Woman Slowly Starves Her Mother To Collect Inheritance

Polly is 97 and Vicky is her only child. Vicky has a history of drug and alcohol abuse, but Polly named her as her Power of Attorney and the Agent on her healthcare directive. Aware that Polly’s house and assets are worth over 500,000, Vicky began to starve her mother while she was caring for her to expedite her death. Polly’s neighbor noticed her severe weight loss however and called Adult Protective Services (APS). APS forced Vicky to put her mother in a nursing facility. Vicky complied, but she put her mother is the cheapest home she could find and directed them not to feed her mother – only to give her water.

The facility owner called APS again after witnessing this abuse and also called Polly’s 79-year-old sister, Lorna. Lorna lived out of state but was very concerned about her sister so she came with her daughter to visit Polly. Lorna has made sure that enough money is provided so that Polly can eat and with Lorna and her daughter continuously calling to check on her, Polly has started to do much better and will be discharged from hospice soon because she no longer needs it. Lorna and her daughter are going to try to get the power of attorney agent and the healthcare directive agent transferred to their name to stop Vicky from abusing her mom.

This tragic story highlights the importance of being careful about who you appoint to be in charge of your healthcare decisions. An only child may be the natural choice, but may not be the best choice. A child with a history of drug or alcohol abuse is a red flag that you might want to select a friend, another relative, or a professional fiduciary to hold your life in their hands.

See Carolyn Rosenblatt, Slowly Starving Her Mother To Get the Inheritance, Forbes, Feb. 10, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.