Dallas, TX: Michael & Jean Kidd (ages 67 and 70) have recently found themselves in an unpleasant predicament: they are being held by the State of Texas against their will. What crime have they committed? None, unless being old and in love has recently been codified as a crime without the State informing the People of Texas.
Last November Mr. Kidd sufferred a fall that shattered his hip, after which he was transferred to a Plano hospital for treatment. Mrs. Kidd, acting as any concerned and loving partner would, faithfully attempted to stay as close to her husband as she could, which in this case meant the waiting room. After a few days, however, the hospital filed a report with Adult Protective Services, stating Mrs. Kidd would not eat as hospital staff treated Mr. Kidd. Acting dutifully towards its citizens, the State of Texas has taken it upon itself to remedy this seemingly crminal situation.
Citing poor judgment and incompetence, Texas APS has confined Michael & Jean Kidd to a cramped room in Countryside Nursing Home, Pilot Point, TX, where a couple's tenancy comes at a price of about $7,000 per month. When asked, the Kidds' state appointed financial guardian refused to give them an acocunting of their financial matters, going so far as to say they "did not have the mental capacity to even ask for their own financial or mediacal records." State litigators also attempted to obtain a restraining order to prevent the article this post is based on from being reported (it was denied by Judge Weldon Copeland). While the Kidds are allotted a mere $60 of their own money by the state per month, their home sits abandoned. Its doors were left unlocked, food remained spoiling in the kitchen and their yard began to grow out of control, according to their neighbor Bob Graham.
The Kidds have had no children, other relatives, or neighbors come forth to advocate on their behalf. Their court-appointed attorney has been described, essentially, as more laughable than a joke so bad one couldn't laugh at it for any other reason than that.
Michael Kidd: "I can't believe I have been hi-jacked off the street, virtually from the hospital, and imprisoned...I know what my income was and I know it was more than enough to take care of my bills. Now, I'm deteriorating instead of getting better."
Jean Kidd: "Having help is one thing...having someone come in and take over the whole ball of wax and say you will do what I say, and you have no control over your own life...How could this happen in a country that talks about and brags about freedom?...And yet this is how we treat our old people. This can happen to any of you." Mrs. Kidd has lost twenty pounds and two teeth while keeping her husband company at Countryside, commenting that no one at the nursing home seems to notice.
The gist of it: This is not right. When a person is fully congnisant of their situation and surroundings and has broken no law, yet is being confined against their will without being provided adequate representation (being held against their will, period) as well as a full and accurate accounting of their most intimate matters, this qualifies as imprisonment, unjust, unlawful and unconstitutional imprisonment. One should not expect, much less accept, this sort of tyrannical action even from the federal government, much less from one of the fifty states.
One of the worst parts of this is the hypocrisy on the part of the state. Children in public schools are being made to read novels exalting the virtues of unconditional love in which characters willingly give up their lives for and with the beloved (not necessarily a bad thing), even as the State perpetrates such criminal, immoral and insensitive acts.
If this upsets you as much as it does Smithy, please, contact Governor Rick Perry regarding this matter, as well as Texas Adult Protective Services.
To view the original article, click "Elderly Couple Forced into State Custody".
