And Then, The Next Day At 06.45, The Solicitor Rang Me...(Post Written 24 June 2020)

And Then, The Next Day at 06.45, The Solicitor Rang Me... (Post Written 24 June 2020)

I was, for once, in a really deep sleep; dreamless, my leg wasn't bothering me (the one I broke all those years ago, and which reminds me regularly of what happened!), when the phone started ringing.

Even in a deep sleep, it roused me so fast, I was out of bed and answering the call, without putting on the light.  It was the solicitor coming back to me after receiving my e-mails.

We had a long conversation; she was sympathetic, but could not understand why I had sent over all the information regarding the way Uncle John's son had been overstepping his Power of Attorney ever since Uncle John had been admitted to hospital in March 2019.

She told me that QCAT had to obtain a medical report first, to see if Uncle John had capacity or not; if he does not, only then can they act and start the interim order procedure; that is why QCAT have to order their own Medical Report.  I said, I thought that was disgraceful, as it means his son is able to continue to isolate his dad; the Solicitor said the assumption is that the person holding the EPOA is acting responsibly; she confirmed the OPG can only make advisory recommendations, and cannot enforce anything.

I also told her, that when I first contacted QCAT and spoke to Regan Ashwell, he had told me to just complete Form 10 and the request for an Interim Order; the Medical Report and Financial Report would be obtained by them. He also told me the Interim Report would take about 5-6 weeks; it is now  almost 5 months since I first submitted the forms to them!

I repeated my astonishment that no-one seems ready to challenge Johnny on anything; and by the time the authorities may eventually get around to doing something about it, Uncle John may well be dead.

I also said that if someone has raised the problem of abuse, surely the most important person was the one being abused, and not the person with the EPOA and the power to continue the abuse?  If the authorities had the will to ask the people I had listed in my submissions, that would surely prove what I was saying was true, and that from the moment Johnny got control of his Dad's life, he was determined to isolate him and stop anyone from contacting him, visiting him, or even writing to him.

I said, I think most employees in these government departments are the same in most countries. They work to their own time table, not taking into account someone's frailty or terminal illness or abuse, and then, when something goes wrong, and a disaster occurs, or maybe someone dies, someone junior will get their knuckles rapped - it's never a senior head that rolls - and the old cliche is trotted out: "Lessons will be learned"!

And they never are.

During the phone call, I quickly realised, even having a solicitor dealing with QCAT is not going to make much difference to the outcome of the official investigations; and what I cannot manage is racking up a huge bill with the law firm, with little or no chance of a speedier result.

I think I was diplomatic: I said, I really appreciated all she was telling me, and understood it was the way the QCAT procedure works. I said, I had hoped that if they were dealing with a Solicitor, it might have encouraged them to work more quickly, than if they were just in contact with me, and she said it was true that they officer dealing with Uncle John's case had been more forthcoming with her, than they would have been with me.

I then added, that even with this consideration, if it was not going to make any substantial difference, I really could not afford to run up a large legal bill with her firm, and I would appreciate it, if she could just continue until the fee I had paid so far had been used up, and then I would have to leave it at that.

She agreed that she would check to see what was left in the account, and when there was no money left, wind it up. I hope she will at least tell QCAT they will now have to deal with me again!