Hundreds of elderly people in Broward have been rushed into legal guardianship before they've had mental health exams or anyone has proven they can't take care of themselves -- an abuse of state law and their constitutional rights.

"I didn't think this could happen in America," said Hildegard Rothman, 86, a German immigrant who collapsed at a Hollywood hospital in December 1992 while visiting her dying husband.

Rothman was hustled into guardianship from her hospital bed without first being allowed to appear in court and defend herself -- a right extended to every accused criminal.

"I didn't go through what I went through at the war time, with the Nazis coming to get my husband, to put up with that," said Rothman, who protested the guardianship, was found competent and set free last year.

Broward judges have routinely granted professional guardians and their attorneys instant control over old people through "emergency temporary guardianship," a provision of state law rarely used in Dade and other counties.

The majority of long-term guardianships initiated in Broward in 1992 and 1993 began with emergency guardianship. Almost every guardian who asked for an emergency guardianship last year received it, frequently on the same day, records show.

As a result:

* Elderly men and women have routinely lost their rights before they realized anyone was trying to take them away.

* Protections that legislators intended to give almost every elderly or disabled South Floridian facing guardianship have been skirted.

* People like Rothman, found competent when they finally have their day in court, have lost control of their life and money for months even though they didn't meet the legal requirements for guardianship.

Ray Licker was so humiliated after Broward General Medical Center thrust him into an emergency guardianship following hip surgery last year, at age 91, that he forbid his girlfriend to utter the word "guardian" in his presence.

Licker, a retired jeweler, lost control of his life for five weeks, and only regained it after a panel of mental health examiners unanimously said he was able to take care of himself and the guardian backed off.

"It took a piece of his life," Rose Licker, who married him in August, said. "He became so fearful that this would happen again that I was constantly assuring him, 'It's OK, this will never ever happen to you again.' "

Mae Shurman, 81, a retired nurse and champion bridge player, lost her rights suddenly Aug. 9 after her estranged daughter enlisted the help of a professional guardian and guardian attorney.

"This is so corrupt," said Shurman, of Coconut Creek, who was portrayed in court as an intelligent but troubled woman who doesn't get along with her husband or daughter.

Professional guardian Knyvett Lee and Lee's attorney, Todd Smith, sought control of Shurman's savings, an estimated $750,000 in stocks and bonds. A court hearing officer recommended that Shurman keep control of her own money during her emergency guardianship. Still, the guardianship documents Smith later handed a judge to sign, authorized Lee to seize Shurman's considerable assets.

Smith, when challenged in a later hearing, said that he accidentally presented the wrong paperwork to the judge.