(that should be UNrealistic, not realistic...oops...can't edit the title, only the content)

...and I have read the comments that follow the article...which are many and varied in tone.
I thought more than twice about posting this article, but decided to do so anyway.
If anyone finds it offensive, I will remove it

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They may lose home
State seeking over $300,000 from Galt family to pay for Parkinson's sufferer's care

By Layla Bohm
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Last updated: Wednesday, Jan 10, 2007 - 07:12:15 am PST
Comments(20) [as of this posting]
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/200...0.txt#comments

The manila envelope bears a state of California return address and is directed to Olivia Valdez. Postage cost $1.11, and it's not the first envelope she and other family members have received requesting payment for her grandfather's hospitalization while he battles Parkinson's Disease.

By May, the state estimated the care had amounted to $335,639, and California law makes Honorato Rodriguez's family members liable. That's a bit too much for Olivia Valdez to understand, though — the Galt girl is only 5 years old and is more interested in things like playing with her cousin.

Rodriguez, who turns 55 next week, was diagnosed with the disease in 1990 and at the time was the youngest person with Parkinson's in the San Joaquin Valley, his wife, Gloria Rodriguez said on Tuesday.

Support groups and doctors explained the disease, but nobody imagined that Honorato Rodriguez would hallucinate that his neighbors were harassing him, that he would be charged criminally with arson against them and that his wife would face losing everything the couple worked to save for 30 years.

Because he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a state hospital, the Rodriguez family is liable.

"His public defender said if he pleaded no contest to the charges, he would go to Napa (State Hospital) and he would be well taken care of. I never thought I would be losing my husband," Gloria Rodriguez said Tuesday, tears filling her eyes and running down her cheeks.

In a twist of irony, had Honorato Rodriguez been ruled competent and found guilty, taxpayers would foot the bill for any time spent in prison, as well as any medical treatment.

Now state officials want payment, and they've sent letters to Rodriguez's wife, children and even his grandchildren. The matter is set for a February court hearing.

"They want the whole house. They want everything, not even half," Gloria Rodriguez said. "At least with half, I don't have to become completely homeless."

A spokesman for the state declined to comment as the matter is under litigation.

It's not a common situation for Parkinson's sufferers, said Dr. Melanie Brandabur, clinical director of the Sunnyvale-based Parkinson's Institute. Roughly 1.5 million Americans suffer from the disease, but Brandabur said she'd never heard of a case quite like Rodriguez's.

Most people think of actor Michael J. Fox and boxer Muhammad Ali, who show the common symptoms of tremors and shakes. Hallucinations, however, are a part of the disease, and Brandabur said some experts estimate that 40 to 50 percent of Parkinson's sufferers will also face cognitive declines.

For instance, one of her patients was so convinced that his wife's cooking contained bugs that he would only eat at restaurants.

"He actually brought me a jar of his wife's food from dinner the night before to show me the bugs. There were no bugs, but it was real to him," Brandabur said.

Another elderly patient confronted his neighbor and accused him of having an affair with his 74-year-old wife, which was not the case.

Honorato Rodriguez didn't always battle Parkinson's Disease. He moved from Mexico more than 30 years ago and settled in Galt, where he met his future wife, also a native of Mexico.

Gloria Rodriguez smiled when asked how the couple met, then explained that she had taken a second job as a teacher's aide at the local adult school. Honorato Rodriguez knew some English but enrolled in classes to better learn the language. The teacher's aide and the student were soon married.

Both worked full-time and they bought a home in southern Galt, where they raised a son and daughter. Honorato Rodriguez spent many years working at a nursery but sometimes found extra work. He was working at Holtz Rubber when co-workers noticed him shaking. A doctor diagnosed Parkinson's.

Honorato Rodriguez wanted to keep working, because he didn't want to see his wife go off to work at Pacific Coast Producers while he stayed home. But they also planned for the future.

"When the doctor diagnosed him, we decided to save up and pay off the house so we would have it," Gloria Rodriguez said.

The disease worsened but Gloria Rodriguez kept working part-time as a seam inspector at PCP — finding that it offered a break from caring for her husband. Family members stopped in to check on him when she was gone.

Then, according to state hospital reports provided by Lodi attorney Randy Rosá, the disease worsened in 2000. Honorato Rodriguez became delusional and was convinced that his neighbors were harassing him. On July 6, 2002, he threw a glass bottle over the fence into his neighbors' yard, and it burst into flames after hitting the patio.

He later waived his right to a jury trial and a judge found him not guilty of arson by reason of insanity. He was sent to Atascadero State Hospital on Aug. 17, 2004, then transferred on Jan. 12, 2005, to Napa State Hospital to be closer to his family.

Under California's Welfare and Institutions Code, spouses, parents and children of such patients are liable for the cost of medical care.

Honorato Rodriguez's care costs totaled 50 pages by June, and each day in the hospital costs roughly $400.

Family members make the hour-and-a-half drive to visit Honorato Rodriguez every other week, said his daughter Raquel Valdez. Her 7-year-old son asks if they're going to take him home, which upsets Honorato Rodriguez.

And he doesn't know the latest advice given to his wife, who wears a gold wedding band and whose living room wall has photos of her in-laws.

"I was told to look for a divorce attorney," she said quietly.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.

First published: Wednesday, January 10, 2007

See "Reader Feedback" at the bottom of the article

If only they had lived in the trailor park in Biney Breeze Florida - they'd be millionaires.

It's completely ludicrious Carolyn - shame on them for even prosecuting him; he should have been recieving serious help before that incident with the neighbors ever happened. Where were that man's doctors?

Is it any wonder so many of us are cynics? How else do you defend yourself against such lack of compassion from your fellow man?

paula