HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-08-11~ ~' IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF
LAVITA NICKEL, OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
:ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION
An alleged incapacitated person
PETITION FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF
PERMANENT PLENARY
GUARDIAN OF THE PERSON AND ESTATE
PURSUANT TO 20 P S §5511
AND NOW COMES THE PETITIONER, the Cumberland County Aging &
Community Services, in and for Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, by its solicitor,
Anthony L. DeLuca, Esquire, who represents and avers as follows:
1.
The Petitioner is the Cumberland County Aging & Community Services, in and
for Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, with its office located at 1100 Claremont Road,
Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
2.
The alleged incapacitated person is LaVita Nickel, age 81, who currently resides
at Clazemont Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, 1000 Clazemont Road, Carlisle,
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
3. ~, ,
ter. t"3
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The known relatives of the alleged incapacitated person are: '~ -c, ::~
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a. Lloydena Aguilaz -sister C_ ~' ~ c'
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723 Smithwood Drive 1
Oakdale, CA 95361 ~
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b. Virginia Borner -sister
P.O. Box 211
Stanton, ND 58571
c. Eloice McManigal -sister
11000 Raman Highway
Calhan, CO 80808
d. William Nickel -son
Whereabouts unknown ;possibly in prison.
4.
The Petitioner is not related to LaVita Nickel.
5.
The Petitioner's interest is that of a welfare agency concerned with her welfare
and is familiar with her case.
6.
LaVita Nickel, has, for at least three (3) months, been incapable of managing and
caring for herself and her fmancial affairs.
7.
LaVita Nickel exhibits symptoms of mental incapacity, including but not limited
to senile dementia, likely of a primary (SDAT) etiology.
8.
LaVita Nickel's mental incapacity prevents her from managing and caring for the
affairs of her person and estate.
9.
On or about December 24, 2010, the Petitioner received a report for need of
Protective Services for LaVita Nickel and, when visited by Petitioner's authorized
representative, it was noted that she was forgetful in most azeas and, in addition, it was
determined that there had been a domestic violence situation involving LaVita Nickel
which required moving her to a safe environment.
10.
On or about December 29, 2010, the Petitioner contacted Dr. Terry Robison and
he stated he was concerned about LaVita Nickel's ability to manage indepedently, that
she is at risk for self neglect, and is vulnerabe to exploitation.
11.
On or about December 31, 2010 the Petitioner moved LaVita Nickel to Claremont
Nursing & Rehabiltation Center to ensure she was safe and that her needs would be met.
12.
On February 18, 2011, Christopher Royer, Psy.D, evaluated LaVita Nickel and
the following findings were made:
A. Expressive speech was fluent but wandering and notable for word finding
difficulties; thought processes followed suit;
B. Judgment appeared to be compromised;
C. Orientation was quite impaired;
D. Reasoning by analogy was severely impaired; and
E. She demonstated a significant unawareness of deficit or the impact that
her cognitive problems have on her daily functioning.
A copy of Dr. Royer's report is attached hereto, marked as Exhibit "A",
and incorporated herein by reference.
13.
The Petitioner believes and, therefore avers, that LaVita Nickel's income is
$1,100.00 ,consisting of Social Security and a Pension.
14.
Petitioner requests that it be appointed Permanent Plenary Guardian of the Person
and Estate of LaVita Nickel.
15.
The proposed Guardian has no interest which is adverse to the interest of LaVita
Nickel.
16.
Petitioner believes, and therefore avers, that LaVita Nickel does not already have
a Guardian.
17.
Petitioner asserts that LaVita Nickel is incapacitated as defended in Chapter 55 of
the Probate Estates and Fiduciaries Code.
18.
Because of her impaired mental and physical condition, LaVita Nickel lacks the
capacity to provide for her own personal care and maintenance.
19.
Because of her mental and physical condition, LaVita Nickel is unable to mange her
financial affairs, property and business and is unable to make and communicate decisions
relating thereon.
20.
Lavita Nickel has an existing power of attorney which would be a less restrictive
alternative than Guardianship but it is alleged that the person acting in that capacity may
have misused the funds of LaVita Nickel.
21.
The failure to appoint Petitioner as Permanent Plenary Guardian of her Person
and Estate will result in irreparable harm to the person and estate of LaVita Nickel.
22.
To Petitioner's knowledge, no previous application has been made for the order
herein requested or for a similar order.
23.
No other Court has ever assumed jurisdiction in any proceeding to determine the
incapacity of LaVita Nickel.
24.
Medical Assistance regulations as set forth in Nursing Care Handbook
instructions allow for the payment of Guardian fees as a deduction when determining
contribution toward cost of care.
25.
The amount of the Guardian's fee that is allowable as a deduction is the actual fee
paid subject to a maximum of 10% of the person's gross monthly income or $100.00 per
month, whichever is less
WHEREFORE, the Petitioner respectfully requests that:
1 . The Court appoint Cumberland County Aging & Community Services as
Permanent Plenary Guardian of the Person and Estate of LaVita Nickel;
2. The Court revoke the existing Power of Attorney; and
3. The Court authorize Cumberland County Aging & Community Services to
charge a guardianship fee as allowed by medical assistance regulations.
Respectfully Submitted,
~~ ~~~C~~~! ,
Anthony L. De Esquire -~C~r -~'
113 Front Street
P.O. Box 358
Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania 17007
(717) 258-6844
VERIFICATION
I hereby verify that the facts and information set forth in the foregoing Petition for
the appointment of Permanent Plenary Guardian of the Person and Estate pursuant to 20
P.S. §5511 of LaVita Nickel are true and correct to the best of my knowledge,
information, and belief. I understand that any false statements contained herein are
subject to the penalties of 18 Pa. C.S. Section 4904, relating to unsworn falsification to
authorities.
Dated: ~ r ~ ~ 2®~ ~ GUi.Q.i'l.
aren Sheriff
03-28-'11 11:38 FFOM-Cumberland Co Aging
CHRiSTOPHI~R ROYER, PSY.D.
DONNA M. STRVCK. psY.D.. LPG
coN~In>
For Proft93lonal Y7se Onh~
717-240-6118 T-252 P0002/0004 F-759
CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOL~GY
CL11~I1CAL PSYCHQLOGY
COUNSELING
The confidentiality of the information contained in this document is protected by the State Statute. Disclosure
of this information without the proper written consent of the patient, the patient's authorized legtil representati~t~c,
on the patient's legal guardian is prohibited.
Psychological Consultation
Paterao-t Name: Lavita Nickel
Age: 81
DOB: 12/13/1929
Rduc~tion: 12
Pmployxaent: Retired
Date of Eval: 02/18/201 I
Service X.ocation: Uutpatieut
Procoduxa! Code - 9080],
Referral Souxce: Cumberland County Office of .Agin.g
REASOI~FOR R.~FERRA:l~:
Ms. Nickel is z'efez~red fox an evaluation. of hex current status, partictilarly as it pertains to her abikity to make
decisio~as in hex own best interest.
BA.CI~GROUND INFORMATION:
Ms. Nxeked is an S1-year-old female who xeports thax she is currently "living here." Apparently she is at
Clazr~aont Nursing Home at this point. She suites that site has thzee sisters, al] of whom live in different states.
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Page 2
ltE: LAV)(TA NICKEL
Febzuary 1 S, 2011
She states, "they would live with me." She status that she has been widowed two times, the last for about six
yeas. She has a grandson, although Shc rCporis that "he threw glass things at me-"
Her caseworker indicates that shC had an incident with the grandsoA in which She fouund her ~y to domestic
violence shelter. Apparently, she crawled out of the trailex park that she was in fox help. Tn the shelter, it was
observed that she could not manage her own affairs and she was 'vulnerable to exploitation.
Ms. Nickel reports that she has diabctes_ She feels that there arc ono problezzas with this and she takES insulin.
Her caseworker reports that she has had a lot of problems with ~ouan~aging her sugars.
'When asked about her memory, she describes it as `~erfect.'° She does admit to problems with word finding.
Sipe zeports that ber comprehension zs okay. Shy feels no problems with orientation or directions. Sha feels that
she can read as long as it is large print.
She reports that sho sleeps well. fIer caseworker indicates that she is Tepoxtc~d to get up quilt: a bit at night attd
going into people's rooms and urinating on their chairs. When thy; casewo~rkex toted thus, the patient stated,
"after all I am 40." She is now on Seroquel andanother anxiery txtedic~tQon
F)fNDINGS:
Ms. Nickel was pleasant with the evaluation.: attd cozxtplctCd. all aspects 'w'ithout question. She ambulated
independently to the examiner's room attd repotrd no sisnificant s~sory yr nnotor abxrormalities other than her
vlsxon problems_ She was fiilly alert and aroused throughout the evaluation. Expressive speech was fluent but
wgndering amd notable fox word finding difficulties. Thought processes followed suit. Associations were guild
loose. No perceptual disturbances or other gFOSS psychopathology were reported or observed. O~verally her
jud~nent appCarod tv be compromised.
Orientation was quite impaired. She was able': to state the day of week and IIlonth only. She was not able to
state the date or the year. She was not able to name the current location. She was not able to name the current
President. She had difliiculty with remote personal information. On a test of recent recall, her ability to learn
and recall a list of four words over a brief delay was severely im~pa=red. On this tasl~ she recalled no ~uvords
using a free recall strategy, one word using a semantic cue and no additional words using a recognition cuC. On
a test of sentence recall, she recalled no detail elements of short sentence following a bncf delay. Simple
auditory attention was fair during the interview. She scored in the mildly irztpaixed range on a test of mental
arithmetic. On this task, she executed only addition problems. Basic task of visual scanning was within normal
limits. Expressive speech was flueaxt but notable for considerable word fading di~cultics throughout the
interview. She was hard of hearing, but she was ablC to sprat basso ixuxribcrs and scntextces writh appropriate
volume adjustment. Reasoning by axtalogy vv~as severely i~oapaared, On. this task, she was ~abte to make any
abstract connections, even atr-ong the s3mplast objects and ideas. A test of general xeaso~g was severely
compromised. Chi this task, she vc~as unable t~ coz~sid~r altertiativcs when solving problems. Despite multiple
cues, she was unable to identify 911 as the ziurrebCr to call i;a casC of as ez~aergency.
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Paga 3
Its: LAVITA NTCKEL
February 18, 2011
Her a$'ect was somewhat authymic and intarestingly free of distress despite her history of trauma She
demoastrated a significant unawareness of deficit yr the impact that her cogaitive problems have on bcr daily
functioning.
1)YAGIVOS7`IC 1NI~'RESS)LONS:
Ms. I~ackel yrase~ats with at least a moderate level of dexneatia, likely o£ a pzi~tn.ary (SAA.x) etiology_ She
presents with axial me~oaory deficits, language deficits, reasoning del3cits and problems with axtontian. At the
current t1In8, she is not considered to be capable of making docisicas in her own best iu~terest as defined by
Pennsylvania State Statute. She requires a Guardian to manage her personal, rnedieal Gad financial affairs. She
would benefit from a cursing care lavcl of supci-vision. A,t the current time, her condition is not considered to
be filcely to improve with the exception of liealth issues which will likely be better when m.onatoxed by
professional staff:
Thank you for
Christopher Royer, P .
Clinical N'europsy ologt3t
Licensed Psychologist
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