We have still not been able to speak to Uncle John in the Tri-Care Nursing Home at Jindalee. Yes, I know it is difficult at the moment with the lockdown situation, but that should never have prevented us from talking to him on the phone - there's no chance of spreading the virus that way.
A quick update of how long it has taken to get any response from the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and/or the Queensland Civil Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) offices in Brisbane:
22 July 2019: I sent the forms and supporting evidence to the OPG, requesting an investigation into the way Uncle John's son, Johnny Stephen Woods, was operating under the Power of Attorney given to him by his father. Having taken advice from Social Services here, I was sure they would find Johnny was abusing his Power of Attorney, firstly and fore mostly by forbidding us to have any contact with Uncle John. It was not just we who were not allowed to communicate with Uncle John - no-one else was granted permission to visit/speak to him either, including the British Vice Consul, and other friends in Australia, who would have been happy to keep in touch with him. It would seem that at no stage was Uncle John asked what he would like, so that his wishes could be taken into immediate consideration - he is the most important person in all of this.
I believe Uncle John's son must hate not only us, but his Dad as well, to isolate Uncle John in such a way. Depriving him of any spending money, meant he couldn't buy anything for himself; Uncle John couldn't ask anyone to purchase a newspaper for him, some sweets or a birthday card for Mum's 100th birthday - and not even batteries for his hearing aids.
I know so well, if you take a deaf person's hearing aids away from them, you effectively imprison them in a silent world. I grew up with my Grandma (Uncle John's and Mum's mother). She wasn't born deaf, but started losing her hearing when she was about 25 years old, so by the time I was born, she was - as she put it, in a very politically incorrect way - "As deaf as a post!"
29 July 2019: I received an acknowledgement from the OPG, to say the investigation would begin, but that it could take a long time to complete the enquiries. I would be entitled to a copy of the report, when it was ready.
As the months rolled by, it seemed to us that the investigation was proceeding at a snail's pace, with no account being taken of the great age of both Uncle John and my Mum, or that time was of the essence.
January 2020: I couriered forms to the Queensland Civil Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) in Brisbane, making an application for an Administrative/Guardianship Appointment (which I was told could take three months) as well as an application for an Interim Order, which would take only 6 weeks; I opted for both. I had the name of the person in charge of the case, and a number to quote in correspondence. Over the following three months, I rang QCAT several times, speaking to various people who answered the 'phone, and asking how my application was progressing. They took messages, but nothing happened. No-one came back to me.
9 March 2020: I e-mailed the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), to say Mum had been admitted to hospital, and that the doctors were very concerned about her.
12 March 2020: I had a reply to say the investigation was complete, and the report was up for review, which would be done as a priority.
30 March 2020: I wrote to the Queensland Civil Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) again, to tell them Mum had died on 23 March. I added:
"It is now too late for my Mother, but could you now please expedite my request for you to investigate the problems we have had with my cousin exceeding his powers of attorney.
At the very least: Please could someone from your office find out if my Uncle still has his hearing aids, and full batteries, to allow him to have some communication with the staff at Jindalee Nursing Home? We are very anxious to speak to Uncle John, before it is also too late for him. He will be 97 years old on 28 April, and is terminally ill. We are concerned that with no money to buy batteries, and therefore unable to hear, Uncle John will remain totally isolated. Being deaf is a lonely disability."
29 April 2020: I e-mailed the OPG again, to tell them Mum had died on 23 March, without ever having had the chance to speak to her brother again. Until the day she died, she was always asking to speak to him, and I said I thought it was a disgraceful situation that my Uncle's son, Johnny Stephen Woods, could prevent this from happening.
1 May 2020: Today I received an e-mail from the OPG, saying they were very sorry to hear of my mother's death, and unfortunately, after her review of the investigation report, there were further inquiries required that had now been completed and included in the report. This would be finalised as a priority next week... (I won't hold my breath!) and that I should have correspondence forwarded to me on Tuesday, 5 May.
Have the authorities no sense of urgency, especially when the enquiry concerns very elderly people, diagnosed with a terminal illness? Have they no heart, no compassion? I was talking to a legal friend in Germany, and when I said, "I just think they are waiting for Uncle John to die, and then they won't have to bother!" he replied, "I think you're right!"
And now here we are, waiting with breath bated, for the report from the Office of the Public Guardian to come through: due tomorrow, 5 May. I hold out no great hopes that they will have found in favour of us maintaining contact with Uncle John, but we shall wait and see, and I hope to be proved wrong!
As I have said so often before, I need only one person to pick up the baton and run with it, and then maybe we'll be lucky and have the chance to make contact with Uncle John again before it is too late. If thoughts and wishes can cross oceans and continents, he may get some feeling we are all trying our very best for him.
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