Greedy Trial Lawyer
Man Neglects Mother To Death, Then Objects To Use Of Her Medical Records Against Him
Category: Gaming The System
A Wisconsin man, charged with neglecting his mother and causing great bodily harm (her death, for instance), is objecting to the introduction of his mother's medical records on the grounds that it would invade her privacy. Just how much privacy does the mother require now that she is deceased? And, how much privacy should be given to records that show when the mother arrived at the hospital, she was suffering from "severe dehydration, kidney failure, a fractured left humeral, right rib fracture, multiple areas of skin breakdown and severe dementia?"
Excerpts from the news article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
In the months leading up to her horrible death, 88-year-old LaVerne Wyderka entrusted her son to make the most important decisions of her life.As his mother's sole surviving direct relative, Jon Wyderka held durable power of attorney over her health care and finances, even while he was jailed on two drunken driving convictions.
After he was released from jail, court records say, he moved her out of a nursing home and back into the family home, where she was seen for a time by professional caregivers. Then he fired the caregivers, records show, and tended to her himself.
Now that she's dead and he's facing a criminal charge that accuses him of resigning her to a life of squalor and untended health care needs, the son is contending that authorities have no right to use his mother's medical records in the case against him.
"We're talking about the rights of privacy of the victim," Wyderka's attorney, Daniel Fay, said during an October court appearance.
When the mother arrived at Elmbrook Memorial Hospital, she was suffering from "severe dehydration, kidney failure, a fractured left humeral, right rib fracture, multiple areas of skin breakdown and severe dementia," according to a criminal complaint in the case.
Court records indicate that Wyderka's drinking has put him in trouble repeatedly over the last two years.
When Wyderka brought his mother home after his release, a neighbor later reported, caregivers seemed to take good care of her, according to a criminal complaint. But the caregivers cost more money than the nursing home, the neighbor said, so the son fired them, the complaint says.
The neighbor telephoned police July 23, reporting that mail was accumulating in their mailbox and that he was concerned about the welfare of LaVerne Wyderka because he had not seen her in some time, according to the complaint. When Jon Wyderka opened his door for police after the neighbor's call, he initially refused to let an officer enter the home, the complaint says.
The officer subsequently found the woman on the floor of a dark, hot bedroom, suffering from broken bones and bedsores and clothed in only a soiled diaper, the complaint says. She was unconscious and making gurgling sounds, according to the complaint.
The bed was littered with dirty rags and used diapers, and an adjacent bedroom used by her son was cluttered with empty beer cans and bottles.
On July 25, two days after his mother was taken from the home, prosecutors charged Wyderka with a misdemeanor count of negligent maltreatment of a vulnerable adult.
On Aug. 2, LaVerne Wyderka died at Elmbrook, and on Oct.19, prosecutors upgraded the charge against Wyderka to negligent maltreatment of a vulnerable adult that is likely to cause great bodily harm, a felony.
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