Between 1983 and 1989, four nurses murdered at least 41 elderly patients in Lainz Hospital in Vienna, allegedly because of stress, but there is evidence that the aim was to get control of the assets of the victims.
You can imagine, then, my shock to find evidence that a network of corrupt doctors and judges still appears to be at work so many years later in Lainz Hospital.
I stumbled on this scandal by accident: I have had to take care of my elderly aunt. She lives in a house in the 13th district in Vienna that she used to share with my Dad – they were both owners — until he died last October.
In May, she went to her local hospital, Lainz, and was immediately kept in although the doctor told me on the phone that she was in good health.
But about two days after entering the hospital, she fell and broke her arm for the first time in her life in a mysterious incident, prolonging her stay for weeks. Attempts to get her home have not gone smoohtly.
For example, I got a phone call at 9 pm, telling me my aunt had just come home and I should go immediately to look after her.
I found her after 10:30 pm . She was wearing nothing but a thin nightgown, and so weak that she could barely move.
Because I could not lift her up or carry her – no walking frame had been provided –, I had to call the ambulance and they put her back into Lainz under Dr Stephan Pflugbeil.
Early the next morning, I got a call from a private nursing home, Schloss Liechtenstein Kralik, outside of Vienna. They informed me,my aunt had signed an agreement that morning and would be entering their home in a few days, and asked me if I agreed.
I inquired about the terms and conditions and was told the cost was 136 euros for a day to share one room.
The total costs a year of at least 50,000 euros would be met from the proceeds of the sale of my aunt’s property.
The Fond Sozial Wien had entered their name on the title deeds and they would give Schloss Liechenstein Kralik the money my aunt owed them for her care when the house was sold.
That means, my aunt can be stripped of all her assets – and be put in a state home in the end — in just a couple of years.
All Schloss Liechtenstein Kralik has to do is push up the bill and then demand payment and the judge at the local court can order my aunt’s assets to be sold for a rock bottom price to a friend.
When I told my aunt, who has a pension of about 800 euros a month, how much the Schloss Liechenstein/Kralik would cost, she was astonished.
She said no one had informed her. She had intended to go into a regular old people’s home . There are some good ones around Vienna, I know, from people who live there costing about 1,200- 2,000 euros a month. Even that is too much for her.
Nurses showed me the document my aunt had signed and it consisted of one short paragraph without any information about the terms and conditions or the cost of transferring to Schloss Liechenstein/Kralik.
Anyway, after getting some legal advice, and being told I had a say as a family member, I faxed an objection in writing, and also asked to see the hospital records.
But when I asked again a few days later, the doctor in charge, Dr Stephan Pflugbeil refused to give me access to the files on the grounds that he had just applied to give the power of attorney over my aunt to the local court. In short, I had no more say in the matter, he told me.
I went immediately and got written permission from my aunt and was able to get to see the files – but only after the intervention of the Ombudsman at the hospital. They confirmed to me that the court had not yet given anyone else power of attorney. The time had simply been too short. I had been quicker. I had the written permission faster.
And thankfully the Ombudsman was excellent!
I checked the hospital files and found evidence of systematic manipulation by Dr Pflugbeil and his associates. For example, my fax objecting to Schloss Liechenstein/Kralik had simply been removed. There was no sign left that Dr Pflugbeil had applied for the power of attorney to be given to the local court immediately after I had asked to see the records following the whole episode with Schloss Liechenstein/Kralik.
Pflugbeil himself told me openly he had only applied for the local court to be given the power of attorney to protect himself from legal action by me. That is to say, he admitted indirectly he could rely on the local court to block my access to the files and stop me finding evidence of fraud – or worse – against an elderly patient.
My aunt next wrote a note, saying she really wants a family member to be given power of attorney.
The judge in the local court, Magister Michaela Lauer, brushed it aside and told me on the phone on Monday she has appointed one of her friends.
She is blocking access to all the files as expected.
A person sent by that same judge, Lauer, to assess my aunt’s mental state, Frau Marianne Doublie, admitted to me on the phone that she thought my aunt was mentally sound and did not need a guardian, and also that she had expressly said she wanted a family member to take care of her things.
But Doublie said she had recommended anyway that Magister Lauer takes control of all her assets….
So what about the wishes of people deemed mentally sound? So what about the evidence of fraud?
Lauer is, incidentally, the same judge I filed charges against in April 2009 because of her handling of the appointment of a guardian for my father.
The guardian, a lawyer called Magister Wolfgang Ruckenbauer — appointed after a bizarre series of events — filed a final report on my Dad’s assets, which left out more than half of all his property. This report was supposed to be the official basis for the inheritance. If half the property does not even appear in it, who get’s it?
Yes, you guessed it.
Lauer and Ruckenbauer retain the power of attorney over the assets.
Because Lauer is he only one with access to the files, she can add and subtract whatever papers are necessary to give an appearance of legality to the sale of that property (to pay for debts etc etc).
After my Dad died in October, just before I went to Poland to give some talks on the swine flu, Lauer handed the file over to a solictor’s office, Erich Posvek.
The solicitor who took over the case, Magister Freidrich Hutz’s handling of the case has been grossly negligent at best.
In spite of the fact, Hutz was informed in writing in December 2009 by the insurance company that the house was not insured after the insurance had been cancelled without authorisation in November 2009, he did nothing.
I only found out the house had been left uninsured for months on March 10th, 2010, when Hutz informed me out of the blue when I signed my inheritance declaration.
He then told me I am responsible for insuring it – and impressed on me I had to do this immediately because the law required for the house to be insured. If I did not sort out the insurance immeidately, he would ask the local court to intervene and he hinted they would hold a forced auction, or a fire sale.
It is actually the responsibility of the solicitor to make sure the house is insured. He has all the paper work and is obliged to liquidate the bank accounts of my Dad in Austria to pay for the insurance and other basics to protect the assets until the inheritance is settled.
Anyway, I reactivated the insurance the next day after one call with the insurance company, and simply by pointing out that the cancellation had not been done with proper authority.
As if that is not enough: there is evidence Hutz is actually making false statements about his communications with third parties over bank accounts. For example, Hutz told me he had sent a letter three times to Lloyds TSB in the UK to liquidate a bank account of my Dad’s which has a big sum of 60,000 UKP on it but had got no reply.
However, Lloyds has written to me to say they have no record of any such letters from Posvek and Hutz. And that in spite of Lloyds having entered into a correspondence with Posvek/Hutz in November 2009.
Who to believe?
Lloyds TSB.
As soon as there as the credit and debit balance of the liquid assets of my Dad shows a debit without an adequate credit, the local judge, Lauer, can order a forced auction of my Dad’s property on the grounds that the debits (insurance etc) have to be paid immediately.
One of the lawyers I went to consult even told me how houses are forced into a fire sale auction by the very judges whose friends then buy them up.
Of course, this can only work if the files and records are systematically manipulated as happened with the case of my aunt and Dr Pflugbeil, and if those files also kept under seal so no one can see the evidence of all the manipulation.
But Lauer seems to be able to do just that – and with impunity. She informed me on the phone on Monday I cannot see the files. I have sent two faxes asking to see them and theoretically I can but I have no reply.
So there you have it!
The very judge caught in the act of aiding and abetting fraud and other crimes has total control over the files that are needed to prove that crime.
At least, this is how Lauer portrays it.
Of course, this is not true. There are instances to control Lauer such as her superior at the court Dr Romana Vogel Schubert or the State Prosecutor in Vienna and the Oberlandsgerichthof. But the reality is that these control instances seem to do nothing but turn a blind eye to the crimes of the judges no matter how great the evidence of their crimes. Why? What motivation could they have?
Nothing happened over my first charges against Lauer. There was no investigation.
Who knows how many other people in Vienna have fallen victim to such practises?
Who knows how many other elderly people have been defrauded of their assets and shunted into an isolated home with a doubtful reputation by Dr Stefan Pflugbeil?
Who knows how many houses have been sold at rock down prices in forced auctions in the 13th district because Lauer and her appointed guardians and solicitors have been so grossly negligent at best?
Who knows how many people not just in Vienna but in Austria, who have been robbed in this way?
A senior judge in Feldkirch, Voralberg, Korneila Ratz, was recently put under investigation for forging wills for the profit of some family members.
http://derstandard.at/1263706927381/Testament-Faelschung-Vorarlberger-Richterin-unter-Korruptionsverdacht
I have heard personally of other such cases.
People in Austria – and the rest of Europe – need to be aware of just how easily local judges — also together with corrupt family members — can take control of their assets and thwart an inheritance.
The law has completely broken down in Austria, it seems. There is no security for anyone who has property here or who wishes to pass it on to their children. The local judges can do with it what they want. Lawlessness is rampant among the officials who are supposed to be guardians of the law.
There is no safeguard against abuse in hospitals or old people’s homes, either.
The court that is supposed to be uncovering these cases is actively helping to hide them.
Local judges and doctors can do whatever they please with total impunity in Austria — and most people are not even aware of it. The controlled mainstream media does not report on these cases.
Posted by Jane Burgermeister 
