SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Prosecutors have called court-ordered conservatorship a highway you can’t get out of and that’s exactly what a Macomb County veteran says happened to him.

Gerald F. Harten says he survived the horrors of the Vietnam War only to now feel like he was captured by the enemy decades later. But this time, he says the enemy is Michigan’s guardianship system.

Harten admits that he is fully in his golden years and is no longer as physically capable as he once was, but he insists that he is not mentally disabled. Harten says he wants his voice to be heard by the American justice system he fought for so many years ago.

“It’s not good. This is holding me back illegally. Might as well go to jail – at least have more people to talk to. Get three squares there, they will give you your medicine. I have been in “prison” for a year. That’s how I feel,” Harten told the seven investigators.

The 77-year-old Army veteran’s journey to guardianship began last November after back surgery and other health complications.

According to court records, his wife, Mary, had power of attorney to make medical decisions regarding Harten, but she was hospitalized at the same time and was therefore unable to care for him.

“I was in the hospital and my boy became my medicine supervisor,” Harten said.

Harten’s son became his legal guardian. When a judge approved this request for guardianship, Harten was declared legally incapacitated.

“The court says I’m not allowed to go to the bank, withdraw money or do anything,” Harten said.

If a judge appoints you a guardian and conservator, you lose your rights, which means you can no longer make your own medical or financial decisions, you can’t get married, you can’t get divorced, or decide where to live.

Harten says his son did a good job taking care of himself at his home in Madison Heights after his surgery, but as Harten and his wife got better, Harten says he started asking to move back into his own home in Harrison Township.

“I was a millwright by trade. Worked seven days a week for 31 years. And I had paid for everything – my house. I have… three motorbikes, the swimming pool at the back, a jacuzzi. I was made for retirement. I’m not allowed to go home,” Harten said. “It was just a nightmare.”

Things then got complicated in court. According to court records, Harten’s wife tried to fight the conservatorship, his son hired an attorney and there are allegations that Harten’s wife ignored court orders and refused to pay for the care of Harten. The judge subsequently terminated the wife’s power of attorney over her husband.

In May, the judge placed Macomb County Professional Guardian George Heitmanis in charge of Harten’s life.

Harten says he was furious that Heitmanis kept him at his son’s house, even though police records show the family began to argue so much that police were called to the house several times last summer .

“I’m kidnapped. I’m really kidnapped,” Harten said of his conservatorship.

Through their attorney, Harten’s son and his family declined to speak to the seven investigators, but police records show they alleged Harten was often the aggressor during their conflicts.

According to court records, the allegation that Harten suffered from dementia was used to justify the need for a conservatorship.

The doctor’s note filed with the court and used to initiate proceedings last fall states that Harten suffered from “probable underlying vascular dementia…”

A later court-ordered report conducted by a gerontologist who also works as a professional guardian states that Harten’s “need for a guardian and conservator…was clearly noted by four different evaluators.” For at least two of those evaluations, court records show Harten was taking opioid painkillers, and he alleges those were the cause of his confusion at the time, not dementia.

“Do you think you are mentally impaired,” asked investigator Heather Catallo.

“No! No,” Harten said. “I remember everything.”

Whether speaking to 7 investigators or the police, Harten constantly insists that he is not mentally disabled and tells anyone who will listen that he just wants to go home.

“Do you remember the last time we talked,” an officer asked Harten while his body camera recorded in August.

” Of course. I don’t have dementia,” Harten said.

Harten later told the officer while in the back of the police car: “It’s a very bad situation. I don’t want to be there.

In police body camera footage, as officers moved Harten to the hospital, the video shows him reminiscing about the officer who is a veteran of previous police runs home.

“You’re the Army guy,” Harten said.

“Yeah, yeah,” the officer said.

After that exchange with police in August, Harten was evaluated by more neurologists at the hospital, and doctors routinely noted in his records that he was alert and oriented to person, place and direction. hour. The doctor’s notes indicate that there was no “outpatient workup for dementia…”

In September, Harten arranged his own transportation to the Detroit Veterans Hospital to meet his regular doctor who wrote a letter saying, “…Mr. Harten is competent and able to take his own decisions…” and that Harten understands “the consequences of his actions”.

“Everyone I know would say I’m not crazy,” Harten said.

Harten’s guardian eventually moved him from the hospital to a group home, which he says he’s not happy about. And aside from a Zoom hearing in July, Harten says he hasn’t been allowed to attend his own hearings.

“They always keep me away from legal agreements. And that’s what drove me crazy. I said: ‘What? I can’t see the judge? » Harten said.

Harten wrote two letters to Macomb County Judge Sandra Harrison asking to be heard in court, and his fellow veterans filled the courtroom to support him even though he says he has yet to was allowed to attend in person. Instead, his guardian speaks for him.

“Mr. Harten has significant neurological problems,” Heitmanis said at a hearing in September.

Regarding the presence of a ward in court, “it does not depend on his guardian. It doesn’t depend on their loved ones. It’s not even up to their doctors. Only that person can make that call,” said Nicole Shannon, attorney for the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative.

Shannon says a person under a conservatorship has the legal right to attend key hearings, and she helped write new legislation to strengthen that right for anyone under a conservatorship.

“This is not just a legal formality. This is a very substantial and important right that people must exercise. And if someone is not allowed to attend their own hearing, that can have devastating consequences,” Shannon said.

“I almost cry out in despair. I want to go home,” Harten said.

On Tuesday, the seven investigators contacted Harten’s professional guardian as well as his court-appointed attorney. Within hours, a new hearing was scheduled in court to discuss a new motion to terminate the conservatorship.

Heitmanis told the seven investigators that the court wants Harten to return home as long as he can be made safe.

The hearing to end the conservatorship will take place in December.

Michigan state senators are expected to discuss guardianship reform proposals in a committee hearing on Thursday. These reforms include increased access to court hearings for people under guardianship, as well as other safeguards.

Stay with wxyz.com for updates.

If you have a story for Heather Catallo, please call 248-827-4473 or email her at [email protected].