Chapter 5 - Ryan restricts visitors
Emily was transferred from acute hospital care to a long-term neurorehabilitation facility outside Fort Worth.
I wanted to visit twice a week.
Ryan objected.
“She gets overstimulated.”
The rehabilitation physician had recommended controlled visits.
Not no visits.
Ryan told me:
“You upset her.”
“How?”
“Her heart rate rises when you talk.”
“She recognizes me.”
“We don’t know that.”
I pushed.
He pushed harder.
Then the facility received a written visitor list from Ryan.
My name was restricted to preapproved appointments.
I called the social worker.
She said:
“As spouse and current surrogate decision-maker, Mr. Bennett has requested limited visitation while treatment is being reassessed.”
I thought he was grieving badly.
Possessive.
Scared.
I did not yet think he was building a system.
That was my first mistake.
I treated a boundary I distrusted as grief rather than asking a lawyer whether Ryan actually had unlimited authority to isolate an incapacitated spouse from family.
He did not.
May you like
But challenging him early would have been easier than challenging him later.
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