my name is annette murphy.i was the caregiver to my father in-law paul.he was 69and suffered from pulmanary fibrosis.he was oxygen dependent and on varing doses of prednisone.i began to care for him in jan. 2001.he ask us to help him get his affairs in order after a bout of infection.he was very concerned about my husband bary.he did not want bary to have to go through probate court after his death.he wanted bary put on all his bank accounts and a quick claim deed done on the house.he also gave bary his power of attorny.we got every thing done by the middle of feb.bary is a only child and his mom passed in 1993.paul was diagnosised with chronic depression in feb. the doctor put him on a low dose of zolft.my job closed thier doors in march.my husband and i decided that i should stay home to care for paul on a full time basices.he went to his pulminary dr.hawley middle of march,he up his zolft .soon after paul began to see bugs everywhere.he became exstreamly paranoid.the doctor took him off zolft,but the bugs and parinoia never went away.we removed his couch because he seen bugs eating it.we threw away good clothes,towls and sheets.every day for eight months i cleaned bugs and bug residue off furniture and floors.as the days wore on his complants grew worse.in july he stopped doing the word searches the doctor recommended to keep his brain working.he said he was to confussed to do them anymore.he often complained of blindness,fussy thinking,confusion and weakness.during this time i told his grand niece tina heuy all about his worsening codition.i knew she kept in touch with family in kentucky.in july he began to go off his oxygen untill his lips would turn blue and his skin would turn a funny gray color.he said that dr.hawley told him he could give his body a break once a day.i made him promise to never go off unless i was there,i was afraid he would go to sleep or pass out.paul was a very religious man.he would often sing hyms to me as i cooked,cleaned and changed filters.he never sat down to a meal without saying grace.in aug. i noticed he quit singing,soon after he stopped praying.i was so worried,i called dr.hawley on a sat.he was out in the hospital at a nurses station when he answered his page.i told him my concerns.he tried to talk paul into coming to the hospital,but paul refused.dr.hawley then told me "paul's mental deterroration was a normal part of his diasease.and the only options we had was to force him to go to the hospital,call in hospice because they could better handle both the physical and mental deteroration or try to deal with it at home as long as we could"we kept him home hoping that he would stabilize or get better.it only worsened.after sept.11 he completly snapped.he just sat in frount of the t.v and watched the towers fall over and over again in between red cross comercials.he stopped talking to every one,even his church friends.they were like family they visited weekly and were very close.they use to travel togather even spending holidays togather.in oct.bary recieved a letter in the mail revoking his power of attorny.he tried to talk to his dad but paul just clamed up.bary then called tina huey,she swore she knew nothing.he even confrounted her in front of pauls house.she still denied knowing anything.in marsh of 2002 paul went into a nursing home.it took bary over 7 days to find out where his dad was.tina would not return his calls.we soon found out she was his new power of attorny.when bary confrounted her she said she did not want it and promised to remove herself.once again she lied.we visited with dad often in the nursing home.i spent the night taking care of him the week-end before he died.he passed on july 3 2002.it has been a continuing night mare every since.we found out she enabled him to make a will.she said he wanted to give her every thing but she told him no that was not right,so he left it all to the american red cross.we had to agree to clean the out to get it ready for sell just to get the family pictures and his mothers stuff.they sold the house and the car.since then five people have come forward and give statments that paul wanted every thing he had to go to bary.in 1998 paul even called of a wedding to someone he loved because he found out she would be intitled to half of his estate.he said no women would ever take what belonged to bary.we have been locked in a battle with red cross every since.even though we have seven poeople who sweare that paul was not mentaly able to have made such a will and one doctor who said that because of the lack of oxygen to his brain and the prednisne he was probly not able to make rational decissions we are still going to lose all of bary's inheritance.dr.hawley told tina's attorny that because paul was always pleasent that he felt paul was able to make a will.dr. hawley only seen paul once in may of 2001.at that time i was spending anywhere from 30 to 45 hours a week with paul.i was cleaning up the bugs and taking care of all his paranoias.because i was a family caregiver no one has ever ask me about the nine months prior to his will.i feel like i am being punished because i was the one who steped up and took care of him.no one really cares about the truth,they only see dollar signs.i promised dad that this would never happen.he knew his mind was going in aug. thats why he made me promise over and over again that this would never happen.the laws need to be changed to protect family caregivers.my only wish is that i can prevent this from ever happining to another family. thank-you for listing to my story, annette murphy