Russell’s medical records were our means of proving Russell was not competent to sign the will put before him two days before he died. All that happened surrounding Russell’s illness, hospitalization and death, was nothing but horrific! He died such a horrible death; with no one by his side who cared about him.
I hope to expose every tiny detail about the tragic death of our son!
The document Kevin claimed was Russell’s will was not signed by Russell when he was competent to know what was going on. The facts were ignored by the Judge! She made some statements to make us believe she liked Kevin and was favorable to him.
Russell’s body had shut down; he was in an altered state when Kevin made a will and said he signed it. It seemed to us, the making of the will was a theatrical event carried on by Kevin, his friends and his mother.
I cannot begin to express how painful it was when I got Russell’s medical records three months after his death. I screamed in horror when I found he had died of AIDS! We had not only been lied to about what he died of; we had been lied to about him having prepaid, prearranged funeral plans as we were told.
Kevin’s dad went to the doctor and told them not to call us; telling them we had disowned our son. The same thing his mother told the mortuary who buried our son. Its was horrible to find out we could have buried our son if we had not been lied to by everyone involved. These lies caused us to lose everything we have ever worked for.
The doctors had an obligation to let the next blood kin know about their son; no matter what Kevin and his parents said. Kevin’s mother told the mortuary a lie to get control of Russell’s burial; she was the one who ordered the stone with Kevin’s name on one side. This was something we eventually got changed because Kevin used Russell’s estate money to pay for his part of the stone; which was not supposed to happen. This was the only thing we got in the mediation to drop the case. We had to drop the case because I could not continue with taking care of my Mom and filing papers, etc. I have talked about this in previous stories.
The stone was designed to hurt us; they thought we would not be able to get anything done about it. Maybe we did not get Russell moved, but we did get the stone changed. Kevin would not be buried like Russell was. No one buries their child like Russell was if they love him. They desecrated Russell’s grave for over five years; to show us they could control his grave. We continued to go there and take care of his grave, no matter what they did. This too is in previous posts.
Kevin’s dad told the hospital doctors that we disowned our son; so they could keep us away and control his burial. They could not afford to have us find out what he died of. We believe they have violated their ethics in doing what they did. This was one of the cruelest things anyone could do to a young man who was dying and wanted to see his parents.
We had the burden to prove Russell was not competent; to get his body and bury him properly. The Judge in the case did not care if we proved this or not; she did not like us. This was terrible to experience what we had to go through to get this case in court and to prove the facts and to have the Judge do what she did.
We had medical expert testimony as to what all was wrong with Russell; over 1800 pages of medical records, and a two and a half hour testimony. The Judge just ignored all the facts! She chose to believe Kevin’s friends who witnessed, and helped with the signing of this purported will. It was a conflict of interest for these friends of Kevin’s to be a part of the making of the will that Russell was purported to have signed. The depositions of the witnesses to the purported will were disputed.
We were so so angry when we got the news that the Judge believed the witnesses to the will instead of the medical expert. She was supposed to give the verdict in three weeks; but waited seven, until the day after the election. Lowell and I believe she did not want this to come out before she was re-elected. It is unfair when a Judge does not go by the evidence that was proven to be facts, and believed people who was bias for Kevin. She too was bias, we believe. This was truly an injustice!
The Judge said she believed Russell wanted to be buried at the place where Kevin buried him. These were exactly the words of our lawyer after the court case was over. He betrayed us! We believe he went into the Judge’s chambers before court and told her this. He was not going to fight the case; and he proved this. This lawyer led us on to get more and more money.
Our lawyer would not put Lowell or I on the stand. I believe this is a violation of his ethics, because we told him we wanted to be put on the stand. Lawyers are supposed to work with the client; not against them. It seems strange the Judge’s statement matched the lawyers statement made to us after court. This lawyer never told us he believed Russell wanted to be buried where he was.
When our lawyer went into the Judge’s chambers before court without us; we felt this was a conflict of interest. This was the second time he met with her without us being present, and without our consent.
At the mediation meeting our lawyer just sat there and let Kevin talk. He did nothing to help us; we were disgusted with him. When the meeting was over; his law clerk rushed us out of the meeting and he stayed to talk to the Judge. Yes, the Judge was the mediator; this we still do not understand. Our lawyer would never tell us why she was the setting Judge and mediator.
Kevin’s attorney left the building, but we saw Kevin setting in the hall after the mediation meeting. We believe he was waiting to talk to the Judge, and perhaps he was talking to her with our attorney. He manipulates the truth and it was not in our best interest for all of this to be going on. This meeting with the Judge after the mediation meeting, was never explained to us.
When our lawyer went into the Judge’s chambers before court and we asked him why; he told us he was checking on another case. This was a lie; he had told us he had never had a case in Orphan’s Court before. I guess he forgot he told us this previously. He knew the Judge liked Kevin and he did not want to offend her. Our lawyer’s law clerk told us the Judge liked Kevin. She was young, and made it clear she too liked Kevin. Most young people today accepts homosexuality whether they know it is wrong or not.
Our lawyer would not even talk to us before court, and would not allow us to set by him. Kevin sat beside his lawyer. Our lawyer made it pretty evident, he was not going to fight the case. We had given him so much to work with, and he did not use the most important things. We should have gotten our son’s remains!
Two weeks after Russell’s death, I went searching for the truth about what happened to him. I found he did not have pre-paid, pre-arranged funeral plans. Then I found in his medical records three months after his death; he died of AIDS! We were told he died of a heart attack. A mother has instincts when it comes to her child. We knew something was not right when he was buried the way he was; and we were kept from his funeral. Russell loved us, and we loved him.
The sad part of all of this is that a young man is dead! The manipulation of Kevin and his family destroyed our son. He would still be alive if it were not for these people. Homosexuality is an horrible lifestyle; one that can take the life of a young man like Russell! Russell was a good son and had the world in the palm of his hands. He was manipulated to his death! His life and death meant nothing to these people!
We were lied to in the most horrific way. Lowell and I couldn’t imagine anyone being so cruel to do what was done to Russell and to us. We love our son dearly; his death nearly killed both of us. The emotional stress of his death; Kevin’s lies, his parent’s lies, and the whole court case, has been very damaging to our health.
What went on during this time was like a nightmare! Kevin caused us so much pain and suffering as he manipulated Russell’s funeral. I started immediately calling to try and get his medical records. Kevin had not filed a will, and after three months of working to get his records, the legal department at the hospital released the records to me. I was the legal next of kin, so they could release them since no will had been filed. Sometimes I feel this will might have been made after Russell died. Anyway, it was not made when Russell was of sound mind, and we proved this.
The Judge in her ruling said she believed Russell wanted to be buried where he was, and this is not what the case was about. We even had proof Russell did not sign the burial document, and our attorney would not use the three different versions of the burial paper. Kevin and his mother had altered their copies sent to us.
We had to prove Russell was not competent to sign the will, and we did this with the best medical expert we could have had. The burden of proof was on us, and we proved what we were told we had to in order to invalidate the will. The Judge did not even look at the evidence, but chose to say she believe Kevin’s friends. I knew she did not like me, because I fought this case so hard. I never gave up, and it still is a sad day when a mother and father has to go through what we did during this case. All we wanted was to get our son’s remains. We believe the gay agenda was proven to be very strong in this case.
When I found Russell had died from AIDS; I nearly fell apart. We both were devastated!
Digging into his medical records, we found how our son suffered and died from this horrible disease. Russell had listened to the wrong people, as so many young people today do. If only these young people who think this lifestyle is fun and exciting, would listen to the warning of the people who love them. I want to tell anyone who wants to believe this lie of homosexuality, to think twice before experimenting with something so evil. You are not born that way, it is a choice! No matter how the media or hollywood potrays this lifestyle, it is nothing but destructive!
Russell was a special person, who gave us so much joy during his life with us. He just wanted to experiment with this lifestyle; but when he got into a situation of being controlled, he lost his life listening to people who did not care about him in the end.
Kevin acted like he cared about Russell, but in my opinion he only cared about Kevin. The facts surrounding all the life insurance Kevin had on Russell’s life proved a lot to us. None of the things like this was mentioned in court. We believe they did play an important part in showing the way Kevin had plotted the death of our son. Kevin is still controlling him by controlling his grave. We are constantly harassed as we go there to grieve and place flowers. It is so painful to try and grieve for Russell, and go through what we do at his grave. We will never have any closure until we bring his body home.
When we filed the caveat to get our son’s body, Kevin filed a purported will. I have talked about this will in other stories, and will go on to talk more about the medical records.
We had to subpoena all the medical records, even though I had some of them. We paid a tremendous amount of money to get these records; paying for them and paying the lawyers.
We believe the previous lawyers we had for a year and a half; violated their ethical code of conduct by some of the things they did, walking out on us and not returning money they took to go to court. The next attorney we hired turned our case over to the senior partner for some reason. Later we found out why he did not want to be involved in a case involving homsexuals; he was going to be running for State Senate.
These lawyers sent us wrap up charges before we went to the last mediation meeting, and they did not even discuss this with us. We believe they had no intention to finish the case; they needed to get rid of us before the election. We believe this was a violation of their ethics as attorneys.
We were shocked they had sent wrap up charges without even telling us they were doing this; so we told them they were obligated to finish the case, even though we did not like the way they had done us in every thing we informed them about. Later when we went to a mediation meeting, it was a farce! This attorney sat there and lied to us; telling us they would get our son’s body.
The senior partner stood up the whole time and drank a coke; what time he wasn’t running to the bathroom about every fifteen minutes. We finally figured out what he was doing every fifteen minutes; he was feeding the parking meter in front of the building. We saw them get into their car parked in front of the building after the meeting. We had to park in a lot that charged us fifteen dollars. We found this to be kinda of insulting to us; and unprofessional for him to be constantly running to the “bathroom” about every fifteen minutes. It was like the meeting was a joke to these lawyers; thinking they could get us to just drop the case and they would be free of us.
At the mediation meeting when Kevin went into the other room with his attorney; one of our attorneys told me they would get our son’s body. When Kevin and his attorney came into the room again; he did not even try to do anything to mediate to get his body.
We were so tired; we had driven all night to get there, after doing a three day show to earn extra money for the trip. It was a disgusting meeting, as Kevin and our attorneys both wanted us to drop the case. We had not intention in doing so.
At the mediation meeting Kevin went into another room with one of our attorneys, and we believe they were thinking they could talk us into dropping the case. This was all they talked about when they came back in; and when we would not drop the case, they were not happy campers. We did not know what was going on.
Our attorney told us at the beginning of the meeting, we had a balance in our account, but they wanted more to get ready to go to court. We gave them the check to hold, and when we got back home, we had to borrow more money to cover it. This money was not used to go to court, and never returned to us. They refused to give it back, and this is a violation of their ethical code of conduct. When we kept requesting this money, the senior partner sent a seventeen hour letter, and refused to give our money back because it took all the money to write the letter. We could not figure how he could justify sending a letter like this, and we feel this showed just how he had been wasting our money during the whole case.
This was not the only violation of his attorney ethics, he released personal information to someone without our permission. We have documents to prove this. We wanted an expert that could prove Russell was to ill to have signed the will Kevin made. They sent all our records to a doctor of pharmacy; not just the medical records, they sent the interrogatories, and letters from the gay activists, and other stuff. We felt at the time, there was something funny going on about this. More waste of our money!
The interrogatories and these letters should not have been released to this doctor of pharmacy. There was no way the attorneys could tell us this was right. We wrote letters and talked to them on the phone concerning what they had done. This doctor of pharmacy did not know how to read these medical records as a specialist could have done.
These attorneys wouldn’t use anything in the medical records. As time went on, we felt they didn’t even read the medical records. I did a lot of research on HIV/AIDS, mostly dealing with the way one’s body is devastated by the disease. I felt this was so important in finding if Russell was competent to sign the will when he was to have purported to have signed it. Every time I would found something to help with the case; they would arrogantly ignore me. It was constantly something stupid they would come up with. We were so desperate; and they treated us, especially me, with great disrespect. We had so much confidence they would help us when we hired them because they professed to us, they were Christian attorneys.
These same attorneys refused to let us have our records back, when they were the ones who told us the first attorney we hired had to give us our records. I had done a tremendous amount of research and sent it to them. I knew they had not read it, because when I would ask them questions, they did not know what I was talking about. We spent money for them to read them, but we believe they did not.
When we had to find another attorney because these walked out on us, we were told to go on the pro bono website. I did and when this was posted we needed an attorney, the one who went to court with the case, stepped up and called us. He led us into thinking he was not going to charge us much; then he wanted to know if we could afford $5,000. This was a lot of money to us, but we though if we had to borrow more, we would try. We had already spent so much, we did not know how we were going to keep going. He told us he charged $250.00 an hour, and his law clerk charged $90.00. We were at the point of no return as we had given him the information about the case, and he said he though we could win.
One thing led to another, and a lot of the stuff I can’t talk about right now. Right away he started billing us more and more. Some of the charges were outrageous. One phone call was charged over seven hundred dollars. I really bounced back and told him; I did not talk to him three hours. I never talked very long to him or his clerk, after I found out he was charging so much. We thought about getting another lawyer, but were afraid we were running out of time. I will talk more about this later.
This lawyer did not even try to win the case that should have been a done deal. I wanted to talk a little about this stuff, becasue I am finding more of what happened with Russell’s medical records. The following seemed to be one of the outrageous things done concerning Russell’s medical records.
Our attorney had made copies of the medical records, both in hard copies and CD form. He sent Kevin’s attorney these when we hired him. Kevin’s attorney already had copies of these medical records, so this made two copies he got.
The morning of the court case, the law clerk came wheeling in a cart full of big boxes from Kinkos. We could not figure out why she was bringing all this stuff to court. It was to make them look good at our expense. We believe it was not their intention to win, but to put on a look good show.
When we saw the law clerk take three big books of medical records and put them on the Judge’s law clerks desk, and three on Kevin’s attorney’s desk, and three on our attorney’s desk, we about croaked. This was all uncalled for. We know the Judge already had copies. She even said, “You don’t expect me to read these, do you? I think she was in awe too.
To think our attorney had more copies made just to lay on his desk! He had a book he was going by in front of him. No one even touched these books. Kevin picked one of them up, but he did not read anything. I watched all of this going on, and could not believe what I was seeing. I don’t know to this day how much we were charged for this! I had asked them to bill us individually for everything after the $750.00 phone call. They never did as we asked, they grouped things together so we would not figure out what they were charging.
I wanted us to set beside of our attorney during the case, as Kevin sat beside of his attorney. Our attorney would not talk to us before court, and the law clerk said I couldn’t set beside of him. Lowell and I both should have been able to set there. Our attorney had time to go into the Judge’s chambers before court, but could not talk to us.
After the court case was over, the medical records were laying on Kevin’s side of the room. Kevin said he didn’t want them, his attorney didn’t want them, and Kevin’s mother didn’t want them. A member of the Friends said she would take them. I was absolutely astounded! This girl who had nothing to do with the case took Russell’s medical records. Kevin’s attorney let her, my attorney let her, and Kevin’s mother let her take them.
I guess this was one of the things that happened, that really disturbs me. There are so many more things like this, I want to tell about.
We had to subpoena these private records, and had to sign privacy papers! These records cost us a lot of money to get. Now this girl, Kevin and everyone has violated these private papers. I find this very disturbing, and am going to see what can be done about this. I guess I can now talk about the medical records and what was in them, since this girl now has my son’s records. I think the people who violated the privacy of these records should be held responsible.
Some of the stuff in the records, Kevin might not want to be out there. Guess he goofed!
I need to end this part of my story now, with great heartache with all of this, but determination to let the world know what the homosexual agenda is all about.
Lowell and Carolyn Groff
Posted by: Carolyn
Categories:
Russell's Life