Canada: gov health care bureaucracy dictates where u live!

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Manitoba forcing disabled man to move

By PAUL TURENNE, QMI Agency

Last Updated: November 27, 2010 5:13am


WINNIPEG - Manitoba's public trustee has given a Winnipeg man with spina bifida two months to get out of his grandmother's house, or be forcibly removed.

David Leitch, 20, was told Wednesday that the trustee -- a provincial agency that manages the affairs of those who are unable to -- no longer wants its client, Leitch's 76-year-old grandmother Yvonne, to help him with his daily tasks.

"They don't want her doing anything anymore. They don't even want her to touch the toaster," Leitch said, noting the trustee also wants to allow Yvonne to live alone "on a trial basis," something Leitch is convinced won't work out. "If I was to leave I don't think it would last more than a day or two."

Leitch, who was the subject of a QMI Agency feature earlier this fall about his extraordinary friendship with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and especially backup quarterback Alex Brink, was born with spina bifida and requires help with certain aspects of his daily routine.

Leitch's main caregiver was his aunt Nancy, who lived with him and Yvonne in Yvonne's West Kildonan home. But Nancy has been in the hospital for three months suffering from complications related to a surgery, so Yvonne -- who requires home care herself -- has stepped in to help.

Leitch said the family's plan has been that once Nancy finishes her hospital stay and subsequent rehab in a few months, she and Leitch would get an apartment on their own and Yvonne would move into a personal care home or assisted living facility.

"We'd probably need until March or April," Leitch said.

However, the public trustee has a timetable of its own.

"They basically said if I don't leave within two months they'll forcibly remove me from the house," Leitch said. "They weren't very gracious on this one." Leitch has arranged for a suite at an independent living facility -- "the best alternative since I have no choice," he says -- but said he fears leaving the house will mean Yvonne will likely lose it, leaving Nancy with nowhere to live after her hospital stay.

He's hoping the public trustee will grant his family a time extension so they can follow through with their original plan.

Joanna Knowlton, Manitoba's public trustee, said she can't discuss a specific case, but did say there is no formal mechanism in place for anyone to appeal a decision made by her office, other than fighting it in court.

"We have legal rights to make decisions," she said. "They certainly can talk to us and we try to be reasonable, but in the end our goal is to protect the best interests of out client."

Knowlton said extensions are the type of thing her office might consider, but couldn't guarantee success.

"It depends on the circumstances," she said. "We would try to accommodate people to the best extent we can, but it always has to be in the best interest of the client, so that's going to mean sometimes we can't accommodate them."

paul.turenne@sunmedia.ca

LEGAL DECISION-MAKER
* The Public Trustee is a special operating agency of the provincial government that answers to the justice minister

* It is funded through fees for service

* It makes legal, medical, financial and personal decisions for its clients

* Clients include mentally incompetent or vulnerable adults, people who have granted power of attorney to the PT, and others

* Other services include estate administration, tax preparation, legal services and management of children's trusts

* In 2009-10, the PT had more than 5,600 clients whose combined assets totalled more than $200 million

* In 2005, Sun columnist Tom Brodbeck wrote a series of stories about the PT, including one following a Second World War veteran who won back control of his affairs from the office after that control had been seized against his will and the will of his family. The series prompted the government to make two changes to the way the PT does business. Brodbeck won an honourable mention at Sun Media's 2006 Edward Dunlop Awards for his work


http://www.ottawasun.com/news/canada/20 ... 41416.html