Ripped off and left alone: ​​pensioners in need of care fear homelessness

Created: 01/12/2022 06:09

By: Josef Ametsbichler

Close allies: Hans Fischer (front) and Herbert Westermair use their first names, but the supervisor fights with the authorities and in court for his protégé - the paperwork fills a whole folder.

Somehow it has to go on.

Hans Fischer Fischer swallows 33 pills a day Power of attorney follows criminal charges © stefan Roßmann

Hans Fischer is not only in need of care, his account has also been emptied.

Now he fears losing his place at home.

But his legal guardian is fighting for him.

Ebersberg

– Hans Fischer is doing pretty bad at the moment.

His lower jaw is toothless, both arms of his reading glasses are patched with tape.

He is two months in arrears with the bills from the Ebersberg retirement home where the 74-year-old lives, making 3741.10 euros.

Now he's afraid that he'll be thrown out at some point.

If things go so badly that he becomes homeless.

Harald Westermar, 59, stands behind his wheelchair, puts his hand on the handle and says: "It doesn't help.

We do not have any money."

Over 37,000 euros have disappeared - supervisor speaks of "rip-off"

Westermair from Vaterstetten has been Hans Fischer's legal guardian since the summer.

The day he volunteered to take charge of the man he had never known before, he threw his hands up in horror.

Fischer's account was empty, the overdraft facility of 5,000 euros was used up to 25.29 euros.

All gone: over 37,000 euros, including life insurance, are gone.

This is how Westtermair reports it to the Ebersberg district court.

It ordered him because nobody else cares.

The first report is available to EZ.

Suspected: a person from Fischer's personal environment who had an account authority.

"It was a rip off," says Westermar.

He can't go home, and he can't pay for the home either

Hans Fischer, who recently gained care level three, is sitting outside in a wheelchair on this November day.

The leg, the root of all evil, heavily bandaged.

He has had to sit for a year and a half.

Before that, his Ebersberg pensioner life was completely normal.

"I didn't miss anything." Then came chronic lumbar inflammation.

The hospital stay is over, then the rehab, without Fischer being able to walk again.

"I had to go somewhere," he says.

Those around him could not or would not help him.

That's why Hans Fischer is now in the home.

"As it looks, it won't mean that I'll come home again," he says.

Only a few calendar pages separate his former life from that as a nursing case.

Now he swallows 33 pills a day.

"I never thought it would happen like this," he says, shaking his head.

33 tablets a day, but the empty account is the biggest problem

Fischer seems fit, gesticulates when he talks, names figures and dates from the inside out.

“It has to go on somehow,” he says.

He is sometimes out and about in the county town with his electric wheelchair.

When he stops at a park bench, it doesn't take long for anyone to stop for a rattle.

“That helps,” says Fischer.

"I can't afford to go to an inn."

Dear money.

For all his affliction, his empty account is his biggest problem.

“Foot care: 18 euros.

Hairdresser: 21 euros,” he calculates.

They are necessities that he has to do without.

His supervisor Westmair says: "I have to pay the bills somehow.

Our backs are against the wall.”

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Understanding for the home, but anger at a person of trust with account authority

Both understand that the home wants its money.

"They take care of me, are nice, that fits," says the senior.

However, the holy anger grips his supervisor when he talks about the person who had entrusted Fischer with his account and who is said to have squandered the money for his own purposes.

"I couldn't think of anyone else," says Fischer, annoyed.

When EZ calls, the person denies doing anything wrong.

Unless proven otherwise, the presumption of innocence applies.

Criminal charges drag on - and the district does not pay social assistance

Supervisor Westermair doesn't believe in innocence.

A former internal auditor at a large commercial bank himself, he has filed a criminal complaint against Fischer for abuse of power and breach of trust.

Just because someone has power of attorney doesn't mean they can squander the money.

The supervisor leafs through Fischer's bank statements.

As soon as the power of attorney was issued in February, withdrawals began to appear.

1000, then 4000, then 5000 euros within a few days.

This is how it goes on, describes Westermair: Amazon direct debit, card payment in the hardware store, bill for car tuning.

"What a nursing home resident just needs," teases the caregiver and grimaces.

Until the public prosecutor's office gets going, Westermair has other problems, and he doubts that there is much to be gained from the person concerned.

Much more urgent: to convince the nursing home of the emergency so that there is a deferral of payments.

Fischer's pension, he was a printer and typesetter, is not enough for the running bills.

Westermair at least paid off arrears for him from the state nursing allowance, for example at the pharmacy and the medical supply store.

Government of Upper Bavaria speaks of "accelerated procedure"

But as long as the social assistance that was applied for in February does not flow, Westermair can only juggle bills and reminders.

"The district is not in the pots," he says.

With Fischer's and Westermair's consent, EZ asks the responsible government of Upper Bavaria why this social case has not come to fruition for a good nine months.

These questions are "the subject of an ongoing court case," is the reasoning.

This can mean, for example, that claims against third parties are disputed behind closed doors in the social court – the district does not give any details on the legal dispute.

"The matter has already been accelerated and is currently being processed in an urgent procedure," it says.

And: "As far as we know, there is currently no reason to fear that Mr F.

This is supposed to calm people down, but it is probably not in the hands of the district.

Harald Westtermair fears that while the urgent procedure is dragging on, the clock is ticking for Fischer.

Caregivers and caregivers don't want to beg at all, just do everything to ensure that the district finally pays.

"Then everything is fine," says Westermarir.

And Fischer nods.

Even if money can't bring him back to health.

He has not lost his optimism.

You can read more news from the Ebersberg region here.

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