I Am Back Home!
In case anyone was wondering... I have been away for over a month, touring in Australia and Singapore.
Primarily, we wanted to find out what had happened to Uncle John; we knew the basics, that he had died on what would have been my Mum's 101st. birthday, 28th October, 2020, when he was exactly 97 1/2 years old; but we didn't know much else.
Back in 2003, when his wife died, Uncle John had arranged a full funeral for her; she was buried in a private cemetery in Brisbane, and he bought the plot next to hers, so that it would be available for him, when his time came.
After the sad debacle in 2019, with his son forbidding everyone access to Uncle John - it wasn't just us who were not allowed to have contact with him, Uncle John was not allowed to see any of his friends either - the gentlemen he used to have lunch with when he was living in his Unit in Marsden, or other friends he'd made elsewhere - he was kept in isolation in the TriCare Nursing home. This was in spite of the fact I had won the tribunal I instigated with the Office of the Public Guardian in Brisbane, which ruled that "Mr Woods should be allowed to maintain his former, supportive relationships..." To mix up some metaphors, that ruling cut no ice with Uncle John's son, and the Office of the Public Guardian had no teeth to enforce it!
Goodness only knows, how his son managed to convince the staff in TriCare Nursing Home that this was in the best interests of Uncle John; but the end of the matter was that we were never allowed to speak to Uncle John again on the phone; Uncle John was never allowed out of the home again, either.
Could it be that his son felt, that as he had a criminal conviction resulting in a four-year jail sentence, his father deserved a taste of incarceration as well... ? Who knows what thoughts go through someone's mind, when they are being so cruel to a lovely human being like Uncle John? We will never know, but we did want to try and find out what had happened after Uncle John died, and if his wishes had been followed in any way.
I had already discovered that towards the last days of his life, Uncle John had been transferred to hospital, I think for a couple of weeks; and he had been asked, if he wanted to stay in hospital, or go back to the TriCare Nursing Home. His answer had been immediate and definite; he wanted to go back to the Nursing Home, which we believe shows he still had clear mental capacity; and which also means his son should never have been allowed to invoke the Power of Attorney he used to his own best advantage.
The end result was, Uncle John died in TriCare Nursing Home on 28th October; and I am sure that at the end, my Mum - his sister - went to collect him, and take him gently home.
