Private hospital doctor declared possible consent of insane competent woman – five times – E24

In recent months, E24 has revealed how lawyers and real estate agents have been involved in the disappearance of more than NOK 15 million from the fortunes of two elderly women:

Today, E24 can document that this has happened with the help of evaluations from two doctors at the same private hospital, Volvat Majorstuen. The Volvat Group had sales of NOK 614 million in 2018 and has provided private healthcare services in Norway for 30 years.

The two doctors believed that women were competent to consent or raised questions about dementia. Evaluations of public hospitals, GPs, the police and various courts show that there can be errors.

Both women have been clients of attorney John Hammervoll and received assistance from employees of Privatmegleren Aveny.

E24 has a total of six statements and survey evaluations in Volvat Majorstuen. The private health trust confirms that it has not been aware of the cases.

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Millions transferred from an older woman

From the account of the first woman, who is more than 90 years old, almost seven million crowns were transferred from 2017 to 2020 for services provided by lawyer John Hammervoll and Odd Kalsnes, who previously worked at Privatmegleren Aveny.

Kalsnes had a private allowance for the woman.

E24 has revealed that Kalsnes receives 12.5 percent of the woman’s assets in a will. Attorney Hammervoll estimated in a court hearing that the value of the woman’s home was between $ 20 million and $ 30 million. He also had around NOK 6.9 million in his account when the will was signed in October last year.

Both Hammervoll and Kalsnes are under police investigation, charged with gross financial infidelity or complicity. Both deny criminal guilt. They refer to the statements of Volvat’s doctor who say that the woman was competent to give consent and they believe that they have done nothing wrong.

“Absolutely optimistic”

Between November 2016 and December 2019, the woman in her 90s was assessed as competent for consent on five occasions. The same doctor from Volvat Majorstuen signed all these statements.

However, the 90s woman was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and advanced cognitive impairment as early as September 2016. It happened after an admission to Ullevål University Hospital, according to court documents.

Three days later, the home health unit wrote a note saying that the woman “[v]it irritates a lot and turns a lot.

The woman in her 90s is examined by the doctor from Volvat Majorstuen two months later. In the statement, which has E24, the doctor writes:

“After a long relationship, it can be confirmed that the patient is cognitively alert and can take care of himself.”

So it was less than a year since Volvat’s doctor recruited the woman as a patient, a ruling by the Court of Appeal shows.

Play police questioned

During the next three years, while around seven million are transferred from the account to women in the 1990s, the same doctor declares his competent consent four more times. The impressions that E24 has reviewed show that the woman of the 90s has paid at least six thousand crowns for the surveys and statements of Volvat Majorstuen.

Here you can read four of the statements:

The doctor in question, a general practitioner, now has the status of a witness in the investigation of the case.

– He was questioned to clarify how the investigations were carried out and how he reached his conclusions about competition by consent, says police lawyer Ragnvald Brekke.

According to Brekke, the police do not suspect the doctor of criminal acts.

Legal documents show that the woman in her 90s was declared competent to give consent by the doctor after exams that lasted between 15 and 30 minutes. The evaluations performed did not involve any questions about finances and the doctor did not test for dementia. The method was, according to the doctor himself, to talk to her.

“In the opinion of the Court of Appeal it does not seem [legen] have conducted a reassuring assessment of [kvinnens] consent, competence and cognitive abilities “.

Did not know of statements

During questioning, the doctor asked if he had been misled. The doctor does not want the E24 questions to be sent to him and writes that «no [er] interested in spending more time on it, more than I have already done. The information in this case has been forwarded to the doctor, who has not responded to E24’s query.

The doctor “himself did not react when he was given access to an outpatient note in which he spoke of cognitive impairment and dementia,” according to the police investigation.

Police lawyer Ragnvald Brekke says the police have not been in contact with the Norwegian Board of Health about the doctor. Brekke won’t respond if the doctor was aware of the woman’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis before declaring her consent five times.

– I can’t comment on that now either.

It may be a violation of the guidelines.

Earlier this fall, E24 contacted CEO Per Helge Fagermoen in Volvat. The documents then showed that an assistant nurse who previously worked in Volvat Majorstuen had received 250,000 crowns from the woman in the 1990s. Fagermoen declined to comment on the case.

The private hospital has not been aware of all the statements the doctor wrote that the same old woman was competent to give consent, according to the director.

– Statements written by our doctors have not been specifically considered since, in this case so far, we are not informed about which patients it applies to. We also don’t have the opportunity to investigate these cases without being asked by the patient, family members or public oversight authorities, says Fagermoen.

According to the CEO, Volvat has guidelines on what should be included in investigations of possible cognitive impairment. Fagermoen says that 15 minutes “is short in that context.”

– Based on the described, and presumably no blood tests or tests have been performed, there will be a breach of Volvo guidelines, and also the requirements for medically appropriate treatment, it says about what appears in the court documents about Women’s exams in 90 -years.

“No obvious dementia”

In the fall of 2016, another woman, in her 70s, came to Volvat Majorstuen after being appointed a public guardian. In connection with the abolition of guardianship and the sale of real estate, the woman was to be examined for insanity.

Prior to the investigation, Privatmegleren Aveny’s partner Beate Ellingsen and attorney John Hammervoll had sold two commercial properties owned by the woman in her 70s. In advance, the broker and attorney were notified that she might be insane. Ellingsen had previously told E24 that Privatmegleren Aveny has documentation denying dementia. E24 has not been allowed to view the documentation.

The sale process prompted the county governor to appoint a guardian for the woman in the 1970s.

Then the woman was examined and examined by another doctor in Volvat Majorstuen. The doctor’s assessment raised questions about whether he was insane and recommended further examination:

“There is no obvious dementia in today’s study.”

– Volvat did not know that the woman had been treated by Volvat before E24 made contact, says CEO Per Helge Fagermoen.

Guardianship repealed

The conclusion that cast doubt on the woman in the dementia of the 70s, led to the lifting of the guardianship. Soon after, he signed a gift certificate for NOK 3.2 million and transferred his house worth NOK 6 million to his daughter, completely free of charge. The woman kept the loan.

– This is a private matter, and an unnecessary burden now that this is a closed chapter, the woman’s daughter has previously told E24.

Volvo CEO Per Helge Fagermoen says that the doctor has an independent treatment responsibility and that the company has a responsibility:

– The county governor will independently request answers from both the doctor and the company in the cases. In this case, we have not received any inquiries from the county governor.

The doctor, a neurologist, has received the information in this case, but has not responded.

About eight months after the investigation in Volvat, the Oslo city sheriff’s office took a position on the gift certificate and transfer of the woman’s home. The court thought that the woman was clearly weakened and probably did not understand what was happening around her:

“There is no evidence in the evidence close to the facts or in his explanation to the court that indicates that he understood the content or scope of the provisions that were made on his assets. On the contrary, her explanation to the court clearly points in the direction that she did not have that understanding. “

The court ruled that the older woman should get the values ​​back.

A personnel matter

According to CEO Per Helge Fagermoen, the doctor who examined the woman in the 1970s changed employers. Volvat tries to contact the person in question.

– Of course we are now investigating the case, says Fagermoen.

Volvat was unaware that the other doctor, who declared the woman’s competent consent five times in the 1990s, has been under police questioning. After E24 was contacted with questions, meetings were held on what is known as a personnel matter.

– As for the individual doctor who has been questioned by the police, we were informed of this after his investigation, but we do not wish to comment further at this time. This is a personnel matter between us and the doctor, says Per Helge Fagermoen.

Note: An employee of the Verdens Gang, who is the majority owner of E24, is associated with the circle around the woman in the 90s and has a relationship with a private person that is provided in the same will as Odd Kalsnes.