When F. Harvey Whitten was a medic in the Korean War, he held dying soldiers in his arm so they wouldn’t die alone, now at the behest of the Montgomery County (Pennsylvania) Orphans Court and its main players- Judge Stanley Ott and Diane Zabowski- Whitten is headed toward that very fate.
Harvey, a long term advertising executive, is by far the most financially successful, worth millions if not tens of millions, of his siblings, but he’s arguably only the third most successful. Harvey is also gay and was in a long term relationship with Robert Sprau.
In 2010, Harvey Whitten had a stroke and was diagnosed with vascular dementia causing some of Whitten’s nieces and nephews to petitioned the court to have Harvey Whitten guardianized and the case wound up in front of Judge Stanley Ott, of the Orphan’s Court of Montgomery County. Like in the previous case involving Jannie Myers, Ott eschewed Whitten’s request for his own counsel and ordered Diane Zabowski to act as his counsel.
During a fact finding interview with Zabowski, Coz remembers that Zabowski was fixated for most of the duration of the interview on Harvey being gay and at one point remarked that the Whitten family was one of the most dysfunctional she’d known.
In fact, both Mary and Coz say their family is far from dysfunctional and the charge was absurd and provocative.
Harvey’s brothers include Lester Whitten, who was a long time Washington Post investigative reporter turned author publisher of more than ten works of fiction, a biography of F. Lee Bailey, a book of poetry and two translations. Stanley Whitten is a long time Securities and Exchange Commission investigator noted for his long time pursuit of Tommy Quinn, a prodigious confidence man and financial swindler who’s estimated to have stolen $500 million. Whitten’s investigations led to multiple SEC sanctions and set the stage for a number of criminal investigations. Whitten died days after learning Quinn would finally be spending the rest of his life in prison. Mary Whitten is a former rocket scientist who worked for NASA.
A long protracted family legal fight was avoided, when Harvey Whitten was declared incapacitated and Coz and Robert Sprau agreed to be the guardian and co-guardian on August 11, 2011. Harvey Whitten went to live with Sprau at his retirement home at the Shannondell in Audobon, Pennsylvania. The Shannondell is considered among the most magnificent retirement communities in the country. Univest Bank was made guardian of the estate and their employee Julianna Van Duyne-King was the point person because Judge Ott had worked with her before.
In 2012 Sprau developed an aggressive lung cancer and passed away on September 22, 2012, but not before handpicking the aides who would be with Harvey twenty four hours a day while he continued living in Shannondell.
Zabowski then lobbied to have Deborah Klock, a nurse, to replace Sprau as co-gaurdian on November 16, 2012.
Both Mary and Coz told RebelPundit that Klock exhibited problems right away. Mary Whitten especially has written numerous complaints against Klock in which she alleges: Klock impersonated a family member, made herself the emergency contact, and changed the medication with notifying the family.
In November, both Mary and Coz, along with her lawyer, were in a meeting with Klock and Zabowski to air out their grievances, when Zabowski advised Klock not to answer a question.
“She was representing Klock,” Coz Whitten-Skaife said, “when she was supposed to be representing my uncle.”
The change in medications done behind the family’s back, say Mary and Coz, caused Harvey to have a psychotic break at the end of 2012. He began experiencing various ailments and outbursts went from Shannondell to three hospitals in January 2013, before winding up in the Meadows at the beginning of February 2013; the Meadows is a psychiatric unit for especially difficult cases also located within the Shannondell confines only unlike the rest of the place, this portion is much like something from One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest.
“F. Harvey Whitten had a psychotic outbreak in December, possibly due to adverse side effects from all the medication changes that were occurring behind my sister’s back. This led him through a series of stays in hospitals and he finally ended up moving to an assisted living facility at the Meadows at Shannondell.” Mary Whitten stated in a complaint to the state’s nursing board asking to have Klock’s license removed.
Soon after being transported to the Meadows, Klock approved Whitten on 5 milligrams of a drug called Haldol, which is an anti-psychotic generally used to calm someone down and it’s not supposed to be used long-term.
Furthermore, the drug would only exacerbate symptoms from his vascular dementia.
“Elderly patients with dementia related psychosis treated with anti-psychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death. Haldol injection is not approved for patients with dementia related psychosis.” According to a National Institute of Health (NIH) warning.
“F. Harvey Whitten was being chemically restrained,” Mary Whitten charged in one complaint.
“His neurologist, Dr. Caplin, says that the amount of Haldol my uncle is being administered is enough “’to kill a horse.’” Mary Whitten followed up in an email to Univest on May 27, 2013.
Mary and Coz said that the family only found out weeks later from aides at the Meadows that Harvey Whitten’s medication had been changed. Coz feverishly complained to Klock, Zabowski, the court, and even to Univest.
In May 2013, Julianna Van Duyne-King, on behalf of Univest, filed a motion with the court to have Coz removed as guardian and on July 8, 2013, that was approved and finalized.
Having Univest initiate the removal was curious for two reasons: 1) Coz was the last family member involved in the process and a non-family member was attempting to remove her and 2) Univest was responsible for making sure his money wasn’t misspent but wasn’t accusing Coz of misspending any money but mistreating her own uncle, something the bank couldn’t know, even if such a ludicrous notion was true, in their role.
“You are probably unaware that one of your employees, Julianna Van Duyne-King, has filed a petition to the court to have my sister removed as co-health guardian to my uncle, F. Harvey Whitten, in the name of Univest Bank and Trust.” Mary Whitten said in an email to Univest’s executives from May 27, 2013 on behalf of the family. “The family of F. Harvey Whitten appreciates that Univest has been paying his bills, since he has been diagnosed with vascular dementia. However, it is unclear to the family, why a court appointed financial guardian would be petitioning to remove a health guardian, especially a relative.
On May 16th, 2013, Ott signed an emergency petition that removed Coz as guardian.
Zabowski, Ott, and Klock didn’t respond to phone calls for comment. Dan Freed, director of the Meadows, said that he would be happy to provide statements after receiving approval from the co-guardians- Diane Zabowski and Deborah Klock- who of course never responded to Rebel Pundit’s initial request to speak.
Univest issued this statement: “Univest Bank and Trust Co. takes its fiduciary responsibility seriously, always operating with the highest level of integrity to serve our clients. When we are faced with a situation that has or could impact the financial well-being of our clients, we always act responsibly to protect their estate and best interests. Since we became qualified to engage in fiduciary business in 1928, our commitment to excellent service and quality financial management has earned us a stellar reputation.”
Harvey Whitten has held on. Despite being on a dangerous anti-psychotic at even more dangerous levels, Whitten continues to live at 84.
“He’s strong. He’s an old Korean War veteran,” Coz Whitten-Skaife said. “He’s fighting his last battle.”
RebelPundit is no longer the only media looking at guardianship corruption in Montgomery County, and specifically: Ott, Zabowski, and Klock. Marcia Southwick runs the Boomers Against Elders Facebook page which boasts more than 108,000 likes and over the last month working with a whistleblower Southwick has released examples of outrageous billing filed by Zabowski and/Klock and approved by Ott.
In one post from May 8, a ward, Jerry P. Masteller, an “incapacitated” person was charged $70,000 in one three month period for court-appointed “services”–guardians, attorneys, social workers, etc. Specifically, Ott approved payments of $5,366.25 to Klock and $2,300 (note these bills are supposed to be itemized and rarely wind up an even number) to Zabowski.
“Those fees are outrageous,” Southwick said.
Full Article & Source:
Guardianship Abuse Spreads to Pennsylvania Part 2
See Also:
Guardianship Abuse Spreads to Pennsylvania