Recessional: A Novel (63 page)

“And we certainly don’t want that,” Krenek interrupted. Zorn knew Krenek was right, but he felt sick to his stomach. Once more, it seemed, the legal system was going to make it impossible to do the ethically and medically correct thing.

Now Victor spoke up. “There’s got to be something we can do.” Carried away by his youthful enthusiasm, the law student spent some minutes rattling off court decisions in Missouri, Oregon and California that tended to prove that in other states, at least, families like the Umlaufs had been given permission to terminate heroic measures to keep senile elder members alive. Lawyer Brookfield listened attentively, then congratulated the young fellow for his thoroughness in citing precedent.

“You are right, young man. And there is some hope that we can accomplish the same thing here in Florida. What we need to do is obtain a court order making one of you, and I think that would be Noel, judicial guardian. As such, you would be empowered to make health-care decisions for your mother.”

As Brookfield explained the court procedure, the Umlaufs began to feel some hope that their terrible dilemma would be solved. But then Brookfield went on: “This morning as I was leaving my house to come here I received a most unpleasant call from a lawyer named Hasslebrook. He’s with that very powerful organization Life Is Sacred.”

Zorn groaned.

“Somehow,” Brookfield went on, “he had learned I was coming to this meeting and what it was about.” The lawyer looked sharply at
Zorn and Farquhar. “I don’t know what’s going on in this establishment, but if I were you I’d find out who in Extended Care or in your offices is passing information to this character.” The lawyer continued: “He demanded to speak at the meeting. Said he’d make life hell for the Umlaufs, for the Palms and for me if he didn’t get a chance to be heard. His threats sounded serious enough so I asked him to come by at ten.”

Zorn looked at his watch; it was almost ten.

When the Umlaufs protested a stranger’s becoming involved in their family’s business, Brookfield said, “I apologize for his intrusion. But he has one tremendously potent weapon that he’s not afraid to use. Publicity. So watch your step. Don’t antagonize this nasty fellow.”

Just then, Nurse Varney rapped on the door to say Dr. Zorn had a visitor, and in came Clarence Hasslebrook, still slightly obsequious, still grimly determined to have his way, still looking uncomfortable in his new clothes, still a squirming but formidable figure.

Brookfield said: “I think those of you associated with the Palms are acquainted with lawyer Clarence Hasslebrook, a resident of Gateways and a distinguished lawyer from Boston, Massachusetts. As a member of the nationwide organization Life Is Sacred he has a considerable interest in the Umlauf case and insists on ensuring that no moves are made that would end Mrs. Umlauf’s life prematurely.” Hasslebrook said nothing, but when young Umlauf cried: “We’ll get a court order,” he smiled indulgently. When this infuriated the young fellow so that he swore: “We know what Grandmother wanted and we’ll fight this battle in her behalf,” Hasslebrook finally spoke: “You do not know what your grandmother wanted. I can get a sworn affidavit from a nurse who attended your grandmother during her heart attack and heard her beg that every means possible be used to preserve her life. Like many people she had a change of heart when she finally looked death in the eye.”

Noel gasped. Gretchen, the more perceptive of the two, said, “Mr. Hasslebrook, you are lying. I know my mother-in-law better than you or any nurse does. I know how much it pained her to see her own mother-in-law and husband live out their last months as vegetables. I know in my heart that she did not change her mind when facing her own death.”

“And we’ll convince the court of that,” Victor added.

“We’ll see about that,” Hasslebrook replied coolly. “Your family
is determined to end your grandmother’s life and has the money to pay a lawyer to help you, but the Society will protest your petition. In fact, we’ll petition the court to have me named as legal guardian. We’ve decided to make this a test case, relevant for all states where efforts are under way to legalize the wanton murder of old folks.”

This accusation was so blatant, and so palpably wide of the Umlauf situation, that Noel sprang to his son’s defense: “Mr. Hasslebrook, we’re a standard American family, churchgoers, voters, taxpayers and country club members. We are not weirdos on the fringe, we’re at the very heart of America. And we’re going to fight you every inch of the way to establish the right of the elderly person in full possession of her powers to decide that she does not want to be kept alive when any reasonable hope for recovery is gone.” And there the tense meeting ended.

To the local press, Noel and Gretchen explained that they were only asking the court for “the right to disconnect the tubes, to halt the power to the machines, to allow the inner forces that have kept Mother alive for eighty-one years in an orderly God-directed way to run their natural course. That’s all we ask, that’s all Mother asked in her living will. That right we shall fight for.”

Administrator Krenek gave orders that no strangers be admitted to Extended Living and that the nurses there protect the tubes and machines controlling Mrs. Umlauf’s life: “They are not to be disturbed or ruptured or turned off by anybody.” Two security guards were employed to monitor the reception area and the elevators, and both Dr. Farquhar and lawyer Brookfield had the unpleasant duty of informing the Umlaufs that they were now professionally bound to keep their mother in Extended Care. This meant, in effect, that they could no longer take any step that might look as if they were encouraging or hastening the death of Berta Umlauf.

The case took a dramatic turn two days later when young Victor Umlauf, outraged by what was happening to his family, sneaked through a rarely used back door onto the third floor, spoke tenderly to his comatose grandmother before giving her a kiss, and started ripping off the various bits of apparatus that were keeping her alive. Alerted by the medical alarm, Nurse Grimes rushed to Room 312 and lunged at him as she shouted for the other nurses to help her. Four young women grappled with Umlauf to keep him from destroying the crucial equipment. Soon the extra guard on the elevator, a burly man, arrived to help, and Victor was dragged away.

In the morning Hasslebrook announced there would be no more such incidents. A local judge had issued a restraining order directing young Umlauf to stay clear of the third floor or find himself in contempt of court and facing a jail sentence.

The case, of course, became a cause célèbre with headlines in papers and interviews on television. Conservatives nationwide made Hasslebrook a hero as a defender of human life, while liberals tended to side with the Umlaufs, even though they were a staunchly Republican family. Young Victor Umlauf became a celebrity, and when he sneaked back onto the third floor in a second attempt to aid his grandmother and was thrown in jail for contempt of court, signs proliferated demanding his freedom.

Noel Umlauf, feeling himself largely responsible for launching this brouhaha, posted bond for his son’s release but backed away from any responsibility for the fracas. His feisty wife, Gretchen, however, had become so agitated by the patent unfairness of the situation that one night she persuaded her son to ignore the court order, sneak back and this time really disrupt the machines. He did succeed in getting back and reached his grandmother’s bed, but Nurse Grimes again spotted him and he was thrown into jail for an additional fifteen days. Again signs covered Tampa calling for his release and for Berta’s right to a decent death.

Throughout the hubbub, Clarence Hasslebrook remained unruffled, fortified by his battery of court orders. To many, he was the old lady’s protection against her unfeeling family, and when in another part of Florida an elderly man perpetrated a mercy killing of his aged and failing wife, there was a public outcry among the elderly: “This is what we’re trying to stop in Florida. Life truly is sacred.”

But the Umlauf group was not powerless, even though Victor was in jail. They quickly learned to use the press, too. Gretchen wanted to show the media what Mrs. Umlauf had been trying to fight against, and secretly brought two newspeople to inspect the small room in which Mrs. Carlson still remained in bed, dominated by a bank of efficient machines that could do everything for her but activate her brain and control her elimination. Gretchen, remembering the oath she had taken to protect her husband’s mother, asked the press people: “Is this how you would want your mother to end her life?” and she asked them to guess how long Mrs. Carlson had been stuck away in a room like this, and then gave the answer herself: “Nearly half a
year in this hellhole. Almost two years in a decent room out there. Total cost to society? Upwards of a quarter of a million dollars. Cost to the Carlson children? Bankruptcy.” With that and other bits of evidence, public opinion began to turn in favor of the Umlaufs.

At this critical point, Berta regained a degree of consciousness and seemed dimly aware of being attached to the various tubes. When the staff discovered that she had succeeded in pulling out the IV from her arms, Nurse Grimes overreacted wildly and had her put into a straitjacket, a terrible invention consisting of a shirt with very long sleeves that could be wrapped completely around the body and tied the second time in a tight knot in the middle of the back. The person restrained in this way—desperate criminal, convicted killer or demented patient giving trouble—could not move his or her arms or attend to bathroom needs. It was a barbarous punishment, uncivilized even for a fractious jail prisoner but unthinkable for a fragile old woman. When the Umlaufs learned what had been done, they appealed to Kenneth Krenek, who said that he was powerless to countermand the nurse’s orders in Health, and he advised the family that Dr. Zorn did not have that privilege either. Nurse Grimes’s decision stood. A defeat for the euthanasia freaks but a victory honoring the dictates of Clarence Hasslebrook’s committee.

But the other Umlaufs were not powerless, for that morning, when Berta’s law-student grandson was again released from jail his mother and he entered into a conspiracy. Though Victor was barred from seeing his grandmother, Gretchen bullied her way onto the third floor before Nurse Grimes was aware she was coming, and she saw with horror her mother-in-law lying imprisoned in a straitjacket immobilizing her arms. The tubes were back in place, the various machines were functioning and Berta Krause Umlauf looked vacantly into her daughter-in-law’s eyes as if pleading: Gretchen, you swore to protect me from this. Gretchen replied as if she could be heard: “Oh, Mother! What have they done to you?”

Gretchen, forty-two years old and not a powerful woman, swore that her mother-in-law would be released from this tyranny one way or another. She kissed Berta and called for the head nurse.

“Surely the laws here at the Palms don’t permit patients to be restrained like this?” and Nurse Grimes replied: “The laws do permit it. Dr. Zorn would be quite angry if he saw this, but your mother has been quite intractable.”

“Unfasten her, now!”

“You have no power to give me orders. If you don’t leave I’ll have to call a guard.”

“As a relative, I have a right to be here. Now, back off while I free my mother.”

Younger and stronger than Nurse Grimes, Gretchen elbowed her aside, and began to undo the straitjacket. Set free after hours of imprisonment, Berta stared into her daughter-in-law’s eyes, and as Gretchen bent to kiss her good-bye, she thought she saw gratitude in the old woman’s eyes.

When Gretchen was halfway to the elevator she felt quite sick and looked about her for some place to relieve herself, but Nurse Grimes had returned with a guard and asked brusquely: “Now what does your precious court order permit you to do?”

“I am looking for…” Gretchen began weakly, and then cried in a loud voice: “I’m about to vomit!” And she did so, in the middle of the hallway. Glaring at Nurse Grimes, Gretchen wiped her mouth and said bitterly: “What I saw in there made me sick to my stomach.” As she left the floor, she vowed to herself: Tonight, God willing, she will be set free. Her son listened to her story of his grandmother’s suffering and said: “Mom, she’s got to be released, I agree. But if I were to defy the court again, I could be thrown out of law school. Are you brave enough to try something really crazy?”

Gretchen Umlauf was not one to relish deeds of derring-do, nor did she want to imperil her son’s chances at law school, so she said: “We’ve got to give the sensible people here one last chance before we do anything drastic. Let’s tell Dr. Zorn about the straitjacket. He’s on our side.” They asked for an appointment, which he granted, but reluctantly, because he knew there was little he could do to help.

“Dr. Zorn, are you aware that my mother-in-law is being brutalized on your third floor?” Her report of what she had seen angered Andy, and he started to reach for the phone to order Nurse Grimes to stop such abuse but stopped himself in time. He was all too aware that until the court came to a decision he could not interfere in the proper medical treatment of Mrs. Umlauf, and he knew medical testimony in court would probably support what Nurse Grimes had done as legitimate procedure when dealing with an uncooperative patient.

He said wearily: “Come back in one hour. I’ll discuss this with my staff,” but as they departed, young Mrs. Umlauf warned: “If you
don’t act, we’ll have to,” and from that resolve she did not waver during the hour they waited.

Zorn asked Krenek and Varney if they had been aware that grave abuses had occurred on floor three, and they had to confess that yes, they’d heard that the straitjacket had been used. When he stormed: “Why didn’t you discipline Nurse Grimes?” Nora replied in a low voice: “Because one of my girls saw her and Hasslebrook having dinner the other night. You even touch Mrs. Umlauf and you’ll cause an even bigger ruckus. Can you imagine the publicity if they present her as the defender of human life and you as the unfeeling destroyer?”

A sickly chill came over Andy, for once again he was trapped in the legal system, and once more he was powerless to defend himself or do the right thing for others. He knew he was as shackled as poor Mrs. Umlauf had been, and there was not a damned thing he could do about it. In fierce frustration he told Nora: “Call in the Umlaufs,” and when mother and son sat before him he had to tell them the shameful news: “I’m powerless. Your mother is no longer in our care. Our hands are tied until the court comes to a decision.”