March 5, 1987
Judge Richard W. Miller
Lynchburg Circuit Court
P. 0. Box 4
Lynchburg, Virginia 24505
Dear Judge Miller,
I have finally Just received my own medical records from Duke University Medical Center. These records cast significant doubt on the conclusion that I have Alzheimer's disease. They show, rather, that Creighton tried, without success, to convince Duke that I had that disease.
As I have long suspected, all of the "evidence" that I have Alzheimer's appears to be derived from misinformation provided to Duke by Creighton, his wife Gloria, and, to a lesser extant, by my sister Jeanette and my brother Alden. None of the tests actually performed by Duke showed any evidence of that disease at all. To the contrary, my test scores were wall above average far a person my age. This is similar to the results recently obtained by Dr. Al Asadi here in Abu Dhabi.
For example, the medical reports state that on the Wechsler IQ test I scored an "excellent performance for a 74 year old woman". Also, on the Wechsler Memory Scale, my "performance was quite goad". The overall conclusion was, "these tests are well above the norm seen for older individuals and cast doubt on an Alzheimer's type diagnosis at this time." Later reports state that my "test results are consistent with earlier reports" and that there "was no evidence of aphasia on the aphasia screening test." It is also mentioned that I solved a mental arithmetic problem "in less than five seconds."
Some of the tests do show a "mild memory impairment" in certain specific areas of memory. I have never denied that my memory is not as strong as it once was. At the same time, the report states that "she did return 90% of what she initially remembered". A mild or even a severe impairment in only one area of memory is hardly sufficient for a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or a determination of incompetence, as I know myself from having practiced medicine in this specific area for many years.
Moreover, in other areas, my test scores actually improved with age. On April 12, 1989, I had 3 errors on the SMPSQ and scored 25 correct out of 30 on the Folstein. BY August 2, 1984, I had only 2 errors on the SMPSQ and scored 28 out of 30 an the Folstein. On October 25, 1984, I achieved a perfect score on both tests. It should be clear that an Alzheimer's patient does not experience this sort of rapid improvement. My lack of self confidence mentioned in the reports can be explained as a natural consequence of the fact that Creighton and his wife were constantly telling me that there was something wrong with me.
The reports also hint at other possible causes of my memory problems. The April 18, 1984 report refers to "job/family stress" and to "stress-related pseudodementia". Several of the reports refer to the difficulties I faced in obtaining the custody of my granddaughter, Shamema. Also, the May 15, 1985, report stated (correctly) that I was "unhappy" at living with Creighton and Gloria. After that report, Creighton stopped bringing me to Duke.
It is clear from these reports that the conclusion of "probable Alzheimer's disease" is derived entirely from so-called "historical information" supplied by Creighton Sloan, Gloria Sloan and Jeanette Jacobson. Much of that information was false. For example, the April 12, 1984 report states that my granddaughter, Shamema, was living in a "foster home". This was not true. My granddaughter has never been under foster care. Also, there is the claim that I had "forgotten plans to visit" Creighton in Chapel Hill. The truth is that I have dreaded these trips to Creighton's residence because he is dictatorial and even abusive. In addition, I always wind up giving him money. Therefore, I have often conveniently "forgotten" to go. It is also not true that my father had Alzheimer's, although he did suffer memory loss prior to his death at age 86.
In the October 25, 1989 report comes the point to all this. It is said that "the family's major concern is the vulnerability of Dr. Sloan to financial exploitation......There continues to be question regarding the possibility of inappropriate use of Dr. Sloan's liquid assets by her oldest son." My youngest son, Creighton, has, since childhood, felt a rivalry towards his older brother, Sam. During the time of these reports, I had no financial dealings at all with Sam.
Apparently, the hospital naively never considered the possibility that the actual reason that Creighton and Gloria kept bringing me in for tests was that they wanted me to be diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease so that they could have me declared incompetent and seize control of my assets. The fact is that my oldest son, Sam, has been financially independent from me since he was a college student twenty years ago. Creighton, on the other hand, has relied on me for financial support for many years. To a much lesser extent, my brother, Alden Jacobson, who is also mentioned in these reports, used to receive $600 per month from me. Thus, all the people who supplied "historical data" to Duke had a vested interest in having me declared incompetent. Whenever anything I said conflicted with information provided by these family members, the doctors at Duke apparently never considered the possibility that what I said was correct and the information provided by my family was misleading.
As to my vulnerability to financial exploitation, perhaps Creighton was afraid that Sam, who was a financial consultant on Wall Street, would eventually find out about the large sums of money which I had been giving to Creighton. As I have mentioned in previous letters to the court, I gave Creighton $44,293.53 just in the period from January, 1985 to August, 1996. I also helped finance his two houses and his three masters degrees. I have since discovered that further large sums of money were diverted from my bank accounts to Creighton's without my knowledge or consent. Lately, Creighton has been telling my friends and relatives that I have been spending recklessly.
However, as far as can determine, most of the money which he claims that l spent actually must have been moved from my bank accounts by Creighton himself.
The medical reports show that I had two personal family problems during the period in question: difficulty in obtaining the custody of my granddaughter, Shamema, and unhappiness with my life with Creighton and Gloria. Now, I have solved both problems. I have obtained, for practical purposes, the custody of my granddaughter, in spite of Creighton's determined opposition to this. Also, I have made good my escape from Creighton's house. In retaliation, Creighton has brought this lawsuit against me for the purpose of forcing me to go back to where I was by giving up my granddaughter and going back to live with him and Gloria. I can assure the court that I have no present intention of doing either. Even if I lose forever the $150,000 in my assets which Creighton has seized, I do not think that I will be willing to surrender my granddaughter after such a long struggle to get her. Also, from what I have learned during the past few months of Creighton's activities behind my back detrimental to my best interests while I was staying with him, I think it would be foolish to consider staying with him again.
I do not know of any independent person who has had significant contacts with me during the past several years who believes that I am incompetent. Neither Mr. Howard nor Mr. Houck, the two attorneys in this case, have ever met me, at least not in recent years. Dr. Jessie Enslin, who apparently testified against me, has met me a total of two times briefly in the past five years. Massie Ware, the bank officer, has met me only once, when I stopped briefly by his office in early 1986 to collect my monthly bank statement. (Even at that time I had trouble in getting my bank statements from him.) In fact, I have no close personal friends at all in the Lynchburg area, because I have not lived there on a full time basis since 1975 when I went to work in Staunton. Most of my farmer friends and associates have since died or moved away. Except for keeping my bank account and my house in Lynchburg (which I still have no intention of selling) I have had very little contact with the Lynchburg area. Therefore, I have no idea of to whom Creighton is referring when he alleges that I have "many friends in the City who perceive (my) recent behavior as inconsistent with (my) prior behavior".
Mr. Howard, Creighton's attorney, still refuses to provide me with copies of the evidence and supporting papers which he submitted to the court. Therefore, I am enclosing a complete copy of the medical records I received from Duke.
Very Truly Yours,
Dr. Marjorie Sloan
CC: Kellis Howard
Here is my first letter to the FBI: Letter to the FBI about the kidnappings of Dr. Marjorie Sloan and Shamema Honzagool Sloan.
For photos see: