170 Pa. Super. 74 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1951
Opinion by
On petition of Irene and Edward Hudak a guardian was appointed for the estate of their mother, Anna Hudak, whom the court below decreed to be “without mental capacity to take care of her property” within the meaning of the Act of May 28, 1907, P. L. 292, 50 PS §911 et seq. Respondent filed exceptions to the decree; the exceptions were dismissed and this appeal followed.
The most that can be said of petitioners’ evidence, coupled with the admissions of respondent, is that for several years during the lifetime of her husband respondent was excessively jealous of him and suffered hallucinations and delusions in respect of his relationship with other women. But according to the refreshingly frank and straightforward testimony of Michael J. Hudak, one of the sons, his mother had good reason to be jealous of his father. Michael testified that his father “was gay with women” the same as was he, the son, a “man of the road” and a “salesman all . . . [his] life. . . . She was jealous, yes, always has been jealous, and she had a reason to be jealous . . .”
The most enlightening medical testimony in the case was that of Dr. P. H. Leavitt, a “nationally known” psychiatrist of Philadelphia.' Seven physicians in all testified — four for the petitioners and three for the respondent — and the reason we say that Dr. Leavitt’s tes
The gist of. the medical testimony offered by petitioners was that since respondent had been suffering from paranoid psychosis or .paranoic schizophrenia— a comparatively recent, terminology .for the. same affliction — when they examined or treated her, she could not be expected ever to completely recover from what the trial judge referred to as her “underlying infirmity.”' .
Dr. Leavitt and Dr.' Killeen, the only physicians who had examined respondent anywhere near the time of trial, testified that mentally respondent .’was normal in every respect and in'no sense likely to'become the victim of designing- persons. Physically: she was suffering, from, .‘hypertension and a cardiovascular condition that, in no- Way affected _ke‘r .'mentality. Cf. Owens. Ap
In respect of the testimony of two sisters of respondent and three of her sons the trial judge said: “This testimony is of little or no value.” As pointed out by Reno, J., in Owens Appeal, supra (p. 13) : “Recently the Supreme Court questioned not only the sufficiency of the evidence, but also weighed it.” See Denner v. Beyer, supra (p. 397).
When the testimony of the lay witnesses for respondent is weighed against the testimony of Irene, the only lay witness for the petitioners — her brother Edward did not testify — it greatly affects her credibility as a witness. For example, she testified and the trial judge found that “For over twenty-five years the respondent accused each child, in turn, of wrongdoing as a result of which each left the family home ... at an early age.” That statement was refuted by Joseph, aged 47 and the oldest child, who testified that he did not leave home until he was 21, when he left to get married. When asked, “Were you driven out by your mother?” he answered, “No. I wasn’t driven out bv my mother. It was my father who did the driving.” He further testified that two weeks before the trial he took his mother into his own. home for a week in :order to
The statement was further refuted by Francis, the son with whom the respondent went to live following the death of her husband. He testified that he did not leave home until he was 22. He was then “studying for the priesthood of the Scranton diocese” and had received his A. B. degree at St. Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland. He was at home in the summer of 1940 when he received a telegram, purporting to be from an employment agency, offering him a Job in Philadelphia. He later found out that it was not from the agency but from his brother Edward, one of the petitioners in this case, who said it offered Francis “the opportunity to get away from home and get to work.” When asked if he thought his mother was “mentally capable of handling her own affairs,” he answered, “Very much so.”- And it was still further refuted by Michael, the - “man of the road,” aged 42, who testified, that he left home of his “own free will” when he was 16 because his father, who was a “Very, very strict” man, was waiting for him. with a cat-o’-nine-tails one night when he was late in getting home. When asked if his mother was the cause of his leaving he answered, “Absolutely not.” Michael further testified, and his testimony was corroborated by other members of the family, that although Irene and Edward had arranged to have respondent committed to Clarks Summit State Hospital, also known as Hillside State Hospital, on November 8, 1949, the very day she attended the funeral of his. (Michael’s) son, nothing was said to him or the other members of the family about the commitment, She was committed to Hillside on November 8 and on Noyember 20. Irene .wrote the superintendent of. the hospital, stating, that her father, had received two letters from her mother which had upset, him “to
Veronica Dragon, a .registered nurse and a sister of respondent, talked with her and her husband at the grandson’s funeral the day respondent was committed to Hillside. She likewise knew nothing of the commitment until later. She further testified that she had nursed many irrational patients and that she saw nothing irrational about her sister. Her condition was the same when the witness saw her at her husband’s wake and funeral about a year after the funeral of her grandson. On that occasion Irene told the witness that she hated her mother and always had.
In his opinión the learned trial judge said: “The accusations and persecutions of her husband growing out of her hallucinations and delusions continued until his death on November 21, 1950. ... At her husband’s funeral she transferred the persecution complex to her daughter Irene and son Edward under the delusion that they robbed her while she was in the Clarks Summit State - Hospital.” In view of the testimony that Irene and Edward were instrumental in having the beneficiary changed from - respondent to Irene in a policy of life insurance for $5,000 and from respondent to Edward in a policy for $2,000 while she was a patient in Hillside, her feeling that they had taken advantage of her may hot have been the “delusion” that the learned court held it to be. That she is not likely to dissipáte her property is evidenced by her handling of the $2,000 policy after Edward had been made the beneficiary and had been given' possession of the policy by his fátheri He wanted tó borrow an additional $1,000
To conclude, we are of opinion that the learned court below did not give due and proper consideration to the fact that the improvement in her behavior following the death of her husband was due to the removal of the object of her delusions and the change in her environment. The evidence preponderates that she has recently shown a definite improvement, and in the language of the Supreme Court in Denner v. Beyer, supra (p. 397), “If later she exhibits such feeble-mindedness or mental defectiveness as is likely to result in the dissipation or loss of her property, the courts are open for appropriate proceedings. On this record the decree appealed from is unwarranted.”
The decree is reversed at the cost of the appellees.