Guardians office faces state probe
DeSantis orders investigation following ward’s death, top exec’s resignation
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday his administration is “vigorously” investigating the state office overseeing professional guardians in the wake of its director’s sudden resignation, adding he may ask for legislation to fix the beleaguered system.
The Orlando Sentinel reported this month that a man died after professional guardian Rebecca Fierle of Orlando issued a “do not resuscitate” order against his wishes. A judge found Fierle had “abused her powers” by filing such orders for numerous incapacitated clients without permission from their families or the court. Fierle resigned from 95 Orange County cases during a July 11 hearing.
The next week, she resigned from additional cases in Seminole County during an emergency court hearing, but it was not immediately clear how many cases were involved because the hearing was closed to the public.
Carol Berkowitz, executive director of the Florida Office of Public and Professional Guardians, which oversees investigations and discipline of the more than 550 professional guardians in the state, abruptly resigned July 12, three days after the Okaloosa County Clerk of Court and Comptroller produced an investigative report on Fierle. The state’s Department of Elder Affairs confirmed Berkowitz’s resignation Tuesday but
has not said what led to her departure.
“We were obviously concerned with some of the reports,” DeSantis said at an event at the Florida’s Turnpike headquarters in Ocoee. Richard Prudom, the secretary of Elder Affairs, “is pursuing it, and I told him to pursue it vigorously.”
He said he told all agencies to “take six months, you’ll figure out what’s going on, figure out what needs to be done,” adding the agency heads have been reporting back to him over the course of July.
“We will take whatever action we need to,” DeSantis said, “and as we look at this guardianship program, if there needs to be legislative changes, [that] could be something that we would propose for the next legislative session. … I think that there’s going to be action taken, whether it’s administratively or legislative or a combination, because I think something needs to be done.”
The governor’s com scrutiny ments got mixed reactions from public watchdogs of the system.
“All victims and advocates are thrilled to hear that the governor has made this statement, but he has said things like this before without following through,” said Dr. Sam Sugar, an internal medicine specialist who founded the nonprofit Americans Against Abusive Probate Guardianship. “And he’s made himself completely unavailable to advocates since he was elected. We look forward to him taking decisive meaningful action immediately … and, most importantly, we look forward to [an] audience with the governor to fully lay out our concerns and complaints about the system.”
Dr. Sam Sugar, an internal medicine specialist who founded the nonprofit Americans Against Abusive Probate Guardianship, said he was happy with DeSantis’ comment, but he added that the governor has been unavailable to advocates.
Brian Lee, a national advocate for nursing home and assisted living facility residents, applauded the but said it was overdue.
“Finally someone is paying attention. This has been a problem for very long time,” said Lee, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Families For Better Care and the state’s former ombudsman of the long-term care industry. “What has been exposed is the grotesque underbelly that exists within this system that we’ve ignored for far too long. There must be no “may” about it. There must be legislation to fix the broken guardianship system.”
One problem, Lee said, is the the Office of Public and Professional Guardians lacks adequate enforcement powers.
“How many people were in that office?” he said. “If you have [a few] people and you have hundreds of guardians across the state, and those guardians have private attorneys representing them, the attorneys are going to [fight] when you try to take action. So it can take a very long time for the office to do anything.”
According to the office’s 2018 annual report, there were “more than 140 legally sufficient complaints” against professional guardians that year — only one of which resulted in the office requesting that the guardian’s registration be revoked.
DeSantis indicated there could be other repercussions for guardians, though, saying “there may be some serious legal consequences” for “one individual.”
“[And] the criminal aspect of this, to me is definitely something that needs to be looked at,” DeSantis said. “Holding people accountable when they do things like that, to me sends a very strong signal that was unacceptable conduct.”
DeSantis did not say why Berkowitz resigned or whether he or his administration asked her to resign.
The Sentinel has reported that two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said Berkowitz was frustrated by a lack of resources for her office.