This document presents a briefing by Representative Claude Pepper on the abuses in guardianship of the elderly and infirm, and testimony from witnesses at the Congressional hearing called to examine the issue of guardianship abuse. The opening statement of Representative Pepper and a prepared statement of Representative Helen Delich Bentley are included. Two panels of witnesses provide testimony. The first panel illustrates the problem of abuses in guardianship and includes testimony from: (1) 81-year-old Minnie Monoff of Greeley, Kansas; (2) 66-year-old Marguerite Van Etten of Plantation, Florida; (3) 83-year-old Tod Porterfield of Albion, Indiana; (4) Etan Merrick, wife of 71-year-old David Merrick, Broadway producer; (5) John Hartman, a former public guardian and currently an inmate at Community Treatment Center in Detroit, Michigan; and (6) Jim Godes, an investigator for the Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care. The second panel focuses on the scope of the problem and needed reform, and includes testimony from William Ahearn, managing editor, Associated Press, New York, New York; John Pickering, chairman of the Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly, on behalf of the American Bar Association; Nancy Trease of Legal Aid Service, Broward County, Florida; and John Regan, professor of law, Hofstra University School of Law, Hempstead, New York. Questions and answers, and relevant materials submitted for the record are appended. (NB)