by: Robert Bennett
This has been an unbelievable experience. Without prayer I don’t know how I would have survived. I was picked up by the police and incarcerated in a hospital without my agreement and without need, unless providing a story and ‘patient’ for Somerville Cambridge Elder and Protective Services to brag about in their fund raising materials.
I came home from the hospital not able to walk without a walker and two people holding me up – when I went into the hospital I was walking just fine, took a daily walk along the Charles River without cane or walker; my feet were so swollen I could barely stand on them the pain was so bad and none of my shoes fit – I was kept in bed, mostly on an alarm blanket for five weeks; the grief I experienced in the hospital was profound, I had not been separated from my wife for over 36 years and the pain of that was almost unbearable; I was forced to take medicines I did not want and did not need – including an anti-seizure medicine which made me sick every time they came for me to take those pills and the horrible feelings after taking, particularly the anti-seizure pills was almost unbearable I could barely swallow and had other physical things happening.
For me to be able to leave the hospital my family had to agree to have one particular home health company come to the house daily for an indefinite period of time. I had no choice over anything and neither did my wife. I did not want that to happen.
I have had enough of the health industry and the way they have exercised their power over me to the detriment of my health. It is time for all of that to stop. It has not.
What is this about? From what I have seen, my guess is that in spite of claiming in court that I was “indigent” and destitute to get their “emergency motion” over me when there was no emergency, it is about draining down our assets and moving us out of a home we have lived in for 36 years.
Because of what I have been through and continue to experience, I decided to share the letter I sent to the home health care company with its complaint about sexual abuse. It was very difficult to write and even more difficult to reach the decision to make this public.
Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett
July 16, 2020
Re: Sexual Abuse Complaint – (sent from Robert Bennett to the Home Health Care Company he was forced to accept.)
Your company was assigned to me for Home Health care by Somerville Cambridge Elder and Protective Services.
It has been a horrendous experience which no one should have to endure.
I had a very good experience with the nurse – AWA – who came to take my blood pressure, etc.
However, an Occupational Therapist came when we were expecting a Physical Therapist at that date and time with no one saying anything to me as to why the change.
The OT was named Becca and this was her second visit.
Becca wanted to “evaluate” my ability to take a shower. I was a bit perplexed by this because she came mid-morning and I had already showered, shaved and was dressed for the day. She insisted that she had to see me shower and it had to be in the nude. That was a horrendous request.
She gave her credentials and training and insisted that this is what she was supposed to do or she would not be doing her job. She went on about needing to see what I needed in the process of showering to stay “safe”. I objected strenuously. However, Becca insisted and said I would need “equipment” and she needed to see what that was.
My wife was in the bathroom at the time and told Becca that we showered together and there was nothing unsafe about that so neither she nor I understood this request. After a back and forth which was not pleasant and during which Becca said she would have to report back that I was “uncooperative” and that might not have good results, I agreed to shower – with my jockey shorts and undershirt on. That would have given Becca any information she needed since those are skin tight underclothes. That was not adequate because Becca said she could not see what she needed to see during the shower.
Again, a threat came of my being uncooperative, which she would have to report.
My wife said if I did not want to shower nude in front of Becca I would not.
Since I was fully functioning – was not bed-ridden – was working every day – walking, eating, everything done for me by me, I didn’t understand why this was an issue.
Becca then agreed to my showering with my jockey shorts on. It was very ugly and totally unnecessary, putting me in a horrendous situation.
I got into the shower, turned it on and Becca reached into the shower, grabbed my jockey shorts and tried to rip them off. My wife stopped her by grabbing her hand and releasing my underpants from Becca’s grip.
That was the end of that and we asked Becca to leave.
She called a few days later to say she was returning and would need to order a shower chair and other “equipment” for me to use in the shower. Since I clearly did not need that equipment and had checked with those training home health care people and discovered what Becca did was totally outside anything they trained or recommended, they suggested we contact you about what happened.
I had no idea this is what your “homecare” was about. I can’t imagine what would have happened to me if I were not able to fend for myself and if my wife had not been in the bathroom.
Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett Marceline Donaldson
Tags: #BlackLivesMatter, Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett, Sexual Abuse
