The Betrayal of Elaine Benz.

• Date: 01 June 2022
• Author: Lueders, Bill
• Published date: 01 June 2022
• Author: Lueders, Bill

On April 21, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) rescinded the citations it had issued to a senior health care facility for having violated state law in evicting my mother, Elaine Benz, last fall.

No reason was given for the state's reversal. My sister, Diane, and I, who have power of attorney for our mom's health care, were never consulted about DHS's decision to dismiss the citations. Nor were we able to challenge what we believe to be false representations made by the facility, ProHealth Care Regency Senior Communities New Berlin, regarding Elaine's level of requisite care.

As I have described in The Progressive ("I Want to Go Home," February/March issue and "My Mother's Eviction: An Update," April/May issue) and elsewhere, my family was deeply affected by this eviction. Elaine, who was ninety-seven then and is ninety-eight now, was forced to spend nineteen days in punishing isolation at a physical rehabilitation center, then in full...