Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Disability rights activists and advocates for Britney Spears backed a California proposal Wednesday to provide more protections for those under court-ordered conservatorships, while promoting less-restrictive alternatives.
Their move came as the volatile Spears case again boiled over in a Los Angeles County courtroom.
The hearing to settle lingering issues in the aftermath of Spears' conservatorship, which was terminated in November, quickly descended into a series of angry accusations between attorneys for Spears and her father, and the case appears headed for a long trial to determine the truth of allegations of misconduct against him.
The case is Exhibit #1 for groups including Disability Voices United, Disability Rights California, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and Free Britney L.A. who say that what are known as probate conservatorships are overused and misused in California.
They most often involve people with developmental or intellectual disabilities or those with age-related issues like dementia or Alzheimer's.
But the advocacy groups contend that conservatees like Spears can become trapped in a system that removes their civil rights and the ability to advocate for themselves.
The Professional Fiduciary Association of California, which represents many of those appointed as conservators, did not immediately comment, but said answers to many questions about the process can be found at https://californiaconservatorshipfacts.com
“Conservatorships should be rare, and the last resort,” said Judy Mark, president of Disability Voices United, a Southern California advocacy group. “The default should be that people with disabilities retain their rights and get support when they need it.”
The groups backed legislation by Democratic Assemblyman Brian Maienschein that will also make it easier to end conservatorships for people who want out.
They are promoting instead what are known as “supported decision-making” agreements as a less restrictive alternative. They allow people with disabilities to choose someone to help them understand, make and communicate their choices, but allow the person to still make the decision.
That option has already been adopted in Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C., advocates said.
California law says conservatorships should only be ordered if a judge rules they are the least restrictive alternative. But the advocates contend they are often imposed without examining other options.
Maienschein's bill would require that before granting a conservatorship, judges first document that all other alternatives including supported decision-making have been considered.
It would write supported decision-making into California law and back that alternative with grant programs, training and technical assistance.
The bill also would make it easier to end probate conservatorships by mandating a periodic review, including asking conservatees if they want to make the conservatorship less restrictive or end it entirely.
Conservators would also be required to consult with the conservatees and make decisions that reflect the conservatee's wishes or previously expressed preferences.
Before his election to the Legislature, Maienschein was a law clerk for a San Diego Superior Court judge who oversaw conservatorships.
“I saw firsthand the role that the court plays in establishing conservatorships, and the potential for abuse,” he said during an online news conference. “The system in California is in desperate need of reform.”
He called Spears “arguably the world's most famous conservatee,” but said his bill would aid the many others who don't have “the benefit of worldwide fame to shine a light on her case.”
Spears drew widespread attention to the issue, culminating in November when a Los Angeles judge ended the conservatorship that controlled the pop singer's life and money for nearly 14 years.
But the fallout continued at Wednesday's hearing, when Spears' attorney Mathew Rosengart objected to Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny approving the many outstanding attorneys' fees in the case until the trial is held.
Rosengart repeated allegations from a New York Times documentary that James Spears bugged his daughter's phone and home, saying they were among many instances of “serious misconduct, potentially criminal misconduct, on the part of Mr. Spears.”
James Spears' attorney Alex Weingarten said the accusations, along with allegations of financial misdealing, are “all nonsense.”
“Virtually everything that is alleged in those objections is either demonstrably false or out of context,” Weingarten said.
Weingarten plans to file a motion for a mass unsealing of documents from throughout the conservatorship, saying “we need that truth to come out.” Rosengart said he would object to this too.
Penny ordered the final transfer of Spears' assets back to her from the court conservator, and ruled that the November order terminating the conservatorship be sealed. She told the attorneys to return to court in July, when she may decide to order the trial.
Britney Spears did not take part in the hearing.
“I believe that if AB1663 had been in effect 13 years ago, the court would have been unable to conserve Britney Spears, and now Britney's story lights the way for where changes in our laws need to be made,” said Mark, of Disability Voices United.
Advocates said it is unclear how many people are under conservatorships in California because the data isn't collected. They said Spears' battle is an example of how conservatorships are too easily imposed and too difficult to end.
She was a 26-year-old new mother who'd had several public mental health struggles during the height of her career in 2008, when her father sought the conservatorship, at first on a temporary basis.
Spears was not present at the court hearing where her constitutional rights were assigned to her father, nor were less-restrictive measures attempted before putting her under a conservatorship, said Free Britney L.A. organizer Leanne Simmons.
It ended only after Spears engaged in a multiyear struggle, and after she won the right to pick her own attorney.
“While unique in many ways, it follows a very common pattern of exploitation within the probate court system here in California,” Simmons said.
AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.