Conservators of Elderly Under Scrutiny : Probate Court and Colleges Team Up in Volunteer Inspection Program

In a scene that grows increasingly common, a frail, 83-year-old widow was taken to Santa Monica hospital last summer, unconscious and alone.

Marian Houghtaling made a remarkable recovery and after months of treatment and physical therapy, she is nearly ready to be discharged.

But when Houghtaling entered the hospital, her problems were really just beginning.

Houghtaling is one of a growing number of older people who can no longer maintain a household by themselves. Whether they are sick enough to require continuous care in a convalescent facility, or if they can return home with care, they must rely on someone else to oversee their affairs. Thanks to a promising new program, hundreds of elderly Los Angeles County residents may be getting better protection of their interests.

Professional Conservators

In a mobile society where one’s closest relatives are often several time zones away, professional conservators have emerged to fill the role once generally taken by younger family members, neighbors or friends.

Since her second week in the hospital, Houghtaling’s life has been run by a court-appointed conservator--a paid manager who has complete control over her bank accounts, personal effects and decisions over where she will live and how she will be cared for.

The locks on her home have been changed, and her check book taken from her.

Living under the control of conservators are 12,000 to 13,000 county residents.

And an estimated 10% of them are believed to suffer from neglect, abuse or theft from their estates.

Others, like Houghtaling, are simply angry that their affairs are being run by strangers and feel helpless in attempting to deal with the often confusing and complex procedures of the Probate Court.

Students in Field

Now, in an effort to more effectively police the conservatorships in Los Angeles, area colleges and universities are teaming up with the Probate Court to send scores of students into the field to make surprise visits to the elderly in an effort to expose problems and possibly return some control over their lives to them.

Under a program in which colleges will award course credit for volunteer work, students will form the core of a work force that will routinely make visits to those who are incapacitated.

California State University, Los Angeles, plans to place students in the program starting with its winter quarter that begins in January. Other area schools are also working on plans to offer the volunteer program to its students for course credit, officials said.

Probate Court Judge Julius A. Leetham, who has appointed hundreds of conservators, including Houghtaling’s, is among the first to point out the shortcomings of the current system of court oversight.

As architect of the Volunteer Visitation Alliance, Leetham is hoping to “find the 1,500 conservatorships--out of about 12,000 to 13,000--that really need help.”

In an interview in his chambers at Los Angeles Superior Court, Leetham said, “We have the mechanism to deal with them if we can just find them.”

System Overloaded

Under a state law enacted in 1978, people for whom conservators are named must be visited at least once every other year by a court investigator. But the system is so overloaded that the results of its inquiries are in question. In Los Angeles County, there are 12 investigators who must collectively make about 6,000 visits a year.

“That means calling in advance and not taking more than a certain amount of time,” Leetham said. “I can’t rely on those visits. They can only see the obvious.”

“Court investigators can’t really be sure of what they’re seeing. Although (their visits) fulfill the law, I don’t feel better about it,” Leetham said.

“I’ve been stamping letters (of appointment) everyday, but have no idea what is really happening out there. . . . How do we know what happens once we appoint a conservator? How do we deal with this void?” Leetham asked. And how, he asked, will a better system of supervision be paid for?

“In this country, in this state, you won’t get funds for something like this,” he said. “If it’s not done with volunteers, it won’t be done.”

So, without any budget, staff or authorization, Leetham founded the alliance to build a volunteer organization to make routine visits to people with conservators.

Initially, Leetham said, he believed that older people would be the best source of volunteers.

But after the program was begun in June, it attracted only about 25 volunteers.

Leetham figured that about 400 to 500 volunteers would be necessary to effectively locate problems and unnecessary conservatorships.

Then in September, Dr. Ruth Wu, dean of the health and human service department of Cal State, Los Angeles, contacted Leetham about using students.

“It will give our students a better understanding of the elderly (and) some of the challenges in counseling and care,” Wu said.

“Obviously, there is a growing number of elderly,” said Dr. Rodolfo Arevalo, chairman of the social work department at Cal State, Los Angeles, who is supervising the program. “And there is more and more concern in the court over the quality of care they are getting.”

Arevalo said he is getting a “positive response” from students for the volunteer program, and he anticipates having at least 20 signed up for the fall quarter.

Meanwhile, the existing volunteer force has begun making visits to people having conservators targeted by court investigators for closer supervision, said Sheila Torrance Pearce, chairman of the volunteer group.

So far, not many cases of obvious abuse have been found.

The alliance’s focus is now turning to professional conservators.

During the last 15 years, a growing contingent of 20-25 professionals have gone into the business of being conservators for incapacitated people who have no friends or relatives willing to oversee their affairs.

Accusations of misconduct by these professionals have been rampant, but few cases of outright thievery or abuse have been uncovered.

And, perhaps ironically, Leetham and other experts in the field said, the need for professionals is growing.

Hospitals often seek to have professional conservators appointed when they receive patients who are incapacitated.

That is how Marian Houghtaling came to have a professional appointed.

Her closest relative lives in Minnesota and could not care for her. Friends and neighbors were willing to help her, but not knowing how the court system operates--and how fast it can move--a professional was contacted by the hospital and appointed by Leetham before they could intervene.

Although she fought it at first, Houghtaling said she now realizes that she needs someone to help manage her affairs. But she prefers a trusted neighbor to do the job.

Once a conservatorship is initiated, it can be difficult to change.

In Houghtaling’s case, court papers have been filed and a hearing held, but there has been little movement by the court, or conservator Rodney P. Swanson to acquiesce to her demands.