After Heart Surgery, I Woke Up to Learn My Three Children Had Gone Home Because Hospital Parking Was Too Expensive. I Lay There in Tears Until a Well-Dressed Stranger Entered,

too busy.

“too busy.” Third, I gave Joyce financial power of attorney, effective only upon certification of incapacity by two doctors. Fourth, I instructed the hospital in writing to disclose nothing to David, Sarah, or Michael without my permission. My hands shook, but the signatures were mine.

“One more thing,” Gloria said. “The most important thing.”

“What?”

“You need an independent capacity evaluation,” she said. “Not by anyone they picked. Not by anyone at this hospital, so nobody can say Dr. Chen influenced it. By a board-certified geriatrician who’s never