The brain is a challenging maze and competency blends medicine and law in a complicated fashion.
Sumner Redstone, at 92 years-old and the controlling shareholder of his $40 billion media empire, Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. has accomplished a lot. And a court recently ruled he can continue to make his own decisions, including deciding who should be his health-care agent.
This ruling disappointed (to say the least) his former girlfriend and longtime companion, whom he had evicted last fall and removed as his health-care agent, before also removing her from his Will, in which she was to inherit $70 million in cash and real estate.
Although a speech therapist had to interpret Mr. Redstone’s impaired speech, the judge was swayed by the video deposition in which Mr. Redstone made it clear that he wanted his ex-girlfriend out of his life and preferred his daughter to be his health-care agent. The judge remained unconvinced by an expert witness who failed to overcome the presumption of capacity.
The brain is a challenging maze and competency blends medicine and law in a complicated fashion. Our country’s ageism tends to count out anyone over 65, but the judge in this hearing found otherwise.
