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Senator Danforth – Episcopal Priest – White //// Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett – Episcopal Priest – Black “A democracy for white Americans, but simultaneously a dictatorship over black Americans.”— MLK

Tuesday, January 19th, 2021

Part two of a series: – Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett – black Episcopal priest

You and we have seen the power of one Episcopal priest – white. He was able to subvert the democratic process by using money and power. Not the power inherent in why he was called to the ordained priesthood nor giving a thought to what God was calling him to do.

Using his earthly power and money he did his own thing. Something that would bring him – Senator Danforth – more power and money and earthly prestige rather than something that would help bring in God’s kingdom on this earth.

He brought us one Josh Hawley. A man who did what he thought he was called to do, subverting and attempting to destroy American democracy. Senator Hawley saw himself, with the blessing of his backers, as being the one to lead the charge calling Americans to overturn a legitimate election for president of these United States and put a fascist, authoritarian government in its place. He was, after all, backed by the aristocracy of these United States. He was close to the powers which put Donald Trump into office as United States President.

Hawley has been living an autocrat’s dream and the nightmare of those who choose to live under a democratic government. Backed by One who used the money and power he inherited ( Senator Danforth) to help install a government more in tune to corporate America’s need for an authoritarian government which could subvert, overturn, patronize and so much more the lives of the people it needs to produce and carry to fruition its programs, projects, products and/or services.

Before there was a Josh Hawley to spend time, money and other resources on, for Senator Danforth there was a Clarence Thomas and probably even more. Clarence Thomas is a man who many believe should never have been confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice, but who was with the advice, consent, power and money of the Rev. Senator Danforth.

Clarence Thomas, a black man, widely disrespected in the African American community and even more so amongst many white Americans. By manipulating the system the way only one with power and money can manipulate, the objections to Clarence Thomas were cast aside. The people who could have shed more light onto who he was and his character were not allowed to testify in the hearing at which Anita Hill was allowed to testify and then nothing. Senator Danforth’s inability to see those he is moving to a more powerful place in the light of who they are and what they might contribute to or destroy the society over which he is majorly responsible for placing them carries a lot of negative weight for what he has done for and with Hawley and Thomas.

Thomas is a man whose wife recently sent her love to the insurrectionists of January 6, 2021 during their time of uprising against the government her husband serves as a Supreme Court Justice. The insurrectionists who tried to destroy democracy along with its Capitol buildings. Insurrectionists she has been encouraging and supporting for quite some years.

Clarence Thomas cannot be so above board with his actions, but he clearly supports his wife. As a Supreme Court justice, what does it mean when his wife goes the distance and sponsors 80 buses to transport those who were a part of the “Save America” rally on January 6, 2021. The Thomas family aided and abetted those trying to overthrow a legitimate United States election in favor of putting in place a government which was, apparently, not legitimate from its beginnings, but which had philosophies, beliefs, actions of which Virginia Thomas approved and for which she spends a great deal of time publicly backing. I think it can be safely said and by his own admission that Clarence Thomas is now a Supreme Court justice thanks to Senator Danforth – white Episcopal priest.

Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett – black Episcopal priest – is the other American side of that story. The side on which he is vulnerable to white Americans who feel they can obliterate African Americans who step out of their place and have institutionalized ways to establish a dictatorship over even in 2020 and even in places like Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Cities which constantly brag about their ‘openness’ and where Black Lives do not matter – especially those of consequence; those that dare criticize white Americans in power positions; those that are not subservient to the autocracy. In fact, many believe Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts are among the most racist cities in these United States.

We recently wrote many Bettina Network articles about what was happening to Dr. Bennett. We wanted everything to be public because we were taken off-guard by the way he and his wife were attacked and having had decades of civil rights experience we knew where those attacks were headed from the day Rev. Dr. Bennett, after brain surgery at MGH, was forced into Sherrill House against his will when he was told places like Spaulding Rehabilitation Center were not open to him and he had no choice.

After his discharge from MGH, Dr. Bennett and his wife were told an ambulance was going to immediately take him to Sherrill House. Neither Rev. Bennett nor his wife, Marceline Donaldson – who was his Health Care Proxy – had a choice in the matter. What was the problem? Two fold -Sherrill House was under quarantine for the flu at the time and they did not know about that and were not told Rev. Bennett was being sent to a rehab center after brain surgery which was under flu quarantine. When, having arrived at Sherrill House and they discovered the quarantine and they complained there was no doctor available. Not physically present nor available via telephone or other communication possibilities. So their choice was to go home where they had a set up which was far superior to what they were exposed to at Sherrill House.

What they discovered through that experience were the racial discrepancies between Sherrill house and Spaulding. Once you turn from Huntington Avenue into Jamaica Plain the medical institutions mostly turn from white to brown to black.

A black man – a black family which did not choose Sherrill House as a place for rehab was forced into that institution and told Spaulding Rehabilitation Center was not where they could go. When they checked, there was space available so what was the problem. No one ever said, however, their investigation showed a clear color problem.

That was not the first nor the last such situation with which Rev. Dr. Bennett and his family had to deal during some very difficult times in their lives. Because Dr. Bennett needed brain surgery, it was as though the society had gone crazy with glee over being able to be the dictators over this African American man and his family. Because Dr. Bennett needed surgery, he was exposed to the worse and discovered there were other elderly African Americans who had and were going through very similar situations with no help and had to face the overwhelming and very racist power of “Protective Services” in Massachusetts. This was supposed to be an organization to aid the elderly in need. In fact, it is an organization which pushed into families that do not need nor want their help.

Actually, elderly and protective services is out of control and their racism, sexism, sins against immigrants virulent and long standing. It is instead becoming the means of making the minority elderly vulnerable to many health care institutions with no choice of any kind as they enter or are pushed into this world. Most often their assets are drained and redistributed into the white community so the minorities die with a life of hard work spent accumulating assets for their children to have better and more comfortable lives taken away and given to the white establishment – the white autocracy/aristocracy with many in the middle to upper classes assisting, most without even realizing the damage being done and not interested.

That was the first in many steps to drag down and attempt to destroy the end of life of a man who achieved and received a Harvard University Doctorate; had a life of service to the Episcopal Church; taught in its seminaries; taught as an adjunct professor at Princeton University, Atlanta University and several more. A man who served on the National Council of Churches Lectionary Committee using his work and study to help edit scripture to make it more available to both sexes. Well, maybe that wasn’t so good since the FBI had to intervene at that point because the members of that committee received death threats – through the National Council as well as at their homes. The minorities we have heard from or heard about include African Americans, Jews, Latina’s, Immigrants, and more.

We could go on for pages with how Dr. Bennett spent his life, but that is all well documented. We are outlining here the way this society tried to strip him of the quality of his life, making horrible the end of his life, his assets, his reputation and so much more. Who? Which institutions? The Commonwealth of Massachusetts through its Somerville Cambridge Elder and Protective Services. Particularly its ‘Protective Services”

Recently, they were dubbed #1 in the state. That was not even surprising to us because we knew the forces which support such institutions would be coming to their assistance to try to drown out what Dr. Bennett and his wife were exposing.

The real “tell” of what was in store for Dr. Bennett happened when 8 white Cambridge police arrived at Dr. Bennett’s home demanding to remove him from his home to put him into the psych ward at Mount Auburn Hospital. Besides the eight white policemen there were TWO ambulances, five or six EMT’s and assorted people. No one knew where all the people were coming from until a neighbor of the Donaldson-Bennett family saw and talked about all the attention the police and their coterie were receiving as people came running from the Charles River to see what was happening with all the police and people and police cars parked and left in the middle of the street around the Bennett/Donaldson home.

The police arrived to force Dr. Bennett into the Mount Auburn Hospital psych ward. He was just a couple days out of MGH after brain surgery and had no relationship to Mount Auburn Hospital. He had a very low opinion of Mount Auburn Hospital, had expressed his concern for the racism he knew about as a minister. His family insisted that if he had to go someplace it be to the hospital he left just days earlier. After some back and forth the police agreed. They did not, however, arrive with any Court papers to back up their demands. After quite awhile and with Marceline Donaldsons’ insistence they produced such a paper which was a Section 12 – used by the police to hospitalize people who have had too much to drink and were a public nuisance; people who overdosed on drugs; people having a psychiatric break of some kind and are endangering the public, etc.

Rev. Dr. Bennett did not fit any of those categories. In fact, once in MGH having been forced into the psych ward after leaving days earlier having been discharged from the Neurology Department and having undergone the indignity of having been examined against his will by one of the MGH psychiatrists, Dr. Bennett was found to be someone who should not have been so treated. They saw no reason for his having been picked up and forced into the hospital in the first place. No medicines prescribed no reason for his having been forced into MGH nor did they find any reason to keep him. So the Section 12 was lifted and Dr. Bennett was sent home.

Somerville Cambridge Elder and Protective Services are the group – the state agency which signed out the Section 12 against Dr. Bennett. No one at that agency knew Dr. Bennett – no one there had ever interviewed him – no one had any kind of relationship with him of any kind. They would not have known him if they passed him on the street.

Dr. Rebecca Warner, the psychiatrist who had Dr. Bennett so “committed” said on the papers she signed to send him to the hospital with which she was affiliated – Mount Auburn Hospital – where several African Americans have complained of their very racist treatment – that she did not know Dr. Bennett, had never met him, had never examined him, had never been to his home – but she claimed his home was ‘not safe’. So much for medical ethics and why does she still have a license to practice?

After Dr. Bennett was released from MGH it is as if enormous anger broke out amongst the people at Somerville Cambridge Elder and Protective Services. Who did he think he was, after all. And then the fun started.

Attorney James O’Sullivan, who was given an award by the Archbishop O’Malley for the great work he supposedly does amongst the poor, especially the poor elderly, was in Court the very next day with an “emergency motion.” As we did research on Attorney O’Sullivan and the award he was given we discovered that the last recipient was ex-Attorney General Bill Barr. There is something wrong in the Diocese that this is the case, especially with the elderly because much suffering has happened and been condoned by Archbishop O’Malley with such an award.

O’Sullivan is actually someone known to use and from this experience abuse “emergency motions”. He asked the Court not to notify Dr. Bennett of the hearing, claimed he was not capable of participating, claimed Dr. Bennett was “indigent” and asked for “Protective Orders” so Dr. Bennett would not be further hurt, etc. Attorney O’Sullivan was acting on behalf of his clients, but he had never met Dr. Bennett nor his wife nor his adult children yet he talked knowingly about someone he was asking the Court to forcibly remove from his home and family and put into a psych ward for reasons not even clearly spelled out in Court.

The “Protective Orders’ were against Dr. Bennett’s wife who Attorney O’Sullivan claimed was abusive to Dr. Bennett and because of that Dr. Bennett was in grave danger. The Court refused to give Attorney O’Sullivan the “Protective Orders”.

What Attorney O’Sullivan did not tell the Court that this was not his first move against Dr. Bennett on behalf of Somerville Cambridge Elder and Protective Services. He did not tell the Court that his first move failed because it should not have been filed in the first place. He did not tell the Court the hospital into which Somerville Cambridge Elder and Protective Services tried to force Dr. Bennett dismissed and lifted the Section 12 his clients tried to get against Dr. Bennett. As we further investigated we found Somerville Cambridge Elder and Protective services were trying to have Dr. Bennett committed for an extensive time in Mount Auburn Hospital’s psych ward and they had no reason, authority nor anything else to have pushed themselves into this family nor to try such a thing.

Leaving out the most important information when Attorney O’Sullivan went to Court, what he included was the lie which said Dr. Bennett needed to be represented by attorneys, but said Attorney O’Sullivan on behalf of Somerville Cambridge Elder and Protective Services – Dr. Bennett was “indigent” and could not afford attorneys. Since O’Sullivan claimed Dr. Bennett could not afford attorneys and asked for a state appointed attorney, the Court appointed Cheri Myette to represent Dr. Bennett without Dr. Bennett’s knowledge – without anyone speaking to Dr. Bennett or his family about all of this and Dr. Bennett still not being notified of any motions filed in Court against him and with Attorney O’Sullivan moving ahead with an ex parte motion to take away Dr. Bennett’s freedom in violation of state law. To circumvent state law, Attorney O’Sullivan on behalf of his clients constructed what we have been told has been done many times against elderly black people in Massachusetts and other places – a series of court events which actually did not take place as represented, but put in place to be able to “win” against Dr. Bennett who then had all of his rights taken away from him as though this was a fascist Court system which sets up a case without the defendant knowing anything about the case against him and putting in place what was needed to move against the Defendant giving a public relations set of motions, etc. so the plaintiffs – Somerville Cambridge Elder and Protective Services could gain their ends without going through the democratic process, but coming out with the result they wanted with this very fascist way of functioning. It is common today and many are in great pain because of this allowed way of functioning violating everything this country and its court system stands for.

Attorney Myette immediately filed a motion – in Rev. Dr. Bennett’s name without Rev. Bennett’s knowledge or consent. That motion had Dr. Bennett swearing to the attorneys claims that he was “indigent” and needed the state to pay his bills and that his wife was guilty of elder abuse against him.

Dr. Bennett knew nothing about that motion. In fact, that motion stayed very “secret” for quite some time because it was immediately impounded by the Court as soon as it was filed by Attorney Myette. We found out about it when someone put the papers showing that through the mail slot at the Donaldson/Bennett home with copy of the motion and more papers having to do with the workings of SCES and some of the papers needed for Dr. Bennett which had been withheld.

Because the Court appointed an attorney for Dr. Bennett even though Robert Bennett knew nothing about any of this – the Court moved ahead and gave the attorneys who were clearly conspiring with each other over this the right to have Rev. Bennett picked up by the police, forced out of his home for a second time and forced into the psych ward of MGH.

When the police arrived with this Court order, copy of which they again refused to give to Dr. Bennett or his wife or to anyone else in the house at that time, but insisted on taking him out of his house and if he refused they would carry him out. They said to all present that if anything was broken in the process of chasing all over the house looking for Dr. Bennett to drag him out of his own home, it was not their fault or responsibility and they claimed the Court gave them the authority to go anyplace in the Bennett/Donaldson’s home that they had to go to get Dr. Bennett and drag him out if necessary. They claimed Dr. Bennett was in grave danger because of the abuse they accused his wife of and because he was alone with no one else to care for him.

That was March 6th at 6pm. A Friday. Dr. Bennett’s wife was not allowed to see him from the time he was shoved into MGH for more than a week. She had to have the attorneys they hired go to MGH to negotiate some way for her to see him. When she tried to see him she was told many different things like Dr. Bennett did not want to see her; Dr. Bennett had been to court to get a restraining order against her which said she could not come near him; Dr. Bennett was asked and declined to see her. In actual fact, Dr. Bennett knew nothing about this. He was told his wife had done this to him and didn’t want to see him ever again. All of this time, Dr. Bennett was being drugged apparently by MGH people getting him ready for his “independent Exam” by Dr. Rebecca Warner. When she was finally able to see him he didn’t recognize her, he was so groggy he couldn’t keep his eyes open and more.

What was happening at the Bennett/Donaldson home at the time Attorney O’Sullivan was in court describing Dr. Bennett as being alone, destitute with an abusive wife and no one to care for him or protect him? Dr. Bennett, his wife, his adult daughter, his adult son and his wife were about to sit down to a candlelight dinner. They spent the day cooking and preparing for this celebration meal because Robert’s surgery was a success and they were giving thanks. Robert Bennett did not have dinner that day because the police and hospital were so concerned about him they shoved him in a corner of a room and left him there.

When Dr. Bennett arrived at MGH and was shoved into a room, he was immediately started on anti-psychotics; anti-seizure medications, hallucinatory drugs, blood thinners forced on a man just days from brain surgery, plus 10 more medicines. 10 days later Dr. Rebecca Warner shows up at MGH to do what she called an “Independent Exam” although she is affiliated with Mount Auburn Hospital. She – the one who signed out the Section 12 against Dr. Bennett for which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts paid her $2,000 because, after all, Dr. Bennett was “indigent”. So many people and institutions road that “indigent” gravy train that our minds have been twirled around many times trying to nail down all of it.

Dr. Warner appeared 10 days after Dr. Bennett was forced to take all of the above drugs, which he did not want, but did not have a choice. Examining him those 10 days later – a man who did not want to be there and constantly wanted to leave, but was kept on an alarm blanket on his bed so nurses would be notified if he tried to get out of bed; he could move to a chair next to the bed, but that was also alarmed and he could not move without someone moving him; being forced to take medicines which could do serious and long term harm to him was then given an “Independent Exam” – which he already had been given the first time he was taken to MGH, but the circumstances were very different. This time, Dr Warner found him to be “incapacitated”. Those drugs were not put on his medical chart until months after Marceline Donaldson discovered the discrepancy and insisted on an answer as to why. They knew about the drugs because they were sent home with him with MGH insisting that he be required to continue to take them daily or he would be brought back to the hospital for a more “permanent” commitment.

How did would they know if Dr. Bennett was not taking the drugs? Dr. Bennett’s family was forced to accept a Home Health Care Company coming to the house daily – 5 or 6 people each day going in and out of the house during the time of the Pandemic. They were supposed to give him the pills and watch while he swallowed them. And – one thing that resulted from this – Dr. Bennett was sexually abused in the process. His family reported all of this to the Massachusetts District Attorney and the Attorney General’s Office and to the office of Elder Services. None of them paid any attention and in spite of the fact that there were witnesses, none of those institutions bothered to contact and/or interview those witnesses.

Before his transport to the MGH he was walking, talking, in a good state of mind and friends interacted with him – he walked to Harvard Square – sat by the river to soak up the sun and more. When he was sent home from MGH some 5 weeks later he was in horrible shape. He had no shoes on – his feet were swollen and his shoes didn’t fit – he hadn’t been able to get out of bed for five weeks and at Dr. Bennett’s age that could have been a death sentence or one which would have produced an “incapacitated” person for the rest of his life. He looked as though he had been homeless on the street for years. and he could not walk. That is what MGH and SCES contributed to Dr. Bennett’s “health”. It was disgraceful and heartbreaking.

The Court Order said Dr. Bennett was being taken to MGH not for medical reasons, but because of elder abuse and because of that they had to immediately take him from his home. They treated him in a disgraceful way. He spent the five weeks in a space 7 by 9 feet and he shared that space with unused hospital equipment. He shared the room with someone else who had two beautiful picture windows, the sun coming through, a chaise lounge kind of chair he could sit in during the day and a lot more. Dr. Bennett didn’t see the sun because curtains were kept drawn around his bed. If you entered his room you would not know anyone else was in that room.

We are finding others who have gone through the same thing. The elderly are particularly vulnerable because most who have gone through this have not fought civil rights battles the way the Donaldson/Bennett’s have nor have they had any other fights so they are ‘taken over’ by people like Nora Al Wet-Aid and Angela Clary with the acquiescence and consent of their superiors.

During the entire time no one talked to Dr. Bennett. They did what they wanted to do and what they felt they needed to do pursuing the goal they have for people like him. Being moved from a psych ward into a nursing home for life with the Court’s permission to feed him and others like him anti-psychotics for life along with others drugs which ruin their health and the quality of their life. Why? Assets!

Dr. Bennett’s wife was told – and a letter to other lawyers attest to the fact – that she would be given a small stipend and could find a room someplace – maybe even with her own bathroom because the family’s assets would be needed and taken over by a Guardianship Corporation – drained down by that Corporation to supposedly pay for Dr. Bennett’s bills.

It gets worse from here so we won’t go through all of the gory details, but as you read this can you imagine Senator Danforth being so treated? Or reaching out to help someone like Rev. Dr. Bennett? And how have others in the Episcopal Church reacted?

As you read this we hope you realize the very authoritarian system in which the health care institutions are functioning and the way it is so much easier to have blacks put out of commission with their assets stripped so their children cannot inherit and therefore lose the edge in this society that assets inherited would bring to them.

Add to that the very aggressive stripping of the vote from minorities which is what Senator Hawley – who was backed by Senator Danforth – is trying to do with his attempted takeover of a democracy turning it into an authoritarian government.

Dr. Bennett, who hired attorneys to represent him was not able to be represented by the attorneys of his choice. The Court appointed an attorney to represent him before he even knew he needed any kind of representation. Dr. Bennett was not “indigent” and paid the retainers requested by those attorneys. Didn’t matter. The attorney appointed by the Court in an “emergency motion” about which Dr. Bennett knew nothing – he was not served or contacted in any way; the attorney so appointed by the Court did not contact him she simply did what others told her to do, resulted in the “dictatorship over” way he was treated during every moment of what must have been a nightmarish experience for him. He was treated as though these United States are a system of “dictatorships over” in the areas necessary for whites to keep control.

There is talk of “defunding the police”. The problem is much more serious than what is happening with the arrest and killings of blacks and other minorities who supposedly have committed some kind of crime. When the police can push their way into your home without your knowledge of why or what for and can forcibly take you out for no reason the ‘police problem’ in this society needs to have its entire structure and what it can do unearthed before any solutions are sought or rendered.

When the people, like Senator Danforth, with the power and money are calling the shots on who is elected; who is appointed to important positions in this society which can bring substantial changes to our individual and collective lives those people need to be highlighted and call out on what they are doing and why they are allowed to wield so much more power and have so much more money than the rest of society.

We are still living in a “slave society” which we inherited from the many generations who went before. Instead of looking at that and making major changes, we are playing games with “riots” and attempting to force those changes in physical ways which will most hurt those making the physical and psychic sacrifices to bring in a new way of being in society, which will simply bring a more concentrated form of wealth and power to the aristocracy at the top calling the shots – manipulating the strings of the puppets who are dancing without any thought to what it is they are doing.

Don’t you think it is time to stop all of this? Don’t you think it is time for us to live in some other kind of community which benefits all? That is such an incredible threat to most we are afraid to even go there. We might encounter people who don’t look like us – talk like us – have our history – etc, etc, etc. and isn’t that the greatest threat of all?

AFRICAN AMERICAN MAN INCARCERATED IN MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL. HE WAS NOT ADMITTED FOR HEALTH REASONS!

Monday, March 30th, 2020

AFRICAN AMERICAN MAN INCARCERATED IN MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL – NOT ADMITTED FOR HEALTH REASONS

My husbands name is Rev. Dr. Robert A. Bennett, Jr.

My name is Marceline Donaldson

Why is MGH allowing itself to be used to abuse and destroy my African American husband? They have been so used by Somerville Cambridge Elder Affaires since March 1st.  Elder abuse by an organization supposed to stop such, but has used this more than once to its advantage and to the advantage of those who work there against the people they serve.  They engage in Medicare Fraud on a regular basis.  They recruit people to use their services by using a form of Medicare Fraud.

I can be reached at 617 497 9166

or via email at bettinanetwork@comcast.net

or via regular mail at P. O. Box 380585, Cambridge, MA. 02238

  1. I am asking that my husband be released from Mass General Hospital where he is being held on a section 12. This is an abusive use of a section 12 to incarcerate an African American man without public knowledge, awareness, being listed anyplace of having been incarcerated.  If you check you will find such being used to incarcerate African American men and women in other parts of the U. S. A.

Dr. Bennett was not admitted to Mass General for Health Reasons. 

Robert Bennett had brain surgery at Mass General at the end of February and was discharged March 1st with no medicine prescribed and his vitals in the normal range.

3) He could have gone home.  He was in very good shape physically and emotionally.  He does not like to use medical services so going home and following up with rehab in his home which is equipped for such, was his first choice.

However, it was suggested he go to rehab after Mass General and Robert agreed to that after initially disagreeing because he just wanted to go home. He agreed because Mass General suggested he go to Sherrill House in Jamaica Plain. Since Robert is a retired Episcopal priest, that made him change his mind. He said the possible spiritual part might make it a good experience.

4) We arrived at Sherrill House about 2pm on March 1st.

5) Robert was brought to his room and put in a bed by the ambulance driver and attendant. At that point all of our expectations took a nose dive.

6) We stayed in the room waiting for someone to check Robert in but after about 35 minutes when no one from Sherrill House even came to say hello we became concerned. I went to the nurses desk to ask what was the procedure and what would happen via rehab. I was told the nurses were busy. Robert should stay in bed and not get out. If he needed to go to the bathroom he should pull the chain for the nurse and someone would come.

7) We did that. Robert was concerned because he went to the bathroom his last couple days at Mass General and didn’t want to revert back to catheters, etc. He rang for the nurse, no one came for some 45 minutes and by that time it was too late.

8) The nurse finally came, took his vitals and told him to stay in bed for the rest of the day. That was not what either of us thought happened at rehab so we were beginning to get a bit concerned.

9) I left about 7pm and returned the next day, Monday March 2nd,  about 11am. I was not able to see Robert because Sherrill House was quarantined. They had three or four patients on Roberts’ floor (2nd floor) who had the flu. I asked if they were separated from the rest of the patients and I was told no that was not necessary. With the coronavirus stories all around I asked what kind of flu and they did not know. I talked to Robert via telephone and we decided to go home where there was no one but us and especially no possibility of getting the flu. This was his second day at Sherrill House and he was still in the bed – no program for the day, nice people but no rehab. With the flu flying around he couldn’t walk around, activity was limited so it didn’t make sense to stay in bed when we had three pieces of exercise equipment at home, jacuzzi tub and more.

Robert said clearly he did not want to be involved in any more medical services or institutions. He would follow up with his surgery when it was time to go to Mass General clinic for a check up but that was it.

We said that to the people at Sherrill House and we left.

10) That Monday evening about 9-9:30pm a policeman rang our door bell and woke us up. He said he was there for a “wellness” check. Someone called concerned that Robert was not alright and asked for such a check. I answered the door. Robert heard the policeman at the door and came to see what was the problem. He did not want me alone at that time of night with a policeman ringing the doorbell.

11) The policeman apologized for waking us up – said everything seemed fine and left.

12) The next morning about 10:30am eight white policemen arrived at the front door of this African American man – ringing the bell along with 5 or 6 EMT people. I answered the door and looked out and the street was covered with police cars – a couple ambulances – a hospital gurney on the sidewalk with the neighbors coming out of their houses because of all that was going on. The police pushed into our house and said they came for Robert. They had an order to pick him up and take him to Mount Auburn Hospital.

We were appalled. Robert said he was not going. He wanted no more medical services or anything else and was not leaving his house. The police said he didn’t have a choice they were there on a “section 12” and he had to get on the gurney and into the ambulance because they had a Court Order to pick him up. Their order said they could break the door and do whatever to get Robert out of the house.

A section 12 is taken out to pick up someone who is an immediate threat to society and to self.  Robert was neither.

It is a psychiatric section and there was never a whiff of any mental or related problems with Robert ever in life.  But here he was being forced out of his home by EIGHT WHITE MALE POLICEMEN TO BE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL.

We decided to go and work out whatever this was.

Not, however, to Mount Auburn Hospital, but to Mass General since he just had surgery at Mass General and it made no sense that they had something sending Robert to Mount Auburn Hospital. None of this made any sense until we saw the greed, racism, power needs of those involved in causing Dr. Bennett and his family this horrific experience.

That was before we knew who and what this was about. 

Clearly, Mount Auburn was seen by Somerville Cambridge Elder Services as more compatible to what they wanted to do and the way they wanted to destroy Robert Bennett’s reputation, health, wealth and everything else they could destroy.  The anger we saw directed at this African American man was unreal.  With people we came into contact, especially from Somerville Cambridge Elder Services their emotions were not discussable and it was the jealousy and rage of racism when whites who see themselves as having and being less than an African American moves to destroy that African American.  It is exhibited in the KKK poses riders who went after Blacks during slavery and after reconstruction when blacks who achieved, black cities which were established and doing well were destroyed and black men, women and children were massacred . 

13) We arrived at Mass General and discovered we were being taken to a “special” emergency room where there were security people all around the room who looked like the security people around the president of the United States. The “section 12” was a psychiatric section where people are picked up who are considered a danger to the public, etc. for drinking, drugs, psychotic breaks, etc.

There had never in Robert’s life been even a hint of such. Robert does not drink, does not smoke, does not take drugs, has never had a psychotic break so he didn’t fit any of the criteria for being picked up on a section 12.

The psychologist who signed the papers which allowed the police to pick up Robert and force him from his home said, in writing, on the forms she had to fill in to cause this that she had never met Robert, never examined him, never been in his home. In spite of that she had him picked up on this section 12 and declared his home “unsafe,”

She needs to lose whatever license or licenses she has.

14) About 2am on Wednesday morning, a psychiatrist came to examine Robert. We sat in the emergency room from the time we arrived about 11am until this Doctor arrived because he had many people to interview before us – there were apparently several psychiatrists working, doing the same thing. 

After the interview the psychiatrist said there was no reason for Robert being there. He left to talk to the “team”. A physician came back – not the same one – and said Mass General was lifting the section 12 because it didn’t fit Robert. We received a discharge paper which said – “no medicines are being prescribed” and all of Robert’s vitals are normal including his blood pressure.

Robert was discharged and we were exhausted. Robert had not eaten – no water – no nothing. So clearly the group who had Robert incarcerated at Mass General were clearly not interested in his health or healing. That is also shown in many different ways.  The attorneys and those who work at Somerville Cambridge Elder Services also showed that lack of caring, but interest in this kind  and other kind of cruel and vicious activity against the elderly which pads their pockets and helps their careers move forward.

15) When we returned home, after that really harrowing time, we had breakfast and walked around the neighborhood.  Robert Bennett walked around the neighborhood under his own power, no walker, no cane, no help.  He didn’t need such and had never needed such.

This was Wednesday March 4th.  Robert had this very brief time of enjoying the company of a few friends – to sit by the Charles River for a time and went home.

A short time because more of the same was to come within the next 48 hours.

16) It was a horrifying experience to take an African American man out of his home by force with 8 policemen – all white – arriving – to incarcerate him in the hospital on a trumped up psychiatric charge.

When Robert said he wanted no more medical services – that trumped up parading out of a section 12 to incarcerate him in a hospital was a clear violation of his right to make that decision and a very angry slap back at Robert for rejecting more medical care and services – especially since they were not needed nor wanted. 

As his Health Care Proxy I backed that up. We should have been left alone. Forced into a medical facility I would think amounts to Medicare Fraud.  It certainly violates Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett’s right to make that kind of decision.  Craps all over another of his rights – like they did blowing through his right to vote.

17) Not only were Robert’s rights to decline medical services violated, Tuesday – March 3rd was primary day for voting. Robert could not cast a vote as he was forcibly detained at Mass General Hospital where he could not leave – his right to vote was taken away because of what was happening – and Robert Bennett asked several times about needing to vote.  He was told he could not leave until and unless the section 12 was lifted.

We were confused becasue we didn’t think we lived in a police state, but here we were being treated with every right destroyed in the crudest, most painful, most horrifying and demeaning way possible.

18.) After being released from Mass General Hospital on Wednesday March 4th with the section 12 lifted, on Friday, March 6th – just two days later – the police arrived again.   – In another 1930’s Nazi Germany bit of theatre, performed for the neighborhood to continue demeaning and attempting to disgrace Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett – a Harvard Graduate School recipient of a PhD which he painfully earned in the 1960’s in Near Eastern Studies, which would have been an extremely difficult things to achieve for an African American Man,  the police arrived again saying they had a  Court Order and came to pick up Robert to take him to Massachusetts General Hospital on a section 12. 

We could not see the order.  The policeman, who seemed to be in charge, pushed his cell phone in Marceline Donaldsons face and said she could read that if she wanted to see an order, but he did not have and was not going to get anything else.  He said he had the right to break down the door, go all over the house looking for Robert Bennett, take him out of the house whether he wanted to go or not and if he declined and said he was not going they had the authority to carry him out.  He said any damage that might happen to the house in the process was not their fault nor their responsibility.

We said Robert Bennett had just come back from Mass General Hospital on a section 12 with a discharge and very clear record. Another policeman asked to see the discharge papers.  Marceline Donaldson went to get them and after looking at the papers he said they had some suspicious places and he didn’t see them as a real discharge – it had problems.

There were no problems with the discharge papers. There were no ifs, ands or buts, they were very clear.  The police didn’t care about that. They had a Court Order which gave them the authority to break down their door if necessary, to push their way into their home – which they did even when Marceline Donaldson told them not to cross the sill of their door.

The police ignored her and pushed their way in their home with the objective of finding Robert Bennett and even if he objected to force him out into the ambulance to be incarcerated at Mass General Hospital on a psychiatric charge – even though he had experienced the exact same thing just two days prior and the hospital found no psychiatric problems.  Robert Bennett was not a threat to society because of alcohol, drugs, psychotic break or anything els neither had he ever been in his life.

He was probably a threat to the way this United States society has chosen to order itself because he was an African American man living in a neighborhood which was “for white people only” and he had been “in their face” for some 36 years with the threat today of his African American family being in the same place and carrying on for another generation.  

19) This time the police also had a “Protective Order” obtained in a Court hearing which only one side knew about. A hearing with charges brought by Somerville Cambridge Elder Services represented by Attorney James O’Sullivan who represents many such groups throughout the state and who has caused untold suffering and loss of assets by many families throughout the state.

The first time Massachusetts General Hospital did not incarcerate Robert keeping him in the hospital indefinitely. They set him free because they ad no reason to do otherwise.

This second time Attorney O’Sullivan and Somerville Cambridge Elder Services were determined Robert would not walk free in this world, but would be incarcerated for as long as they could possibly hold him in the hospital until they could find a way to take over guardianship to keep him until he was in truth “indigent.” and they could walk away with his insurance maxed out and all of his other assets gone.

 Robert’s wife – Marceline Donaldson – was accused of abuse in the Court Order which followed the hearing with only one side represented. Everything presented by Attorney O’Sullivan was apparently accepted by the Court and everything Attorney James O’Sullivan requested was granted.

The fact that most of what he requested with the reasons he presented was not true – didn’t seem to matter to anyone. 

The abuse accusation against Marceline Donaldson was not true, but necessary because it was a needed accusation in that Court hearing for Attorney O”Sullivan to be able to push her aside because he wanted the Court to invalidate Robert Bennett’s wife as Health Care Proxy and he wanted her replaced with the Health Care Proxy which had been invalidated by the intervention of probate attorney McInnis and Mass General Hospital.

They could not raid Robert Bennett’s insurance and assets without that happening.

And there were other charges which were calculated to make it impossible for Robert Bennett to leave the hospital for quite a very long time – none of them about his health..

20) This was done on a Friday after 6pm with everything closed and inaccessible.

21) The Court invalidated the Health Care Proxy created by Mass General Hospital, which they created after very long interviews with Robert Bennett as to who he wanted for his Health Care Proxy and put in its place a Health Care Proxy which he believed was forged because he did not sign such a document and the person it set up as his Health Care Proxy was one he very specifically did not want in that position and had moved to get a Health Care Proxy created by a probate attorney so his right to decide and name who he wanted as his Health Care Proxy would happen.

Unfortunately, this Health Care Proxy System does not act in the way expected.  Your decisions can be reversed if the price is high enough. 

The Court declared Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett “indigent”. He was far from that designation,  however, that was a designation Attorney O’Sullivan and Somerville Cambridge Elder Services were accustomed to using and apparently have no problem lying about because of the doors it opens to raiding insurance, getting grand money under untrue circumstances, but not known by the grantees because of the Court giving cover to such actions while allowing other assets to be raided – which they are, today, in the process of doing.

The Health Care Proxy, which the Court invalidated in this hearing, surfaced in November 2019. Not having signed that Health Care Proxy and being concerned at its appearance, to protect himself, Robert asked a neighbor to draw up a Health Care Proxy for him because he did not want what was out there to stand. He said he had not signed nor knew anything about a Health Care Proxy naming Maliça Aronowitz as his Health Care Proxy and he very specifically did not want her to serve in that capacity. 

Robert Bennett wanted his wife – Marceline Donaldson to be his health care proxy. – the neighbor Robert Bennett asked was Don McInnis who is a probate attorney and has known Robert and his wife as neighbors who live across the street from one another for some 20 to 30 years.

22) That was the proxy Dr. Bennett and his wife gave to the Dr. Kehlman, who at the time was Robert Bennett’s primary care physician. Maliça Aronowitz came up with Dr. Kehlman, who Robert Bennett did not know and was not sure he wanted.

Dr. Kehlman has since been fired by Robert Bennett. Dr. Kehlman had the Health Care Proxy Maliça gave him naming her as Health Care Proxy. His nurse was given, in hand, the Health Care Proxy Don McInnis drew up for Robert Bennett and they acknowledged receipt of such.   On information and belief they have not honored that Health Care Proxy continuing to only recognize the Health Care Proxy given to them by Malica Aronowitz – a long time patient of theirs. 

23) When Robert’s wife brought him to Mass General, by ambulance, for what resulted in his recent brain surgery – she did so after talking to neurologists because of her concern about Roberts health at the time. He had fallen from the aftermath of two eye surgeries which he did not want but was pressured into and which were unsuccessful and took away some of the eyesight he had before both operations.

His ability to read was diminished after both surgeries.  Much of his peripheral vision in the eye in which the surgeries took place and which Maliça Aronowitz insisted  he have and which he should not have gone through.  

Those surgeries caused the fall which resulted in the brain surgery that started all of this.

During the brain surgery Maliça Aronowitz gave Mass General Robert’s Health Care Proxy which she knew had been invalidated and replaced by one created by the probate attorney Robert asked to create one to name the Health Care Proxy he wanted making decisions for him if he reached a position where he could not make his own decisions and that person was his wife.

24) When Robert and his wife, Marceline Donaldson, were getting ready to leave Mass General being discharged, the person who handles Health Care Proxies for Mass General said she wanted to talk to Robert about who he wanted as a Health Care Proxy because two things had happened. Unbeknowst to either Robert or his wife, Maliça Aronowitz, even knowing Robert had invalidated her Health Care Proxy, had given Mass General her Health Care Proxy as though it was the one that would be operational if Robert could not make his own decisions about his health.

25) Mass General had a concern because the Health Care Proxy the probate attorney drew up for Robert had a typographical error. At the bottom of the last page before Robert’s signature the date was November 18, 2019. After Robert’s signature and before the signature of the witnesses – Mrs Trudi Van Slyck and Mr. Don McInnis – the date was November 18, 2018. Both witnesses on that proxy were people who were friends of the Donaldson/Bennetts for some 30 years.

The woman who represents Mass General in Court about Proxies said she would be more comfortable creating a new Health Care Proxy so there would be no issues or questions and we would be safe. She did that and we left Mass General with a Health Care Proxy that reflected who Robert wanted as his Health Care Proxy.

The Donaldson/Bennetts had an issue following the first section 12 experience at Mass General Hospital.  One of the nurses took them aside to say they should know the Somerville Cambridge Elder Services group had been following the Donaldson/Bennetts for quite some time.  The person who said that to them did not know why they were being so followed, but because there didn’t seem to be a reason for Somerville Cambridge Elder Services to do that the nurse thought the Donaldson Bennetts should know about that surveillance.

26) In the Court Hearing, which gave Attorney Sullivan and Somerville Cambridge Elder Services a section 12 which they had served on Robert on March 6th, the judge also invalidated the Health Care Proxy naming Robert Bennett’s wife as his Health Care Proxy and put in place the Health Care Proxy naming the person Robert very specifically said he did not want as his Health Care Proxy.  Attorney O’Sullivan knew the two Health Care Proxies he was having invalidated were ones Dr. Bennett wanted and he knew the person so named was the person Dr. Bennett wanted to make Health Care decisions for him if he was unable to do so for himself.’=

In spite of that Attorney O’Sullivan did what he needed to do to have Robert Bennett’s choice of a Health Care Proxy removed and the one he and Somerville Cambridge Elder Services wanted to her place – positioned so they would have complete control over Robert Bennett and his assets and insurance.

27) Attorney Sullivan and Somerville Cambridge Elder Services play a very vicious game with families. They knew accusing Marceline Donaldson of abusing her husband would give the Court reason to replace her as his Health Care Proxy. and that is exactly what happened. 

Robert Bennett was exposed to health care decisions made by someone he very specifically said he did not want making decisions about his health.  He expressed that by having a probate attorney draw up a Health Care Proxy naming who he did want making those decisions. The Court replaced Robert Bennett’s decision for himself taking away another right he was supposed to have and activated the Health Care Proxy Attorney O’Sullivan wanted activated Robert’s rights over his health life were taken away.  The door was opened for the raid about to happen.

At that point in time, Robert Bennett was able to make his own decisions about his health choices, however, by activating the Health Care Proxy, the Court took those choices away from him, putting its own choices requested by Attorney James O’Sullivan on behalf of Somerville Cambridge Elder Services in the place of Robert Bennett’s desires when none of them knew if Robert could or could not make his own choices. 

The Court did this in a hearing about which Robert Bennett had not been notified and so could not be present.  It was a door open to outright robbery of Robert Bennett and of the Medicare System.

Robert Bennett is not in Massachusetts General Hospital for Health reasons. He is there for political and financial reasons and we ask that the Court reverse itself and put in place an order releasing Robert Bennett from Massachusetts General Hospital unconditionally.

We also ask that his Health Care Proxy that he chose be restored – and that is his wife, Marceline Donaldson.

We ask that the Court remove the abuse accusation against Marceline Donaldson – Robert Bennett’s wife. It was a lie told knowingly for the express purpose of having her removed as Health Care Proxy for Robert Bennett so Dr. Benett’s insurance and other things could be used and abused to the maximum. that is now what is happening.

Is that why MGH is allowing this to happen in its hospital? It brings in substantial money?  they know about and have known about this for some time and have done nothing.  In the biblical  tradition they called for a bowl of water – soup and a towel and washed their hands of any responsibility.   But this is happening in their facility. 

We also ask that the Court remove Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett’s designation as “indigent” – poverty stricken – which was declared to this Court as accurate by Attorney James O’Sullivan on behalf of Somerville Cambridge Elder Services. To so declare Dr. Bennett as “indigent” that opens a large amount of insurance money that would not otherwise be available to those taking advantage of the situation in which they put Dr. Bennett to raid his insurance for Somerville Cambridge Elder Services?

Two young women from Somerville Cambridge Elder Services came to the Bennett Home on Monday afternoon March 2nd and offered the Bennett/Donaldsons “free” everything. Someone to clean their house – free. Someone to cook their meals – free. Someone to walk their dog – “free”. And so much more. Dr. Bennett and his wife declined the services. They said they should be offered to those in need. Their house was taken care of, so were their meals, etc. The two young women were quite furious at that and showed their anger. Turns out the “free” was actually going to be paid for with Dr. Bennett’s insurance.  The women were Angela Clary and Noral Al Wataid – who worked in “Protective Services” for Somerville Cambridge Elder Services.

Dr. Bennett should be able to have an attorney of his choice, not an attorney appointed by the Court. But, since he was characterized by Attorney James O’Sullivan as “indigent” the Court appointed an attorney to represent Dr. Bennett. 

A Ms. Scott was appointed.

While Ms. Scott may or may not be a good attorney, that kind of continued taking away from Dr. Bennett the rights granted to him in these United Sates that continued what started with eight white policemen aggressively and viciously invading an African American man’s home.

After Ms. Scott was appointed – given the overload of cases she has she was not able to see Dr. Bennett for some two weeks after he was forced into MGH so he was consigned to Mass General Hospital, with no medical reason for being there, for an exceptionally long duration of time keeping him from his home and family – at least two weeks of which were added because the court appointed attorney was busy with other clients

His wife was over the top with concern about Dr. Bennett because she heard of Ms. Scott’s reasons for not being able to see him for two weeks.  She was constantly in and out of nursing homes with other patients and her time was limited.  The problems that could be caused with the coronavirus around with Dr. Bennett being seen by an attorney who was in and out of nursing homes was almost hysteria raising concerns about Dr. Bennett’s future life or lack of it.

To add to the sway the others would have over Dr. Bennett, his wife was precluded from seeing him on many days and severely time limited on others.

The time Dr. Bennett has been forced to remain in the hospital with no sun, no window, no ability to leave is now some four weeks. 

It is not acceptable for the Courts to put that kind of burden on a supposedly free citizen of these United State. Dr. Bennett  lost even his right to vote in the process of all of this. Dr. Bennett has lost his right to choose the Health Care Proxy he wanted. hHe has lost his freedom of movement since he is now confined to a hospital bed in a space some 7′ by 9′ for four weeks and counting for vicious reasons meant to keep him in that place. Dr. Bennett has lost the comfort and love of his wife and family. They are not being allowed into the hospital for visitation and he is not being allowed out and so much more.

In addition, Dr. Bennett’s wife was not able to see him nor was he able to see her for these four weeks except for 1/2 hour each day and even then for a very few of those days.

Marceline Donaldson was only allowed to see her husband with a Security Guard and armed Policeman present. The 1/2hour visits were few and far between because the Security Guards stopped her on many of those days and would not allow her to see her husband for very spurious reasons:

Guard Robert DuBois refused Ms. Donaldson the ability to see her husband claiming Robert Bennett had filed a restraining order against his wife. That was not true, but that was yet another day Dr. Bennett was kept from his family even for that small amount of time.

Additionally, the Security Guard threw Marceline Donaldson out of the hospital and was quite ugly to her in the process. The demeaning and disgrfaceful way the Bennett Donaldsons have been treated has been nonstop.

On other days she could not see Dr. Bennett because the hospital claimed to be short staffed and there were no available Security Guards and armed policemen who could spend 1/2 hour sitting in Dr. Bennett’s room while she visited. There were other such reasons which kept her from seeing her husband most days. And now she can’t see him at all because the hospital is restricted and visitors are not allowed because of the coronavirus scare.

Ms. Donaldson was also not allowed to talk to him via the telephone because that was not allowed.

That changed when a friend of the Bennett Donaldsons with the last name of Schlossberg called the hospital on Friday March 27th and asked to speak to Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett.  She was refused after being put on hold for more than 15 minutes; being transferred to security where they took her name and identification and kept her on hold another 10 minutes and then refused to allow her to speak to Dr. Bennett.  That was a common response to most people who called Dr. Bennett.

The Patient Advocate office called Ms. Donaldson within minutes of this friend being denied connecting to Dr. Bennett’s room to talk to him.  Ms. Donaldson was given Dr. Bennett’s telephone number where she could call him directly eliminating what Ms. Schlossberg went through trying to speak to Dr. Bennett on the telephone and was denied that right. 

Dr. Bennett has also not been able to see friends throughout this ordeal because he is on a “restricted” list. If you went to Mass General to see Dr. Bennett, before visitors were closed out, you were be told such a patient was not in the hospital.

And there is much more, but this has gotten very long and you know where the rest has been going.

We ask that everything else in the Protective Order be eliminated and Somerville Cambridge Elder Services be ordered to stay away from the Donaldson/Bennett family.

Respectfully Requested

______________________________________

Marceline Donaldson 

Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett

MEDICARE FRAUD AND MORE. What has Robert Bennett Lost!

Tuesday, March 17th, 2020
  1. His vote as an American citizen. Eight (8) policemen picked Robert up on March 3rd in the morning – 10-10:30am. He was set to vote in the Primary and could not. He asked several times during his “incarceration” at the hospital, but could not. So his right to cast his vote was taken away with all of this.

2. This is continuing in the worst way. People are now talking about Robert needing 24 hour care. He was walking with no problems – meeting friends – to the post office and back – how can someone’s freedom be taken away and their health destroyed – their ability to live on their own taken away – I am overwhelmed with this.

3) The Court’s took away an African American man’s freedom on so many levels. He clearly could make his own decisions on the Tuesday and Wednesday that the police pushed into our home. He also clearly could make his own decisions on the Wednesday and Thursday following that Tuesday/Wednesday ‘incarceration’ before the police pushed into our home for the second time in a week for the same reason to repeat a process because the Somerville Cambridge Elder Affairs group didn’t like the result the first time. Both times the police pushed themselves inside my home with the Court’s suggestion and permission and dragged Robert Bennett out against his will. The Court said if he did not want to come – the police had the Court’s permission to take him out anyway. Robert was very clear with everyone he did not want to go and refused the request. The police made it clear he did not have a choice. Both times they threatened to arrest his wife because she also did not want him taken away.

Robert Bennett was totally able to make his own decisions about his life. The Court took that away by invoking a Health Care Proxy which was invalid and replaced at least twice. The Court gave Robert Bennett’s health care proxy to a woman who is a non-blood related person who was not his wife. To do that they had to invalidate a Health Care Proxy created by Massachusetts General Hospital and a prior Health Care Proxy created by a reputable probate attorney with of which reflected what Robert wanted because they talked to Robert and knew what he wanted. Two witnesses who had known Robert for some 20 to 30 years said so and Robert himself was present when the Health Care Proxy was signed November 18, 2019 and Robert was very clear at that time who he wanted as his Health Care Proxy. Mass General had someone interview Robert for some 30 minutes to make sure they knew who he wanted as his health care proxy. The Court had never met Robert, never talked to him, knew nothing about him and the people making the presentation to the Court didn’t know Robert or his wishes either. This is how they operate in Cambridge MA? How could a man’s freedoms and right to choose be so destroyed. The more this goes on the more appalled I become.

What is clear – there is something not quite right in Cambridge, MA. which is putting its citizens at risk – especially its older, minority – especially African American citizens. if you go into old age with any substantial assets, they will be targeted and taken away from you in the name of “taking care of you” when you don’t need other people to push themselves into your life, take up residence and push their wishes and needs on you.

What happened and the way it happened looks as though it is also Medicare Fraud and the taking away from a citizen his right to decide the choices he wants to make with his health care.

If you don’t go along with the program and max out your Medicare and other medical insurance you will be picked up by the police, your rights taken away from you and among other things – your freedom also as you sit in a hospital with your health declining and it is clear the condition Robert is in today was created by Mass General Hospital following an order of the Court.

This is happening, has happened and will continue to happen unless someone stops it.

In this case the agency controlling all this and carrying out this apparent Medicare Fraud is Somerville/Cambridge Elder Affairs aided by its attorney Jim O’Sullivan. Has he been involved in other such situations like this? Any attorney involved in this should be disbarred. Was he involved in the complaints and law suit which resulted in Cambridge, MA. having to pay an African American woman $10 million dollars in damages because of the way she was treated?

When a person makes a decision that they do not want rehab services as offered by the agency the hospital referred them to -that they would prefer such services at their own home and privately secured and paid for – and the local state agency files for the police to pick up that person and force them into the hospital on a section 12 making the hospital prove the person is sane – not on drugs – not on alcohol – not psychotic, Medicare has to pick up the bill for that hospital stay – that looks to me like Medicare fraud. Forced medical treatment billed to Medicare.

When that person is discharged by the hospital and the next day Somerville/Cambridge Elder Services goes into Court and manipulates the Court System to force that person back into the hospital with no reason and no right, but the Court goes along that is Medicare fraud taking place – that is forced medical treatment which takes away an individuals rights and at the same time increases the Somerville Cambridge Elder Affairs group’s standing with its reporting to the state and others, inflating what it claims as legitimate services, which in fact are spurious and nobody checks – not the lawyer for the agency, nor anyone else affiliated with that agency and the people employed are allowed to make sworn statements which do not represent the facts as they are – but changes them to fit the Medicare requirements for such services – that is apparently Medicare Fraud.

To go into Court – Somerville/Cambridge Elder Services mischaracterized Robert Bennet as “indigent”. Who follows that up? No one. Why bother with an indigent – poverty stricken person. That made it easier for Somerville/Cambridge and any other institutions to present the bills to Medicare for Mr. Bennett. The Court aided these mischaracterizations by allowing this state agency to have a hearing without notifying Mr. Bennett, making all kinds of untrue, spurious, twisted statements to the Court.

To compensate, the Courts appointed an attorney to represent Mr. Bennet after the hearing and after Mr. Bennett was in the custody of the police. An attorney who never met Mr. Bennett, knew nothing about him, and that attorney was appointed after the hearing in which the Court gave Somerville Cambridge Elder Services unbelievable latitude over Mr. Bennett and lied extensively about Mr. Bennett’s wife – in fact slandered and libelous are their accusations.

That Court appointed attorney contacted Robert Bennett after a hearing which sent police to his house to forcibly pick him up and incarcerate him in Massachusetts General Hospital against his will – especially when no medical doctor, agency or anything comparable had declared Mr. Bennett unable to make decisions for himself. It took more than a week for this Court appointed attorney to see Mr. Bennett – too busy.

That attorney has subsequently put Mr. Bennett at risk because she is an attorney who is in and out of nursing homes and then visited Mr. Bennett in the hospital possibly exposing him and others to the coronavirus and that visit took place after she was told Mr. Bennett did not want her to represent him.

After Somerville/Cambridge Elder Affaires went Court with Jim O’Sullivan apparently representing them and hiding relevant information from the Court to gain a decision which they wanted and asking the Court to make a Protective Order without allowing Mr. Bennett or his representatives to appear to present the other side to what they were claiming, the Court by not notifying Robert Bennett and Marceline Donaldson that there was to be such a hearing – for the second time in four days to harass Mr. Bennett to the point of having police pick him up at his home to once again incarcerate him at Massachusetts General Hospital to once again undergo the same thing he had undergone just two days before when he was discharged from the hospita in very good shape, after the first police pick up of Mr. Bennett and after that first forced visit Robert Bennett was discharged from the hospital with no medicines prescribed and a date for a return to check up on his past surgery.

This was forced and fraudulent treatment which was to be billed to Mr. Bennett’s Medicare.

To be able to do this they had to move Mr. Bennett’s wife out of the way so the Somerville Cambridge Elder Services had Mr. Bennett’s wife charged with abuse in this same Court hearing where neither knew about the hearing and were therefore not given the opportunity to defend themselves against such horrid, reputation destroying, life destroying charges.

We believe it is illegal to bill Medicare for forced treatment which the patient and his Health Care Advocate rejects and Marceline Donaldson had been named as Health Care Proxy by Mr. Bennett, but it was not invoked because Mr. Bennett was able to make his own decisions. We believe it is fraudulent to make such charges to Mr. Bennett’s Medicare account.

If Mr. Bennett needed therapy – it was possible to get that at home – even through Medicare. That was not a consideration because there was no such therapy prescribed.

After leaving Massachusetts General Hospital, after surgery, Mr. Bennett took the hospital’s advice and went for rehab to Sherrill House in Jamaica Plain expecting that to be a great experience. The connection between Mr. Bennett as an Episcopal Priest and Sherill House’s Episcopal connection he expected that to be a special experience on many levels. Instead it was a horror story.

If you read other Bettina Network blogs you will see some of the reasons for that horror story. The one we will repeat here – Mr. Bennett left Sherrill House after a stay of some 24 hours because Sherrill House was quarantined – there were patients on the second floor – we were told three or four who had the flu. No one knew what kind of flu and with all of the publicity around the coronavirus, Mr. Bennett took the precaution of leaving Sherrill House rather than being exposed to the flu and his wife concurred. Especially when he heard that several months prior Sherrill House had again been under quarantine because of the flu and apparently “only a couple people” caught the flu at that time so there was nothing to worry about. The outrage at Robert Bennett making such a decision, which he had every right to make on his own behalf as did his Health Care Proxy – was astounding.

After that experience Mr. Bennett and his wife read the reviews about Sherrill House online and were totally freaked out by what they read – people who died because nurses did not respond to their buzzer for a very long time and more.

To call the police and incarcerate someone in the hospital by sending the police to pick them up – twice – because they refuse the service Somerville Cambridge Elder Services tries to force on them when they have said clearly they prefer any necessary services at home and paid for privately, should be a crime. That is an abuse of the police and since Mr. Bennett is an African American from the national experience with the police forces around the country that possibly opened Mr. Bennett to serious physical harm.

In addition, Mr. Bennett’s health has now been negatively affected by all of this. We have witness statements which talk about how Mr. Bennett was walking around Harvard Square with his wife and enjoying the sunshine and their life together before the police forcibly invaded his home on March 3rd and again on March 6th while refusing to give him or his wife a copy of the order which the police claim gave them the right to break down his door and go into the house doing whatever damage was necessary to take him out refusing to listen if he said no and taking him out against his will.

Instead, with the police involvement he has been confined to a very small room at Massachusetts General Hospital – which he shares and is so tight there is no room between his chair and the bed and he goes from bed to the chair, from the chair to the bed. He had a walker, which he no longer has because he can’t walk even with such a device.

Being 87 years old and having been kept in bed from Friday to the next Friday to the next Wednesday and still ongoing, his ability to walk has been impaired and it is possible other health issues may arise because of his confinement imposed unethically by the Courts and illegally by Somerville Cambridge Elder Services.

Is this to scare others into accepting the Somerville Cambridge Elder Services when they come around because you too may be so confined and the police may be called to enforce their right to control your health care by lying, hiding the truth, causing fraudulent claims to be filed on your Medicare insurance causing you to have to pay 20% for services you rejected and Medicare having to pay 80% for services that were forced treatment and hospital confinements which should not have happened.

We have found people – and in reviews also – who complain about the Somerville Cambridge Elder Services because of the way they squander the agency’s money – taking cabs to the bank – and in many other ways, calling it a very amateurish group.

The kind of ignoring and destruction of a persons’ rights is huge and this has been a horrifying experience for all.

It is time to release Robert Bennett from being held in “police lockup” at Massachusetts General Hospital under a protective order which was spuriously obtained. Yes, he is still being held under Police lockup. No one can visit him. His wife can only visit 1/2 per day and then only with a Security Guard and Police present. She is treated in very abusive ways. And most days she is not allowed to visit for one reason or another – if you read other blogs you would have seen when she was told her husband had taken out a restraining order against her and she could not go up to his room under any circumstances. That was not true but she was not allowed to visit that day and the Security Guard who said such a Mr. DuBois also put her out of the hospital.

The attorneys the Bennetts hired did not take care of this and should have immediately filed an emergency motion for his release. They took the case knowing his health would be at risk if they delayed in any way and in spite of that they made their busyness with other things a higher priority which has contributed to this.

It is time for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Massachusetts General Hospital and all others involved to release this man from confinement and take whatever steps are necessary to reimburse him for what they have caused; make his wife whole after demeaning and disgracing her with their charges of abusing her husband when that was not true and so much more. It is past the time for the Governor, Mayor of Cambridge and others to step in and stop this abuse of this African American family in this case – by the state – this is a state agency.

Mr. Bennett, on information and belief, is not the only person who has been so held in the past – turned into an “indigent” so the forces doing the deed can better access Medicare. It is time for all of this to be investigated by those who do such and it is past time for this cover-up to stop and be uncovered.

The attempt now is to blame others who Somerville/Cambridge Elder Services weaponized to help them in this effort and that also needs to stop.

Robert Bennett needs to be put in an ambulance and sent home IMMEDIATELY, especially given all of the coronavirus warnings to which he would be a primary target. This needs to be done without trying to force Robert Bennett and his family to accept all the trappings being attempted – which are needed to take Somerville Cambridge Elder Services off the hook and leave them blameless so they can continue in their efforts to destroy others – apparently mostly African Americans.

What comes after this for the rest of us? Forced medical care and treatment – whether you want it; need it; in the place the agency harassing you or targeting you decides that should happen. Somerville/Cambridge Elder Services has been hounding this family for years.

It is tough to be African American and live in the Brattle Street neighborhood. Institutional attacks come from many places. Read other related blogs and you will see a fuller picture.

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African American Family harassed, demeaned, opened to police harassment and more in Harvard Square Cambridge, MA.

Wednesday, March 4th, 2020

by: Marceline Donaldson

That African American family is mine. The harassment, demeaning, threats and more happened on Tuesday March 3, 2020 in my home. Your home is supposed to be sacred, but was violated on that Tuesday morning in the most horrific ways.

On Tuesday morning, the door bell rang about 10:30am. When I went to open the door there were some 8 policemen (all male, all white) and six or more EMT’s also all white and all male. They were standing on the porch and said they had a “warrant” – a Section 12 order to take my husband out of the home and bring him to Mount Auburn Hospital because he was not safe in his home and they went into so much more.

It was unbelievable. 2020 in the United States with a Constitution and other protections, piled into my home were all of these white males in uniforms which traditionally destroy, harass, kill, maim African Americans.

The last time I felt so terrified was in New Orleans walking on Canal Street on my way to school as a high school student when a man grabbed my hair – which at the time was close to my waistline – and using a cutting instrument he had in his hands he cut it off quite short, nearly breaking my neck in the process. A policeman was standing nearby and instead of responding to my cries, he turned his back and walked away – having seen clearly what happened to me. And now, here I was in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2020 experiencing something very similar only they were after my African American husband.

When I looked out the door there were police cars all over the street, an ambulance, policemen guarding the entry to the house, on the porch and in the house.

When I asked why he was being sent to Mount Auburn Hospital when he had been a patient at Mass General, no one had any answers.

What happened that they felt they had the right? My husband was discharged from Massachusetts General Hospital and sent to Sherrill House for rehab after surgery. When I went to visit him at Sherrill House on Sunday everything seemed fine and I was not unhappy that he was there because as an Episcopal Priest I thought Sherrill House would be a good place for his rehab. It was not my idea to send him to Sherrill House, it was one of the people at the hospital who made the suggestion. I was more interested in him going to Spaulding in Charlestown, but I was told the place which had a bed for him was Sherrill House. With his Episcopal background and my own, I was open to him going there. Once we arrived at Sherrill House I discovered why most of the hospitals I had seen and visited and the related medical places were all white with blacks providing the cleaning and other upkeep services. There is a black and a separate white apartheid system in the Cambridge/Boston area for those who need medical services. Sherrill House was mostly black – African Americans, Caribbeans, etc. The patients were also mostly minority. So that visit to Sherrill House cleared up what I did not understand. Separatism bordering on apartheid is what I was witnessing.

On Monday, when I returned to spend time with my husband I was not allowed to see him. Why? Sherrill House was being quarantined because there were three or four patients with the flu on the second floor where he was staying and that second floor was quarantined to keep the flu from moving further out into the society.

I was unhappy, upset, confused and didn’t understand any of what I was being told. My attention was on what would happen to my husband in a place with three or four people with the flu on the same floor with windows not open and lots of ways the flu could spread to those in the facility – the healthy and those there to become healthier. My husband was not there to come down with the flu, especially with all of the coronavirus possibilities going around. I asked what kind of flu – no one had an answer.

I spent time in the lobby talking to people and the receptionist about what this was about – discovered it was not a first for such to happen at Sherrill House, it had been under quarantine just months prior. My decision was, as my husband’s health proxy, to take him out of Sherrill House. I did not feel he should be exposed to the flu and have to deal with that as well as his recovery. People were going into Sherrill House if they were on the first floor or visiting someone on the first floor. They were going to visit family and/or friends on the third and fourth floors, but the second floor, where my husband was, it was quarantined – no one knew how long this would last nor the extent of what would happen to those on the second floor.

I checked my husband out of Sherrill House that Monday afternoon and we went home – away from an active flu spot exposing him 24 hours a day. I hope you would have done the same thing – if you loved and were concerned about your family. I had not read the reviews of Sherrill House on the internet before Robert went there. The Episcopal connection made me think it would be a great place for him to be. When I read those reviews I was appalled – most of the reviews were not only bad, but talked about the hurt that had unnecessarily happened to patients at Sherrill House, including a death under difficult and what was characterized as negligent circumstances.

Robert was very happy to be home. He was thriving. On Monday, we walked to the post office and enjoyed the rest of the day going places and doing things he enjoyed.

On Tuesday morning all hell broke loose. All of the white policemen and white EMT’s, some 12 to 14 people arrived to in affect, arrest him and take him to a place for people who were seriously alcoholic and had been sent against their will – sectioned because their alcoholism was a danger to them and the society; who had a drug habit on the same level; was a danger to themselves because they were ‘committed’ and sectioned’ because they were a suicide threat; and because they had other mental illnesses which caused them to be forcibly picked up and held in a large emergency room full of security people walking around to make sure the people in that room were ‘safe’. There were a couple ‘runners’ while we were there – people who were constrained and had somehow gotten loose and were chased and returned to an examining room in constraints. That is normaly what this sectioning “warrant” is used for – not the way it was used with Robert.

This ‘arrest’ of my husband was ordered by Cambridge/Somerville Elder Services by a woman who should not have been able to sign such a sectioning order and the Court should have been involved if this were really such a serious threat.. She is a psychologist and none of my husbands reasons for having been in the hospital had to do with psychiatric or psychological reasons. She filled out the forms necessary and noted that she had neither seen, nor examined the patient – she had not seen nor been in his home to see its condition to know whether or not it was ‘safe’ although she declared it unsafe. She was backed by two young women who lied to help her take out this section 12 order. They claimed prescriptions had been sent for Robert to CVS. She claimed that I had been notified by CVS but refused to pick up the prescriptions. When a friend of mine who accompanied us to the hospital and stayed most of the evening as a support checked with CVS all around Cambridge and/or reasonably close to where we live, there were no such prescriptions at CVS waiting for Robert.

We spent 14 hours under this sectioning order which were a strain on my husband and put him under unbelievable stress. No one with any real concern for him or his health would have done this. A call to me would have been in order to attempt to understand and clear up any concerns she may have had. That is what usually happens with people who use these Section 12’s, but she simply filled out the form and sent it to the police for their action. A cruel slam against an African American who racism says does not deserve such consideration.

I insisted that, if Robert had to go, it would be to Mass General instead of Mount Auburn Hospital because it was clear to me there could have been political friendships going on that could make this worse. I wanted to know why the police had been told to take him to Mount Auburn where he had no history and no prior visits.

After their examination, Mass General lifted the sectioning and discharged my husband.

It is time to change this ability of people clearly not qualified to do such to be able to use this sectioning to exercise their racism and other bigotry and possibly even personal vendettas. It was the meanest thing I have seen done to another human being in a very long time. What could have happened with all the white policemen and the circus environment created outside my house with neighbors and others stopping to see what was happening was clearly the possibility of physical harm, extreme emotional and mental stress and a display of racially based violence.

It is clear this would not have happened to a white family in the Harvard Square neighborhood and the police and all the others were able to do what they did because they were dealing with an African American family. In that Brattle Street neighborhood this does not happen. The whites who live there are given much more respect, privacy, and more.

I am talking to attorneys and encourage any attorneys who would like to be involved in this, please don’t hesitate to call and/or visit. This needs to be changed – there should be the necessity of a Court being involved when someone’s freedom is being taken away with what is characterized as a “warrant’; civil rights people need to be involved when this happens to an African American or any other minority family and so much more. Your feedback is requested.

Whether it has relevance or not I do not know, but we published a Bettina Network Blog on Tuesday morning at 5am entitled ‘Hospitals and Bigotry – Institutional Racism, alive and well!’. The police arrived at approximately 10:30am with their section 12

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