaughter when she was growing up, reunited with him 12 years
ago. Although Key is not her legal
guardian, he has provided her financial support and regularly drives 200 miles
from Illinois to Indiana to visit her.
But he was not consulted when Jones was seized against her will in 2011.
Taken away from her apartment in handcuffs, she was forced into a police car
and taken to a hearing in the court of Judge G. Thomas Gray in Martinsville,
Indiana, forced to reside in a hospital behavioral ward, and then confined to a
nursing home--all against her will. Lumar Griggs, whom, Jones told me, she hates,
was appointed her guardian and given the authority to agree to forcible
administration of Haldol, powerful psychotropic medication that Jones does not
want to take.
Jeffrey
Schaler, an American University public affairs professor who has written on the
rights of the disabled and mentally ill, says that he gets so many letters from
citizens who have been troubled by this issue that he "finds it
overwhelming." He says: "Adult Protective Services (APS) and
Social Services generally are horrible in the way they engage in taking people
away from families. It's frightening. I just hear the stories and
people asking for help."
David Smith is interim legal
services director of Indiana Protection and Advocacy Services. He says that in Indiana the guardianship process
depends on a physician's report to the court that indicates incapacity and inability
to make decisions. Also, the court needs to determine who, in the
ward's interest, should be appointed guardian.
In Jones's case, Judge Gray automatically assigned her guardianship to
someone with whom he has a relationship: Griggs.
In virtually all cases the guardian is given total authority over the
person's decision making. This is so even
if the individual, like Jones, is competent.
Indiana's legal system gives Jones fewer rights than New York's mental
patients. In New York, unless they pose
a danger, mental patients can refuse drugs.
In Indiana the government has assigned a guardian who dictates to Jones that
she take powerful anti-psychotic medication--even though she is not psychotic--that
she thinks is killing her.
History
In January 2011, Jones's landlord accused
her of dropping cigarette ashes on her bed. It is unknown whether the landlord
contacted APS. APS's Cindy Jones filed
an emergency petition with Morgan Superior Court in Martinsville.
Three years earlier, in 2008, Judge
Gray had appointed the same guardian, Griggs, when Jones had been living in a Martinsville
woman's shelter. Subsequently, Jones
moved to Illinois, and Indiana dismissed the guardianship after the Illinois
courts made a determination that Jones did not need a guardian. Jones then returned to Indiana to be closer
to her family.
According to Key, APS encouraged Jones's
physician to write a report based on six-month-old information; the report
recommended involuntary confinement. Judge Gray did not allow Jones to speak at the
emergency hearing; her next friend Key was not present. The US Supreme Court has held that, in cases
of involuntary treatment of a mental patient, there must be due process.
Jones told me that after forcing her
to stay in the hospital, Griggs improperly changed the status on her forms to
"voluntary." Jones told me that
she believes that the stress from these events has shortened her life.
Griggs, Judge Gray and Bloomington,
Indiana APS have not responded to my requests for statements.
Key Petitions Federal Court
Key petitioned the federal district court in
2011. Key's petition says that Jones has been "drugged into
submission." He accuses Griggs of
manipulating the nursing home staff; although they stopped giving Jones Haldol
in April, 2011, they resumed giving it to her in July 2011 because, Key
alleges, Griggs encouraged it.
Although Jones did not fall prior to
her forced residency in the Parkview nursing home, since being forced to take
Haldol she has suffered many bruises and repeatedly has fallen on her head. Key writes: "April
walked into that nursing home fully cognitive, living a life not unlike anyone
else's. The past 19 months have literally destroyed her." Key sent me photos, submitted to federal
court as part of his petition, of wounds and bruises that Jones has incurred
under Griggs's guardianship.
Key's petition also states that Jones so fears
Griggs and the Parkview Nursing Home that she has expressed concern that they will
isolate her in retaliation for the petition.
It also states that after issuing the
decree to put Jones under Griggs's guardianship, Judge Gray stepped into the
gallery and smilingly asked Griggs, “Are we keeping you filled up?”
When I questioned Smith about the
appeal process for guardianships, he told me that in Indiana appeals must be
made to the same court that authorized the guardianship. When I questioned whether there might be psychological
bias on the part of a court that has already made a decision, he told me that
Indiana does not recognize the possibility of bias on a court's part.
While driving with Key, Jones said
over the telephone that she did not want to stay at the Parkview Nursing
Home. She said that she dislikes Griggs,
whom she called a mean, controlling person.
She began to cry when she said that she wanted to be with her "dad,"
Key.
On August 16, 2012 Key signed a Reply
Brief for the US Court of Appeals in Muncie on Jones's behalf. He is now
waiting for a reply from a three-judge panel as to the constitutionality of
Jones's treatment at the hands of Adult Protective Services. Key, who is not a lawyer and has been
handling the case himself, has asked The
Lincoln Eagle to make a public appeal for an attorney who can help him with
the case, even if the attorney is not a member of the Indiana bar.
Mitchell
Langbert, Ph.D. is political editor of The Lincoln Eagle. Since 2008, when he first blogged about this
issue, he has received several requests for assistance from victims of Adult
Protective Services actions around the country.
