Taking Care

LeDoux was unimpressed that Lise Liddell had visited Hill at the nursing home nearly every day, attended all court hearings and padded Evans's bank account with several thousand dollars, just as her family had done for many years.

LeDoux accused the son of being motivated by money. “Mr. Evans has demonstrated that he places his dependence on Ms. Hill's income above her welfare,” she wrote.

And LeDoux concluded in her report that the county should remain guardian even against Hill's wishes. “Providing [Hill] with what she desires may not ultimately be in her best interest,” LeDoux wrote.

Judge Austin apparently was also hip to the Press story. He pushed Hill's case to the bottom of the docket, then called Hilsher, LeDoux and Purdie back to his private chambers for a 30-minute pow-wow before proceeding.

In a rare rebuff to a guardian ad litem's recommendation, Austin ignored LeDoux's report, cleared the way for Lise Liddell to become guardian two weeks later and on March 19 officially set Hill free.

“The judge told our lawyer he was fast-tracking the case because of the Press article,” says Lise Liddell, adding that Austin also inquired about her father's law firm. “He didn't want the county to be portrayed negatively.”

A couple days after the hearing, Marvin Evans and a friend carried Margie Hill upstairs to her bedroom, where she lay surrounded by photographs of family and friends.

“She looked like a little girl,” Lise Liddell says, “with the covers under her chin and the biggest smile on her face.”

Home health care nurses now visit Hill several times a week, paid for by Medicare insurance. Dr. James Skelton, who specializes in internal medicine and long-term care, has made house calls to examine Hill. He praises Evans for taking excellent care of her by cooking, cleaning and administering medications.

“Everything here is just right for my mama,” Evans says. “I've been doing this for years; ain't nothing different.”

Evans says he is thrilled to have his mother back home where she belongs. But he shudders to think of other cases that end less happily.

“The county degraded my mama,” he says. “They took an elderly lady and threw her into any old nursing home.”

The Liddells spent $20,000 on attorney fees and $8,500 upgrading Hill to a better nursing home. They are still waiting to get Hill's Social Security check transferred back into her bank account.

It took weeks to undo the damage done at Lexington Place and get Hill's blood-sugar levels back under control. And it took months to navigate through red tape before the county would even allow Hill to leave Lexington Place. “At first, I thought we'd have her out of that joint in a week,” Lise Liddell says.

Judge Austin and attorneys Hilsher and LeDoux did not respond to interview requests for this article.

“We handled the [Hill] case like we would normally handle other guardianship cases,” Estella Olguin, community relations director for Harris County Protective Services, wrote the Press in a recent e-mail.

Olguin credited the Press for teaching the county about a valuable resource: 4-1-1 directory assistance. “As a result of this case,” Olguin wrote, “we did learn that it is sometimes possible to locate people in other parts of the country by dialing information.”