Old gay couple lose everything

This is just utterly inexcusable.
and it happened in CALIFORNIA.

Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place--wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.

One evening, Harold fell down the front steps of their home and was taken to the hospital. Based on their medical directives alone, Clay should have been consulted in Harold's care from the first moment. Tragically, county and health care workers instead refused to allow Clay to see elderly_man.jpgHarold in the hospital. The county then ultimately went one step further by isolating the couple from each other, placing the men in separate nursing homes.

Ignoring Clay's significant role in Harold's life, the county continued to treat Harold like he had no family and went to court seeking the power to make financial decisions on his behalf. Outrageously, the county represented to the judge that Clay was merely Harold's "roommate." The court denied their efforts, but did grant the county limited access to one of Harold's bank accounts to pay for his care.

What happened next is even more chilling.

Without authority, without determining the value of Clay and Harold's possessions accumulated over the course of their 20 years together or making any effort to determine which items belonged to whom, the county took everything Harold and Clay owned and auctioned off all of their belongings. Adding further insult to grave injury, the county removed Clay from his home and confined him to a nursing home against his will. The county workers then terminated Clay and Harold's lease and surrendered the home they had shared for many years to the landlord.

Three months after he was hospitalized, Harold died in the nursing home. Because of the county's actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 20 years. Compounding this tragedy, Clay has literally nothing left of the home he had shared with Harold or the life he was living up until the day that Harold fell, because he has been unable to recover any of his property. The only memento Clay has is a photo album that Harold painstakingly put together for Clay during the last three months of his life.

With the help of a dedicated and persistent court-appointed attorney, Anne Dennis of Santa Rosa, Clay was finally released from the nursing home. Ms. Dennis, along with Stephen O'Neill and Margaret Flynn of Tarkington, O'Neill, Barrack & Chong, now represent Clay in a lawsuit against the county, the auction company, and the nursing home, with technical assistance from NCLR. A trial date has been set for July 16, 2010 in the Superior Court for the County of Sonoma.

http://www.bilerico.com/2010/04/sonoma_county_ca_separates_elderly_gay_couple_and.php

I feel sick right now.
Just as soon as I thought people couldn't get more inconsiderate they go and do.

What the FUCK? Fucking ignorant fucking asshole like this pisses me off. There is so much inconsideration and intolerance here it's is fucking unbelievable. The United States definitely is a free fucking country, you assholes.

FIREMAD to the fucking maximum.

This was an episode of ER a long time ago.

;.;

Wait a goddamn second, the county completely ignored LEGAL DOCUMENTS giving them proper authorization for each other, marked them down as roommates but sold off all of their possessions in one lump sum, then put Clay into a nursing home despite being in good health? This is just fucking wrong, how could the court even allow this?

What the fuck is this shit!? Not only what they did was illegal, it is so morally wrong that it is almost of thinkable. Especially in California

Yeah, the county's behaviour sounds awful. Still, I'm a little suspicious of the source. There must be another side to it. Were there any allegations of domestic abuse? It wouldn't excuse the county's behaviour even then, but still, I find it hard to believe the county would act so reprehensibly without any justification whatsoever.

I hope Clay ends up owning the state of California.


Fucking douchebags.

Wow. That's pretty damn heartless.

Something tells me this is going to rise courts until someone gets scared of a Supreme Court decision.

Yeah, the county's behaviour sounds awful. Still, I'm a little suspicious of the source. There must be another side to it. Were there any allegations of domestic abuse? It wouldn't excuse the county's behaviour even then, but still, I find it hard to believe the county would act so reprehensibly without any justification whatsoever.

Two sides to every story.

Do these guys even have a heart? Those assholes just did things in the way they felt was right, without listening to any of the two. You can't punish them for this, mainly because no punishment is high enough. I hope those guys read this article and pray to God that after doing so, they feel guilty. If they don't, it'll just prove that they're heartless jerks.
More than sad, this makes people angry. I mean, how can they even do this. It's just unbelievable. Imagine the pain they went through.
it's just sad

Yeah, the county's behaviour sounds awful. Still, I'm a little suspicious of the source. There must be another side to it. Were there any allegations of domestic abuse? It wouldn't excuse the county's behaviour even then, but still, I find it hard to believe the county would act so reprehensibly without any justification whatsoever.

Two sides to every story.

wait what?
gay old person domestic abuse?

Dunno, just showing the other side of the story.  Seems a little far fetched to me, but then again a county ignoring legal documents doesn't sound that plausible either.  I mean.. yeah ignoring spoken wishes, no one can prove they said it, but legal documents? :S   

Whatever happened, the simple fact is, it's just sad =(

Hmm. Nope, don't buy it. There's something else going on. At any rate, domestic abuse or not, if prop 8 was never passed this wouldn't have been an issue.

Well, some of it might have. The forced separation probably, and ignoring the legal documents naming each other as executors. I can see that happening if there is suspicion of domestic abuse. However, I don't see how that could justify selling all of the belongings of the copule without determining who owned what.

Still, I think I'll just wait until I know all the facts before I come to any decision.

Still, I think I'll just wait until I know all the facts before I come to any decision.

Fair enough.

Mmm hmm. Bullshit, Sonoma county. That is nothing but bullshit and masturbation.

This sickens me.

That is all.