photo by: Joselyn King

Missouri resident Beverly Shaw sets up near the playground at Wheeling Park, where she sold photo opportunities with her two goats to raise money on her cross-country quest to inform the public about the issue of “medical kidnapping.” She also is raising money to pay for her legal battle to regain guardianship of her husband David, who is hospitalized in Indiana.

Missouri resident Beverly Shaw’s tale begins in August 2023, when she took her husband David for care at a hospital in Indiana.

The couple was on vacation. She said David had suffered a stroke the year before, was dehydrated, and she stopped at the hospital in Indiana to get him some fluids.

She explained the hospital next allegedly decided she wasn’t giving him the care he needed, and decided to keep him there against both of their wills. He would later be transferred to a nursing home, and she would lose guardianship of him.

Shaw now asserts she and her husband are the victims of “medical kidnapping,” a situation in which an adult patient is taken into state custody or guardianship against their will — often due to disagreements with health care providers or family members regarding medical decisions.

She brought her story to Wheeling recently, where she parked her weathered van next to the Wheeling Park playground.

Accompanying her were her husband’s two emotional support goats. Shaw offers the public a chance to have their photos taken with the goats, and this money provides her the means to continue pushing her cause and she continues on to Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.

She is raising money for gas, and for hotel rooms when the temperature dips below freezing.

She also has an upcoming court date in federal court regarding her husband’s guardianship case. Shaw said she needs $10,000 to pay her attorney. She has set up a cash app at $2GOATSAND1LADY.

Over time, the family has lost their home and most of their retirement assets as her husband remains in the nursing home, according to Shaw.

“The whole thing starts with a (hospital) questionnaire, asking, ‘Are you from a large family,” she said. “Do you have a large support group? Do you have kids? Do you get along?’

“This is all drilling you to see if they can get away with this, if you have anyone who would be opposed to it or have strong support in the family. … They look for the weakest link in your family,” she continued.