So I found out today (yesterday now) my 81 year old dad is being forced to retire next Thursday. I received a text from two of his partners that they needed to speak with my brother and I immediately. My dad is a successful attorney who has practiced law "his" way. In a time when I"m told there aren't many General Practioners, he's one of the good ones left. He and his orignail parter who has now since passed built a small independent practice and played the game on their own terms. My dad loves his work! I mean it's really a labor of love. The man goes into the office 7 days a week. The man refuses to get anesthesia when he has a colonscopy just so he can go back to the office. You'd think someone like that is married to his work and might just be neglectful to this kids. While he wasn't exactly the greatest dad, it wasn't because he was absent. In fact unless he had a trial in another city, he made it home for dinner every night of the week. But he loves going to the office. He has routinely said I will retire the day they put me in the ground. Being that my dad is also a horses ass, we've always been happy he has a labor of love to keep himself busy. The idea of retirment and my dad don't go along. The man has traveled the world, he goes out of his way to meet pepole of other cultures and learn their culture and food. I can't tell you how many clients he's made just by talking to strangers. He's taught law classes in other countries including Iraq, Mongolia and Poland. He's met the Dalai Lama and represented his brother for years. We've hiked to Everest Base Camp together. This was his third trip. He was one of the original founders of the Sci-fi channel and worked alongside Leonary Nemoy in it's earliest interation. He's had mulitple cases go to the Supreme Court. The man has lived his life by his own rules professionally and personally. My dad is also very, very private. He doesn't like to talk about his own health. It's actually been an issue my brother and I have pushed him about. We feel he has a repsonsibilty to share his health history if anything would be relevant to our own well being. My dad has always had terrible eye sight. For years he's needed cataract surgery on both eyes. I didn't quite understand until this year why he's put it off. Apparently my dad since he's been a kid has almost been legally blind in one of his eyes. He had surgery on one of his cataracts earlier this year. For some reason he had refused to get the other one done. The fear was there might be complications with this eye that has failed him for so long. It's incredible to me the amount of reading professionally and personally he's pushed himself through. He reads 2-3 books a week for enjoyment. HIs fear with getting surgery is if there's a complication he wouldn't be able to practice law.
So fast forward to today. My brother and I spoke with his current partners. When we heard he would be forced out next week we were left with a lot of questions. Apparently for the last couple of years he's been making LOTS of mistakes. The kind of mistakes that could cause his small firm to lose their malpractice insurance. Nobody wants this job of sitting down with him next week but it's happening and there's nothing I can do about it and he was heading towards a path of losing his license. He began forgetting details, forgetting to send exhibits and relying on his associated to carry the load. He may be somewhat aware of his situation, but if so he's certainly in denail. It seems his cognitive skills are now failing him or he's just starting to act 81.
Thanks for allowing me to use this as a place to process my thoughts and journal. Has anyone experienced something similar with a parent? I’d welcome your comments/suggestons.