Senate Bill to Change Makeup of TN Judiciary Court Passes

A proposal to change the makeup of the entity that investigates complaints against Tennessee judges has passed the Senate.

Republican Sen. Mike Faulk of Kingsport is the primary sponsor of the legislation that was approved 30-0 on Thursday.

The measure would terminate the Court of the Judiciary and replace it with a 16-member board of judicial conduct, which would pretty much have the same function as the court.

Under the proposal, the board must report four times a year to the chief clerk of each legislative chamber, information that includes "complaints opened, closed or pending" and "the number of complaints for which probable cause has been found."

The companion bill is being scheduled for a vote on the House floor.

Full Article and Source:
Senate Bill Would Change Make Up of Judiciary Court

Houston Hospital Pulls Life-Preserving Treatment Against Family's Wishes

A hospital is now actively killing a patient whose family called me at the 11th hour yesterday, pleading to save their father’s life.

Despite the family’s desperation to protect their father’s life, and everything Texas Right to Life did for them, the hospital’s death panel declared his life futile and moved with steps to kill him.

I could not protect him, and I want to tell you what happened.

His family calls him Willie.

A few weeks ago, he was making plans to travel with his family for a vacation in Europe, but he had chest pains and went to the hospital to check what’s wrong. To his surprise, they discovered pneumonia and, shockingly, leukemia.

His doctors suggested surgery and chemo. Willie didn’t want to die. Before sedation, his daughter told me that he looked lovingly into her eyes and said, “Fight for me, baby; I ain’t done living.”

His family — armed with a medical power of attorney — obeyed his wishes and told the doctors to continue his medical care and treatment.

But his doctors disagreed. They had other plans.

Full Article and Source:
Houston Hospital Pulls Life-Preserving Treatment Against Family's Wishes

Note: This article was written on March 20, and the author says Willie died that same afternoon.

Daughter Allegedly Takes More Than $143,000 From Mother With Dementia

A Sandy woman has been accused of stealing more than a hundred thousand dollars from her mom, who suffers from dementia.

Dorothy Jean Henderson, 65, was charged in 3rd District Court Thursday with exploitation of a vulnerable adult, a second-degree felony.

On Dec. 29, 2010, Henderson was appointed by the courts as a guardian and conservator over her 84-year-old mother’s needs. The appointment gave Henderson the power under law to act on behalf of her mother to make medical, residential, financial, end of life and other decisions, according to court documents.

As soon as the paperwork was done, Henderson began taking out large sums of money from her mother’s bank accounts. None of the money was spent in any way to benefit the mother, court records state.

A Salt Lake City police detective reviewed the mother’s financial records and discovered that over nearly a year, Henderson had withdrawn about $143,000 from the accounts for herself or her children. Some of the accounts included money contributed by the mother’s spouse throughout the couple’s 62 years of marriage.

When police interviewed Henderson, she said she "borrowed" about $43,600 from her mother since losing her job in April 2011. Even though Henderson was told by her attorney that these funds were not for her use, but for her mother’s well-being, she didn’t see the problem, "because she always borrowed money from her mother," according to the charges.

Full Article and Source:
Daughter Allegedly Takes More Than $143,000 From Mother With Dementia

DEMAND FOR DISCLOSURE OF THE WORDS THAT KENNETH DITKOWSKY UTTERED THAT WERE KNOWINGLY UNTRUE

One of the tactics that the Court appointed guardians has been able to get away with to discourage you and me from exercising our FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS is to be vague but very direct with accusations. For instance, the ARDC complaint against me charges me with lying to Dr. Patel and to Judicial Officials. If I knowingly told an untruth the accuser should be able to state specifically what words and phrases that I uttered that were untrue, and how she knows that I knew that they were untrue. For instance: Ms. L. Black accuses me of lying to Dr. Patel. OK – what words did I utter to Dr. Patel that were untrue. The letter that she refers to does not say anything that was untrue. If you look at the ARDC complaint filed against me (on the Illinois Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission website the complaint is long on accusations and conclusions but it is almost a void on specifically stating any words and phrases that were knowingly untrue. A lie is a specific statement - it is not a procrustean interpretation of some words and phrases that are randonly chosen. I submit to each person who reads this e-mail that every word that I communicated in connection with the Sykes case was accurate and is backed up by either a Court transcript, a communication from an aggrieved person, an affidavit, or something very tangible. I am very resentful at being called a liar on the website of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission. I urge everyone who reads this e-mail to write the ARDC and demand specifics. We all have First Amendment Rights.

As the agency that regulates attorneys should set a high standard for transparency you each as citizens have a right to know if I am a liar. In particular, as the ARDC posted the complaint for the public to observe it should in the interests of fairness disclose sufficient facts to let the public know exactly what words and phrases I used to convey a false statement to whomever I allegedly made that statement. In particular, as an example in Count 1 I am accused of lying to Dr. Patel. You as a member of the public who has been told I liedm therefore are entitled to know what words I conveyed to Dr. Patel that were untrue. If I did not specifically use any words you should know that also. It, therefore, follows that I did not use the words; someone else has been frugal with the truth. You as a member of the public who has read the posting of the ARDC have the right to know all about that event as well.

Going one step further, I am supposed to have lied to Judicial Officials. You also should know who those judicial officials were and when, where and exactly what knowingly untrue words and phrases I uttered or conveyed to those officials. I, therefore, urge each and every person who is interested in fighting the cause of Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation to inquire of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission and determine for yourself if I lied to anyone, and if so exactly what statements that I made that were knowingly untrue. I waive any right of privacy as to this matter as you as people who have trusted me have a right to know if I am indeed a liar!

Ken Ditkowsky
www.ditkowskylawoffice.com

See Also:
Mary Sykes, Illinois Victim

IN: Attorney Stacy Sheedy Pleads Guilty in $596K Fraud

An Indianapolis attorney and accountant pleaded guilty to theft as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

An investigation discovered late last year that $596,000 was missing from accounts managed for clients by attorney Stacy H. Sheedy. She was charged in January.

Sheedy admitted to two counts of theft, according to a release from Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry, and will receive a sentence of up to eight years. Sentencing is scheduled for April 26 in Marion Superior Court.

The guardianship account supported an elderly widow with Alzheimer's disease residing in a nursing home. Grand jury investigators uncovered unauthorized withdrawals and unaccounted-for funds from the guardianship accounts totaling more than $172,000, the release stated. Sheedy made at least 32 unauthorized withdrawals over six months, investigators found.

That discovery led grand jury investigators to also examine Sheedy's role as trustee of a family trust. A brokerage account within the trust was valued at $501,000 when Sheedy became trustee, the release stated, and was valued at $168 in January. Prosecutors alleged that Sheedy made unauthorized withdrawals from the trust account of $412,500.

Full Article and Source:
Indianapolis Attorney Stacy Sheedy Pleads Guilty in $596,000 Fraud

Former NH Police Captain Sentenced to 12 Months

Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Gillian Abramson sentenced retired Manchester police Capt. Michael Tessier to 12 months in the Hillsborough County jail after he pleaded guilty to two theft charges Wednesday.

Abramson said earlier she would order a hearing to determine whether Tessier should pay restitution in the theft cases.

Tessier will surrender to custody Monday at 2 p.m. to begin serving his sentence.

Tessier pleaded guilty to two counts of theft from trust funds of Thaddeus Jakobiec, a blind, disabled cousin whose trust Tessier was overseeing.

“I'm not persuaded at this point I understand it well enough to say no restitution is needed,” Abramson said.

Tessier's lawyer said his client has repaid $230,000 in restitution already.

Full Article and Source:
Tessier Pleads Guilty, Sentenced to 12 Months

TX: "Probate Judge is Shunting Aside TX Law"

Jack Hood is 88 years old, but I wouldn't place any bets against him in an arm wrestling match.

The World War II veteran says he still submits to workouts that include 200 curls of 25-pound dumbbells.

“Don't (mess) with me,” Hood warned Tuesday.

I can't print the expletive he actually said. But I also can't print an image of the grin that followed, proving the old man remains not only tough, but also funny and sharp.

It matters, though, because Hood's stepdaughter and her attorneys are arguing in court that he is not qualified to manage the assets he shares with his wife of 35 years, Billie Ray Hood, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

Debra Catalani, who is Billie Ray's daughter, is instead arguing that she should control the couple's assets, a claim that shunts aside state law.

The law — Section 883 of the Texas Probate Code — states that when one spouse is incapacitated, the other spouse “acquires full power to manage, control, and dispose of the entire community estate as community administrator.”

Nonetheless, the same probate judge who has considered the dispute for more than two years, Judge Tom Rickhoff, signed an order channeling much of Jack and Billie Ray's assets to Catalani.

Last month, the Fourth Court of Appeals reversed Rickhoff's partition order and remanded it back to his court for more hearings.

“Incredibly, Section 883 was not raised in the trial court by the parties or by the trial judge,” the chief justice wrote.

It's been a frustrating two years for Jack Hood.

I can understand why.

Full Article and Source:
Probate Judge is Shunting Aside Texas Law

Settlement Reached in Brooke Astor Estate Battle

Brooke Astor’s only son saw his inheritance slashed in half and had his control of the estate’s powerful charitable contributions stripped away as part of a settlement that ended a bitter, five-year dispute over the family’s millions.

The settlement, ratified on Wednesday in Westchester County Surrogate’s Court, also lays out how Mrs. Astor’s roughly $100 million fortune will be distributed: $30 million will go toward the creation of a Brooke Astor Fund for New York City Education, and millions more will go to Prospect Park, Central Park, city playgrounds and various cultural institutions.

The settlement, which exposed bitter splits in one of New York society’s historically glamorous families, was most noteworthy for what it took away from Mrs. Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall.

Mr. Marshall, 87, who was convicted three years ago of stealing from her in the later years of her life, had his inheritance cut to $14.5 million from about $31 million. In addition, he and his wife, Charlene, will not be able to choose which charities receive bequests from Mrs. Astor’s estate or how those bequests are to be used.

The settlement, negotiated by the office of Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, is binding, regardless of what happens with Mr. Marshall’s criminal appeal.

Full Article and Source:
Settlement Reached in Battle Over Brooke Astor's Estate

Ohio Woman Sentenced in Embezzlement Case

While Christina Lynn was supposed to be helping two veterans entrusted to her, federal prosecutors said she was busy stealing more than $305,000 from them.

For that, and her guilty plea to a related charge in October, a judge sentenced her to serve 27 months in prison and repay the money.

Lynn, 41, of Williamsport, committed the crime while working as a legal assistant for the law firm of Huffer and Huffer in Circleville. While working in that capacity, she was appointed a legal guardian for the two veterans by the Veterans Administration and Social Security.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Lynn received benefit payments for medical payments and to pay bills.

However, prosecutors said between April 2004 and April 2010, Lynn took $247,000 of the benefits for her personal use and took an additional $58,000 from the trust funds of several of the firm's clients.

She pleaded guilty in October to one count of embezzling public money and was ordered to pay $305,127 in restitution and will serve three years of supervised release after her prison term is done.

Full Article and Source:
Woman Sentenced in Embezzlement Case

Attorney Ken Ditkowsky Answers ARDC Complaint

"I just finished up an edit of the Reply. I am forwarding this response to the various blogs with the hope that they will post it. I want to demonstrate that now all attorneys shake in their boots when confronted by a wrongful disciplinary action reasonably intended to inhibit our free speech. The ARDC case that was filed against me is 'bogus' and intended to shut me up.

It is not going to happen as I was called a liar, even though every word I communicated was absolutely objectively true and based upon the information of people who I respect and believe to be credible.

I sent our requests to admit to the ARDC as I wanted to give them an opportunity to admit or deny the facts that I allegedly lied concerning. The choice was very simple. Admit that certain facts are true and dismiss the case, or on the hand deny that the facts were true and prove them. Instead, the ARDC admitted that they never investigated the facts and did not have sufficient information. Illinois law requires a degree of due diligence before filing a lawsuit. It appears that the attorney for the ARDC ignored that requirement in total and just filed a complaint that accused me of being a liar and posted it on the internet.

That scenario suggests something very sinister and wrong! I do not intend to allow such a scenario to remain in secret or to be covered up. I also do not intend to allow the Human and Civil Rights of either Mary or Gloria or any of the other aggreived individuals similarly situated to be just forfeited. My latest missile is:"


BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD OF THE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION

In the Matter of:

KENNETH KARL DITKOWSKY,

Commission No. 2012 PR 00014
Attorney-Respondent,
No. 642754

Reply
To Response to Motion to Dismiss Complaint
Now comes Kenneth Ditkowsky and renews his Motion to dismiss this ARDC complaint by this reply and in support of the motion states:
Prefatory Statement
Objection is made to the lack of candor that the Administrator’s response to this Motion to Dismiss. For instance in paragraph 1 the Administrator after fortuitously denigrating the Motion with editorial comment states a fact that is untrue. The Administrator claims that there are no affidavits in support of the Motion. In fact there are several. The affidavit of Gloria Sykes and the affidavit of Scott Evans are both provided in support of the motion. Had whoever drafted the Response read the Motion, that person would have noted these affidavits.

Of a more serious nature is the fact that the alleged Administrator’s Response to the Request to Admit is an admission that either no investigation was done prior to the filing of the complaint herein, or the Administrator has not been candid. If the Administrator in fact, prior to bringing his complaint, had done the investigation required by Supreme Court Rule 137 the administrator would have been able to admit or deny all the facts requested to be admitted or denied by the Request to Admit. (The Supplemental Motion to Dismiss addresses this issue.)

Reply
An Attorney and his/her clients are afforded Constitutional Rights and the protections of 735 ILCS 110/et seq. The protections of the Constitution of the United States of America and the State of Illinois are applicable to even the disciplinary proceedings of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. Cavalier responses to serious issues may be the current vogue in some legal circles, but the issues involved in this proceeding and its related proceedings are indeed serious. The fact is that the Administrator in his response to the First Wave Requests to Admit reveals that he “does not have sufficient knowledge to admit or deny ***” the very facts that he must allege in his complaint. Yet, the Administrator concludes that the respondent lied and then wrongfully published the defamation on the ‘web!’ Such perfidy is not only chilling, but an admission that this instant complaint is grossly improper and intentionally violative of intent and spirit of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 137[1] and 735 ILCS 110 et seq. The aforesaid Response to the First Wave Request to Admit is attached hereto and made part hereof as exhibit A as if set out in detail and incorporated by reference.

The granting of authority to the Administrator was not a grant to run rough shod over the rights of citizens, including attorneys. Even a cursory examination of the complaint raises the question of the First Amendment applicability. Count 1 misinterprets words and phrases of an inquiry letter in the most procrustean manner so as to distort the letter’s meaning and seek discipline against respondent for words and phrases that were never communicated. Such a request coupled with the pejorative averments that the non-uttered statement was a lie raises ‘red flags’ and suggests an improper motive in bringing the complaint.

The conclusions of the 2nd count are equally troubling as once again the derogatory ‘name calling’ substitutes for the pleading of facts. In particular, as the Sodini criterion according to our view of the record in In re: Sykes was never met there are no judicial officials and in particular Guardian Ad Litem Stern and Farenga, approximately two years after their appointment, have no standing in the probate proceedings. The plenary guardian and her attorney are similarly acting sans jurisdiction. As the response to the Request to Admit indicates that the Administrator does not have knowledge of such a basic fact, how does the Administrator get the authority to publish a ‘naked statement’ to the public that the respondent is a ‘liar!’

More significantly, all the statements that are alleged to have been made by the respondent are clearly protected statements under the 1st and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution. The 2-619 Motion is thus appropriate to redress the chilling prospect of a citizen being denied Equal Protection of the Law and his right to the First Amendment protections of protest, speech, and assembly. It is significant that the Administrator chooses to ignore these basic Constitutional Rights and at the very same time respond to Requests to Admit with:
“The Administrator does not have sufficient knowledge to admit or deny***”
Supreme Court Rule 137 admonishes exactly this type of conduct on the part of the attorney for the Administrator (i.e. bringing a complaint without doing any due diligence or investigation of the facts so as to be able to certify that the facts alleged are true) and 42 USCA 1983 counsels that color of Statute ought not be employed to deny a citizen of his/her Constitutional laws.

735 ILCS 110 et seq. makes it very clear that a legal proceeding cannot be used to silence a citizen. It may be very inconvenient that Ms. Sykes, Mr. Evans and others have verified by their affidavits the very facts that the Administrator will have to prove false to prove me a ‘liar!’ The Sykes/Evans’ affidavits stand in stark contradiction to the statement of the Administrator in paragraph 1 of his response. The said affidavits also stand as strong contradiction to the conclusions pleaded by the Administrator.

It is respectfully submitted that if the attorney for the Administrator had read the Motion before it was responded to, the complaint would have been non-suited. It is further respectfully submitted had the files of the ARDC and the complaints filed by various friends, relatives, and neighbors of Mary Sykes been reviewed prior to the filing of the complaint filed herein the complaint would never have been filed. Even in 21st Century America the objective truth is not a lie, and the publication of the truth – no matter when or where – is not a prevarication. Similarly, to protect the rights of citizens and to prevent exactly what appears to have happened to Mary Sykes and Gloria Sykes in the Sykes case the legal profession has been very jealous of protecting the First Amendment Rights of the brethren. As a profession lawyers cannot tolerate the deprivation of human rights and/or civil rights of anyone – including them.

When an attorney demands the investigation of the conduct of such ‘august’ persons as a guardian ad litem and an attorney for a plenary guardian, in a case in which a senior citizen is deprived of her liberty, property, and human rights under extremely suspicious circumstances, such effort should be aided and abetted in the interest of justice – not punished. This instant reply draws attention to the Affidavits of Gloria Sykes and Scott Evans. This panel is requested to examine the Court file in the Sykes case and is respectfully requested to take judicial notice of the same. In the Court file, unless I have misread the docket and the transcripts of Mr. Schmiedel’s statements, the Jurisdictional Sodini notices and affidavits of service are missing. As they were never sent by the attorney for the plenary guardian *****. As the Appellate Court of Illinois has noted (in Sodini) these notices are jurisdictional Mr. Stern, Ms. Farenga and the plenary guardian are engaging in their alleged pernicious activities ultra vires. Right or wrong, I have not waived my First Amendment Rights and any attempt to silence me or diminish my said rights is not only wrongful, but clearly a violation of the policy of the State of Illinois as stated in 735 ILCS 110/5.

Moreover, the Response to the First Wave Request to Admit is a clear admission that Rule 137 was ignored by the attorney for the Administrator in drafting the complaint. The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission in being charged with regulating Attorney conduct should be a ‘Cesar’s wife!’ The commission is charged with not only being an example of legal ethics and propriety, but being an example to the profession. It is respectfully suggested that the complaint, and the two responses are examples of the nadir of the profession rather than the best and, therefore, the complaint filed herein should be dismissed with prejudice.

Wherefore pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/2-619 this complaint be dismissed, and a complete and through investigation be commenced as to the Sykes case and pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 137 the motivations for bringing this instant complaint in the manner it was filed.[2]

Respectfully Submitted

Kenneth K. Ditkowsky

Attorney number 0642754
Pro se
5940 W. Touhy Ave
Niles, Illinois 60714
847 600 3421

________________________________________
[1] Had a private attorney acted with such careless disregard the attorney would be subject to sanctions and possible discipline. Rule 137 even in its most liberal interpretation requires enough due diligence on the part of the attorney drafting a complaint that the attorney (and his client) has knowledge of the basic facts upon which the complaint is founded. It is respectfully submitted that this is not true in the instant complaint against me.
[2] CALLING A PRACTICING ATTORNEY A 'LIAR' AND PUBISHING THE SAME ON THE INTERNET IS NOT SOMETHING THAT CAN BE TAKEN LIGHTLY OR IGNORED. As the affidavits of Sykes and Evans clearly refute any suggestion that I lied as to anything this is a serious matter and a clear violation of 735 ILCS 110/ and 42 USCA 1983. On day one the attorney for the Administrator had a duty based upon the ‘traditions of the bar’ (if not an ethical responsibility) to do a full investigate of the charges that were brought and to have a clear knowledge of the facts upon which the charges were being brought. In the instant scenario the ARDC has received numerous citizen complaints totally consistent with the statements allegedly made by me. The Court record is also consistent with the charges that have been made by Gloria Sykes et al. No one can deny that Mary Sykes was helped by Court employed people to prepare a Petition For A Protective Order. No one can deny that this Petition was duly filed and never heard. No one can deny that neither Guardian ad Litem petitioned the Court to voice any complaint as to a possible conflict of interest on the part of the plenary guardian.

No one can deny the videos posted by various citizens on the internet, and no one can deny that Mary Sykes in the early videos appears to be perfectly competent. Indeed, no one can deny that not a scintilla of medical evidence was heard by the Probate Court prior to declaring Mary Sykes incompetent. Nor can anyone deny the transcripts of August 2009 and August 2010. Similarly, no one can deny that the 14 day Sodini notices are claimed by the close relatives of Mary Sykes to have not been served and more importantly Mr. Schmiedel has not made a clear statement stating that these vital notices were indeed properly served as required by Statute. These notices are jurisdictional as they are the protection against vulnerable people being ‘railroaded’ into the loss of liberty and property by dishonest practitioners.

Similarly no one can deny that family members of Mary Sykes have disclosed that the safety deposit box contained valuables and these valuables were never inventoried. The record is clear that Mr. Stern, and Ms. Farenga failed to alert the Court to this oversight. Of course, the record indicates that Mary Sykes had many emergency room visits. The probate record does not reveal any report of these visits by the GAL. It is respectfully submitted that the record in the probate division upon which the Administrator must rely upon to aver that I am liar suggests that some very unusual events have taken place that are disingenuous and possibly criminal. THE PROBLEM THAT THE RESPONSE TO THE REQUEST TO ADMIT DISCLOSES is that the Attorney drafting the complaint apparently was ignorant of these serious factual scenarios.

See Also:
Mary Sykes, Illinois Victim

VT Seeks Dismissal of Abuse Lawsuit Against APS

A lawyer for Vermont told a judge Monday that a disability-rights group can’t sue the state over the alleged failings of its Adult Protective Services Division, because the people named as bringing suit haven’t suffered any injuries.

“There’s no allegation of specific harm to the plaintiffs,” Assistant Attorney General Todd Daloz told Judge Michael Kupersmith.

The state has filed a motion to dismiss a suit brought against the state by Vermont Legal Aid for the groups Disability Rights Vermont and the Community of Vermont Elders.

Legal Aid lawyer Barbara Prine said in courtroom arguments and in interviews that the state was trying to use a legal technicality to avoid fixing a system she called “dysfunctional” and a “wholesale failure.”

The groups filed the lawsuit in December, saying Adult Protective Services routinely violates the law that requires it to begin investigating reports of abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of vulnerable adults within 48 hours of receiving them, and that the state in recent years frequently has had a backlog of as many as 300 open investigations.

“This has gone on for years,” Prine said in court Monday. “We spent a year negotiating with them trying to get it to improve and it did not improve. ... The system is dysfunctional.”

Full Article and Source:
State Seeks Dismissal of Abuse Lawsuit

A Victory for Daniel Gross!

The state Supreme Court stood up Friday for a simple right that matters deeply for all, but especially to the old, sick and disabled.

The job of a lawyer appointed by probate court is to fight for the client, whether he is healthy or a stubborn 86-year-old man.

In a unanimous ruling in the long-running civil rights case of Daniel Gross, the justices ruled that court-appointed lawyers do not have immunity from lawsuits if they abuse their clients. The court also ruled, in a divided opinion, that conservators appointed by probate have limited immunity. The justices also ruled that a nursing home does not have immunity from lawsuits in probate cases.

The ruling has far-reaching implications for our troubled probate court system. It means that a court-appointed lawyer, and to a lesser extent the conservator — who is appointed by probate when a person can no longer live independently — cannot ignore the wishes of a client. The message to probate court is clear: Lawyers and conservators must be held accountable.

For probate courts, this has huge implications because many of the unsettling and outrageous cases I have been writing about for the past six years stem from abuse by conservators and court-appointed lawyers and judges who don't pay enough attention.

Although Gross died in 2007, his civil rights case lived on. The lasting lesson is that the old or disabled — even if they are unwell and cranky — have the same rights as the rest of us.

"It means that if you get a court-appointed lawyer, that lawyer cannot have any doubt that the lawyer's job is to listen to you,'' said Sally Zanger, the Connecticut Legal Rights Project lawyer who represented Carolyn Dee King, Gross' daughter. "It's what the lawyer is supposed to be doing."

Amazingly, that's been the problem in the probate cases I've been telling you about since 2006. Gross' was the first and most heartbreaking case I stumbled upon, when a Legal Aid lawyer told me an unbelievable tale of an old man from Long Island being held against his will in a Waterbury nursing home.

Elderly but still independent, Gross became ill while visiting his daughter in Waterbury. He was hospitalized, and while his children fought over his care and who should control his finances, Waterbury Probate Judge Thomas Brunnock approved his involuntary conservatorship.

Gross wanted to go home to Long Island. He wasn't told of the hearing where he was ordered conserved. His court-appointed lawyer, Jonathan Newman, failed to object to the conservatorship, even though Gross just wanted to leave Connecticut. His conservator, Kathleen Donovan, had him placed in a locked, restricted ward at Grove Manor Nursing Home in Waterbury. His roommate was violent.

Later, when Gross was on a day visit to his Long Island home, he was hospitalized. Donovan brought him back to Connecticut in an ambulance against the wishes of Gross' New York doctor.

In June 2006, Superior Court Judge Joseph Gormley, at a dramatic writ of habeas corpus hearing, ordered Gross freed, declaring that "a terrible miscarriage of justice" had taken place and that the man had been "deprived of his liberty."

King, Gross' daughter, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Brunnock, Donovan, Newman and the nursing home. Brunnock, as a judge, could not be sued, but the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals sent the question of immunity for the others back to the state Supreme Court for a ruling. King's lawsuit against Donovan, Newman and the nursing will now go back to federal court.

Newman's lawyer — who argued to the Supreme Court that his client's role was like that of a lawyer for a child — did not respond to my call. A lawyer for Donovan, Richard A. Roberts, said the ruling might mean that conservators and court-appointed lawyers will be forced to go to a judge for every decision they make.

But Fairfield Probate Judge Daniel Caruso, president of the association of probate judges, said that his colleagues will welcome the ruling.

"When the Supreme Court articulates and provides brighter lines as to what is and is not within the bounds of immunity, it helps everyone," he said.

Public-interest lawyers hailed the decision because it provides new accountability to a court system that critics say still lacks oversight.

"Our legal system has safeguards. Even when you are appointed by the court you are accountable for what you do,'' Tom Behrendt of the Connecticut Legal Rights Project told me.

When I reached King, she reminded me of her father's humiliation before a court that was supposed to protect him.

"He was robbed of his humanity at the end of his life," King said. "He was used as a pawn. They just ignored him."

We can't change that, but the elderly man's lasting legacy is a powerful one. If you are old or disabled, probate court is a less-frightening place thanks to Daniel Gross.

Source: (Note: this article is shown in its entirety with special thanks to reporter, Rick Green of the Hartford Courant)
State Supreme Court Holds Lawyers, Conservators Accountable In Probate Cases

NC Man Sentenced to 90 Months in Prison

A Coquino Beach, North Carolina man was sentenced to 90 months in prison for his role in an investment scheme that defrauded investors of $1.4 million, United States Attorney Paul J Fishman announced.

Michael Noreski, 55, formerly of Mantua, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Renée Marie Bumb on June 6, 2011 to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud. Judge Bumb imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Noreski was the owner of 4 Solutions LLC, a Gibbsboro, New Jersey company that purported to facilitate short sale property transactions for distressed homeowners. Noreski admitted that in connection with this business, he defrauded 10 or more victims of more than $1,000,000.

Noreski, assisted by John Fikaris, 29, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, used approximately $195,000 in forged checks taken from an incapacitated individual, without that individual’s guardian’s permission or knowledge, for 4 Solutions’s initial operating expenses and for Noreski’s personal expenses.

Full Article and Source:
North Carolina Man Sentenced to 90 Months in Prison for 14 Million Investment Fraud Scheme

NASGA Press Release: NASGA Releases its Fourth Open Letter to Congress and the White House

Press Release
For Immediate Release
March 26, 2012

NASGA Releases its Fourth Open Letter to Congress and the White House

NASGA has addressed guardianship/conservatorship abuse by fiduciaries in three previous white papers to Congress and the White House; yet, when any legislator has come forward to champion the cause of guardianship reform and propose legislation, the focus of said reform continues to concentrate on family members as guardians and is limited to suggestions of grants for certification, training, background checks – none of which addresses the growing threat of professional for-profit and “not-for-profit” fiduciaries freely bleeding their victims into indigence and onto Medicaid, at the expense of the currently unsuspecting taxpayers.

In this, our fourth white paper, we continue to ask: How are thieves “trained” not to steal other than by enforcing existing law and sending them to jail?

The GAO’s 2010 report: “Guardianship: Cases of Financial Exploitation, Neglect and Abuse of Seniors” sounded a resounding alarm calling for Congress to step up and address the subject of court-sanctioned plunder of estates by court-appointed fiduciaries and professionals and compel them to MAKE GOOD THE FORGOTTEN PROMISE of 42 U.S.C. 3001 of The Public Health and Welfare Law: “(6) Retirement in health, honor, dignity - after years of contribution to the economy; ” and “(10) Freedom, independence, and the free exercise of individual initiative in planning and managing their own lives, full participation in the planning and operation of community-based services and programs provided for their benefit, and protection against abuse, neglect, and exploitation.”

See:
AnOpenLetterToCongress-4.info

Report Criticizes KY Care Homes

Personal care homes in Kentucky serve as little more than warehouses for their mentally disabled residents, violating their right to live in communities that afford them more freedom and meaningful activities, a watchdog group contends in a new report.

“We’ve got to find a better way to serve folks with mental health issues,” said Marsha Hockensmith, executive director of Kentucky Protection and Advocacy, which produced the report released Monday.

It details a survey of 218 residents at 20 personal care homes throughout Kentucky. Hockensmith said she believes the findings represent overall conditions for the 4,400 people who live in 81 “free-standing” state-licensed facilities — meaning they are not part of a larger institution, such as a nursing home.

The report found that some personal care homes are dirty, in poor repair, restrict access — one kept residents behind a locked chain-link fence — and regiment meals, bedtimes and activities such as smoking breaks or telephone calls. Residents reported feeling isolated and having little involvement with the community.

Full Article and Source:
Report Critices Kentucky Care Homes

PA's Nursing Homes are in Crisis

Pennsylvania's nursing homes can no longer sustain themselves with the latest cuts to Medicaid, according to a health advocate for the elderly. Families who are likely to pick up the slack also are seeing their support threatened.

"Two-thirds of Pennsylvania's nursing home residents are on Medicaid, and for each one of them, a nursing home loses an average of $19.23 a day," said Dr. Stuart H. Shapiro, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association. "These shortfalls are unsustainable."

The proposed $102 million statewide cut in Medicaid funding would be felt at local nursing homes. The PHCA estimates the cuts will amount to more than $700,000 for nursing homes in Franklin County, $2 million in Cumberland, $800,000 in Adams, $100,000 in Fulton and $2.8 million in York.

Few nursing home administrators want to talk about it.

They have little room to cut expenditures, according to PHCA:

-- Staffing a nursing home around the clock makes up 70 percent of nursing home expenditures. At the same time, nursing homes are highly regulated and must meet minimum staffing requirements.

-- Nursing homes, whether nonprofit or for-profit, operate on the lowest margins of all health care sectors - less than 1 percent versus 5 percent for hospitals and home-health and managed-care companies.

"All health care providers lose money caring for those on Medicaid, but nursing homes suffer the most because they serve a much higher percentage of individuals on Medicaid," Shapiro said.

Nursing homes already have cut staff, reduced benefits, canceled renovations and delayed purchases, he said. Many are turning away people on Medicaid because the homes cannot afford to care for them.

Families will feel the emotional, physical and financial stress.

Full Article and Source:
Pennsylvania's Nursing Homes are in Crisis

YouTube: Jonell Grace Exposes Predator Attorneys

Jonell seeks legal assistance to restore what has been taken from her and to stop these atrocities from happening to others.

Source:
Jonell Grace Exposes Predatory Attorneys, Part 1 of 2


Source:
Jonell Grace Exposes Predator Attorneys, Part 2 of 2

CT Man: Kick Uncle Out of Grandma's House

Just three weeks after a Trumbull man agreed not to evict his 98-year-old mother from the home she has lived in since 1953, his son filed for a restraining order to throw his uncle out of the grandmother's house.

John "Jack" Kantorowski has been caring for his mother, Mary Kantorowski, in her small Cape Cod style home on Flax Road here. But Kevin Kantorowski, who lives in Florida, contends his uncle has been helping himself to the mother's life savings, a charge John Kantorowski and a court-appointed conservator deny.

"He's (Jack) is totally out of control," claimed Kevin Kantorowski, who filed an application for the civil restraining order in Superior Court. "He's been robbing her and I'm not giving up until the justice system works the way it is supposed to."

A hearing on the application has been scheduled for April 2.

Full Article and Source:
Man: Kick Uncle Out of Grandma's House

Jefferson Award Winner - 90 Year-Old Lilyann Brannon

She’s been a one-woman human services agency for three decades. No task is too big or small, even though Jefferson Award winner Lilyann Brannon is now 90-years-old.

When Michele Blamires was pregnant and living under a San Jose bridge years ago, it was Brannon who brought her family food and diapers. And when Michele cleaned up from a drug addiction, it was Brannon who helped her find a home and job.

“She does so much,” Blamires said admiringly. “If it’s in her willpower, she’ll do it. She’ll find a way.”

From her San Jose living room, Brannon runs the nonprofit Tending the Flock. With her husband retired from Lockheed and she from Apple, Brannon devotes her life to helping the poor and neglected who fall through the cracks. She’s a one-woman charitable agency who can serve up food one minute, and snap through a web of bureaucracy the next.

“When you get to know people, you can’t turn your back and walk away,” Brannon explained.

Full Article and Source:
Jefferson Award Winner Tends To Needs Of South Bay’s Poor

A Picture Says 1,000 Words!

Jared E. Shafer billed nearly $7,500 for Email! For a period of just 20 days!





See Also:
L.O. California/Nevada Victim

Elderly Woman Loses All Hope of Care

The words -- I'll take care of you -- must have been a relief to the woman, failing in her later years and falling and worrying what would become of her.

As people do when they are old and frail and basically alone.

So, she gave away her house to the owner of an assisted-living facility, a place she was taken after one of her falls.

Now, the owner of that facility, Maria Barbu, has been charged with theft, fraud and forgery. Phoenix police say Barbu took Pauline Balseiro's home, her antique furniture, her jewelry, her fur coats. She's also accused of forging checks on the old lady's accounts.

"She had my mother sleeping on the floor, on a mattress on the floor," said Becky Levy, who lives in California and for months has been sounding the alarm about Barbu and her Golden Creek Assisted Living Home.

Pauline is out of Barbu's hands now.

Last month, a Maricopa County probate commissioner appointed fiduciary Jane Anne Geisler to be Pauline's temporary guardian. Geisler immediately moved Pauline to another assisted-living home and filed a lawsuit to get the old lady's house back.

Commissioner David Cunanan will hold a hearing on Monday to determine whether Pauline needs a permanent guardian. I'm guessing that's a distinct possibility.

Three weeks ago, Pauline was diagnosed with dementia.

Full Article and Source:
Elderly Woman Loses All Promise of Care

New Jersey Nursing Home for Sale

Essex County is holding off on a $500,000 sprinkler system for its Horace Nye Nursing Home.

The work must be done by August 2013 or the home will no longer be eligible for Medicare and Medicaid payments, according to a federal requirement.

The county has Horace Nye up for sale, has opened bids and has asked the three bidders — Centers for Specialty Care; Gerald Woods, CPA; and Elliot Management Group — to consider submitting higher amounts. All three bid exactly $4 million, the county's minimum price to sell the 100-bed nursing facility.

Full Article and Source:
Horace Nye Sprinklers Put on Hold

The Nightmare: Sara Harvey's Desperate Fight to Save Gary Harvey

The darkness descended swiftly and without warning, suffocating and choking out any hint of light in the path before or behind me. I touched the wall, as the freezing cold embraced and held me tight to its cruel breast. A gasp may have slipped from my lips, but I could no longer hear as the forced silence pounded against my reason, draining and feeding upon the strength I once held in tender care.

Fighting to take a breath, the smell of death and decay rose to slither and weave into a cloak of panic — the desperation devouring and merciless, as laughter abruptly pierced the blanket of blackness engulfing and suppressing all that was and all that might have been. I begged to scream. I begged to flee. I begged for mercy, but there was none for neither him nor me.

Then morning broke through the nightmare, but the pounding of my heart did not immediately ease. It was a nightmare that Sara Harvey, and those such as she, must endure on a daily basis. A nightmare of facing cold, dark decisions forced upon them. A nightmare that destroys every hope that might have been, or happens to briefly visit. in their journey of fighting the abuse in behalf of a loved one sucked into the poison of a broken system. A system that was meant to assist, but instead has come to hideously feast upon its unsuspecting prey.

Full Article and Source:
The Nightmare: Sara Harvey's Desperate Fight to Save Gary Harvey

See Also:
Frivolous Charges: The Secret Life of the Gary Harvey Case

Billions Unleashed to Expand Community Living

Medicaid officials are beginning to hand out billions of dollars in new matching grants made available under the health care reform act for states to increase community living opportunities.

New Hampshire will be the first state to see added funding under the so-called Balancing Incentive Program, officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said late last week.

The $3 billion initiative established as part of the Affordable Care Act is designed to boost spending in states that allocate less than 50 percent of their long-term care dollars to community-based offerings.

Currently, states are required to fund institutional care for individuals with disabilities, but funding is limited for community-based options.

States that qualify for the new money must use it to increase the availability of services in the community, Medicaid officials said.

“No one should have to live in an institution or nursing home if they can live in their homes and communities with the right mix of affordable supports,” said Cindy Mann, who oversees the federal Medicaid program. “These new grants will help states like New Hampshire give people with long-term care needs the choice about how and where to live their lives.”

Under the new program, New Hampshire will get $26.5 million over the next three years.

Full Article and Source:
DisabilityScoop: Billions Unleashed to Expand Community Living

Petition Filed to Conserve Zsa Zsa Gabor

The judge who oversees Britney Spears' conservatorship will consider a request to appoint a conservator to oversee Zsa Zsa Gabor's finances and medical care.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Reva Goetz scheduled a hearing for May 2 for the conservatorship petition filed Tuesday by Francesca Hilton, Gabor's daughter.

The Hungarian-born actress was once one of Hollywood's most glamorous women, but a broken hip and leg amputation in the past two years have left her confined to a bed.

Hilton contends that Gabor's ninth husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, is keeping her "increasingly isolated" and "heavily sedated," and she questions his handling of Gabor's finances.

"What Ms. Hilton is seeking here is for the court to make sure that Zsa Zsa's best interests are not being sacrificed for the selfish interests of anyone involved in Zsa Zsa's life," said Hilton lawyer Kenneth Kossoff.

Full Article and Source:
Judge Asked to Intervene in Zsa Zsa Gabor's Care

Assisted-Suicide Advocate Takes Own Life

Peter Goodwin, a family physician who wrote and campaigned for Oregon's right-to-die law in the 1990s, died Sunday after taking a cocktail of lethal drugs prescribed by his doctor, as allowed under the legislation he championed.

Dr. Goodwin, 83 years old, had been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder similar to Parkinson's disease and had been given less than six months to live.

The Oregon law was the first in the nation to authorize patients to end their lives with the assistance of physicians. It doesn't allow for doctors to administer euthanasia by injection, though it authorizes them to prescribe lethal drugs that the patient can choose to take.

The law has withstood legal challenges including a case brought by the Bush administration. In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Oregon, saying that the federal government couldn't forbid doctors from prescribing drugs to help a patient die.

"He persuaded us of the wider picture, that we needed doctors," said Derek Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society, which advocated voluntary euthanasia. Mr. Humphry called the Oregon law his movement's greatest legislative success.

Full Article and Source:
Assisted-Suicide Advocate Takes Own Life

One Dead After Meth Lab Explodes at Ohio Nursing Home

One person was killed and six injured when a homemade meth lab exploded at a nursing home in Ohio this weekend, WKYC-TV reports.

"It's a first," Ashtabula Fire Chief Ron Pristera said of Sunday night's fire at Park Haven Nursing home. He described the meth operation as a "pop bottle, shake-and-bake lab."

Once the smoke cleared, and investigators found the burned out meth lab in one room, they were stunned, Cleveland's Fox8 TV reports.

"When we first started to get the indications, we all sort of looked at each other and went, 'You know, are we seeing what we think we're seeing?'" Pristera told Fox8.

The Park Haven nursing home has only a one-star rating out of five in the 2009-2011 ratings for more than 15,000 U.S. nursing homes from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. State records show Park haven was cited for 18 violations last year, including not providing adequate care, the Associated Press reports.

Full Article and Source:
One Dead After Meth Lab Explodes at Ohio Nursing Home

Unlicensed Assisted Living Home Charged With Locking Down Brooklyn Judge

The Park Slope nursing home where a Brooklyn judge died never had a license to operate as an assisted living facility - but kept the judge as a virtual prisoner, his family charges in a lawsuit.

Relatives of “Kung Fu Judge” John Phillips, who died in 2008, is suing Prospect Park Residence for wrongful death.

The owners of the Park Slope building acknowledge in court papers that their relationship to Phillips was merely that of a landlord - yet the family charges they falsely claimed to be an assisted living facility and confined the elderly judge to the building, only allowing him to leave for a handful of doctor’s appointments over the eight months he lived there.

“We’re talking about a prison,” said John O’Hara, a lawyer for the family and longtime friend.

Full Article and Source:
Unlicensed Assisted Living Home Charged With Locking Down Brooklyn Judge

See Also:
Facility Kept Dying Judge Phillips Hostage, Lawsuit Claims

NJ Nursing Home Expert Says Industry Will Suffer Unless Millions in State Aid is Restored

The head of the state’s largest nursing home association said today that the industry will suffer a spate of bankruptcies this year unless the Legislature acts to restore millions of dollars in previous cuts.

Gov. Chris Christie’s budget cuts have resulted in nursing homes absorbing losses of about $46 a day on Medicaid patients, which comprise about 62 percent of the state’s nursing home population, according to Paul Langevin Jr., president of the Health Care Association of New Jersey.

Typically, those losses are offset by healthy payments from private insurers and Medicare patients but that formula is now broken in New Jersey, said Langevin. The math is even bleaker at county-run facilities, which treat a higher level of Medicaid patients.

“It’s a fact, we’ll see bankruptcies. These facilities have no where else to go,” said Paul Langevin Jr., president of the Health Care Association of New Jersey, which represents more than 300 nursing home and long-term care facilities in the state.

Full Article and Source:
N.J. Nursing Home Boss Says Industry Will Suffer Unless Millions in State Aid is Restored

NJ Ethics Committess Mediate Crucial End-of-Life Decisions

When a nursing home resident can no longer make decisions, someone else has to make the tough ethical choices. Should the patient's life be prolonged with a ventilator or feeding tube? Has the time come to remove life support? What would this person have wanted? The family and the nursing home staff can wind up at loggerheads, unable to take the next step.

The state's ethics committees are helping families and nursing home staff make these tough decisions. The regional panels are made up of trained volunteer professionals with diverse backgrounds, including nursing, social work, long-term care, and clergy. They work under the direction of the state Office of the Ombudsman for the Institutionalized Elderly, which advocates for patients in long-term care facilities.

The ethics committees "are available to people to help them through an extremely difficult and hard time and help them critically think through issues and make decisions that are ultimately resident focused," said ombudsman James McCracken.

McCracken wants to raise the visibility of these ethics committees and encourage nursing homes to call on them to mediate more often. To do so, he is presenting this month training sessions, "How to Make Ethical Decisions at the Bedside," taught by clinical ethicist Dr. Helen D. Blank and designed for ethics committee members and nursing home staff.

A new law gives New Jersey residents the final say on their medical care. The planning document, called the "Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment" or POLST, details the individual's wishes for the quality of life and medical intervention in their final days. The document has the authority of a medical order and follows the patient from one care setting to another, including home, ambulance, hospital, nursing home, and hospice.

POLST is designed to supplement the living will or advanced directive, which individuals typically use to designate a healthcare proxy who will make decisions when they are no longer competent to direct their own medical care. A committee of the New Jersey Hospital Association is expected to create a POLST form to be used throughout the state by the end of the year.

Full Article and Source:
NJ Ethics Committees Mediate Crucial End-Of-Life Decisions

U.S. OKs Increase in Nursing Home Tax to Bring in More Medicaid Money

Federal authorities have approved a nursing home bed tax that will allow Illinois to collect more than $100 million a year in new Medicaid money that officials say will be used to boost facility staffing levels and implement other safety reforms mandated by a landmark 2010 overhaul, the Tribune has learned.

Gov. Pat Quinn pushed hard for the tax as a way to hire more state inspectors and finance other reforms in Illinois' troubled long-term care system without dipping into the state's already-depleted coffers.

"This is positive news for people who live in a nursing home or have a loved one living in a nursing home," said a statement from Quinn. "It means that our nursing homes get the funds that they need to continue improving safety and the quality of services."

Still, the AARP and some leading advocates for the elderly and disabled raised concerns about the measure, arguing that it will provide a windfall for substandard, profit-making facilities while not doing enough to move thousands of younger mentally ill adults out of nursing homes and into community settings where they could get better care.

Because much of the bed tax will be returned to the nursing homes via the Medicaid program, which funds health care for the poor, facilities with fewer indigent patients will recoup less money. Illinois' nonprofit nursing homes, which generally serve small numbers of Medicaid clients, argue that the tax will penalize them unfairly.

"It is a bad plan for good homes and a good plan for bad homes," said Kirk Riva, vice president of public policy at the Life Services Network, the association of nonprofit facilities. "We think it's offensive."

Full Article and Source:
U.S. OKs Increase in Nursing Home Tax to Bring in More Medicaid Money

Probate Sharks Editorial

Re: NEW NURSING HOME TAX TO BENEFIT FOR-PROFIT MEDICAID HOMES, AND HURT NON-PROFIT HOMES WITH FEWER MEDICAID BEDS

A recent law was passed which will tax private pay nursing home beds and divert the money to Medicaid beds. This new law will allow the owners of for-profit nursing homes with Medicaid beds to profit even more than they do currently. While the Health Care Council of IL claims to lose $27.00/day on Medicaid beds, the homes with the most Medicaid beds are operating at a profit.

Private-pay residents at NON-profit nursing homes will incur a tax to go to the owners of FOR-profit Medicaid beds.

We can't help but wonder if those for-profit nursing homes that will receive the new tax are the same nursing homes that are favored by the Cook County Probate Court. See our articles in the index on the right about OBRA Special Needs Pooled Trusts to read how these trusts are used to deplete the estates of the wards with attorneys' fees and guardians' fees while the wards are placed into FOR-Profit Medicaid nursing homes.

Something does not seem right here.

Source:
New Nursing Home Tax to Benefit For-Profit Medicaid Homes and Hurt Non-Profit Homes With Fewer Medicaid Beds

***
ProbateSharks.com: Our mission is to expose and remedy corruption in the Probate Court of Cook County, Illinois. We assist, educate and enlighten families of the dead, the dying, the disabled and the aged to better understand their rights in order to protect themselves from the excesses of the Probate Court of Cook County. ProbateSharks.com is dedicated to networking the human element of people to people. We join together in reforming the corrupt Cook County Probate Court system.

Update on Bessie Blue Case

Source:
Bessie Blue Abduction From Natural Law_Common Law_Maritime Law_2.m4v

See Also:
Bessie Blue's "Abduction" on Tape

CA State Appeals Court Finds Marin County Needs to Protect Rights of Mental Patients

A state appeals court has ruled that the county of Marin improperly approved drugs to treat mental patients without first determining whether they were capable of making an informed choice not to take the medications.

The case involves two Marin County women with chronic mental disorders, identified in court filings only as Krishna G. and Donna H. The county of Marin was appointed conservator for both women in 2010 and approved treating them with psychotropic drugs. Under state law, a person who is "gravely disabled" due to a mental disorder may be committed for involuntary evaluation and treatment. The initial commitment is for 72 hours, and conservatorship for renewable periods of one year may follow after a hearing.

In 2011, Golden Gate University School of Law Professor Mort Cohen, a longtime advocate for the rights of the mentally ill, petitioned the Marin Superior Court on behalf of Krishna G. and Donna H. Cohen asserted that as conservator, the county was routinely approving the use of psychotropic drugs without conducting an evidentiary hearing on the patients' capacity to make their own decisions and without meaningful notice and an opportunity to be heard.

In the meantime, the county of Marin revised the written notification given to patients prior to conservatorship proceedings, and the conservatorships of both Krishna G. and Donna H. expired. Judge Lynn Duryee found Cohen's petition to be moot and dismissed it.

Cohen appealed, and on Friday the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco reversed that decision and sent the case back to Judge Duryee to conduct further proceedings and enforce action "consistent with the views" in its opinion.

In its decision, the three-judge panel wrote that before conservatees are forced to take medications, a court must find that they lack "the mental capacity to rationally understand the nature of the medical problem, the proposed treatment, and the attendant risks."

Full Article and Source:
State Appeals Court Finds Marin Needs to Protect Rights of Mental Patients

Tuscon Caretaker Convicted of Fraud

A home health care worker has been convicted of stealing money belonging to an elderly patient.

Julianna Mari Lane of Tucson was found guilty of fraudulent schemes and artifices and financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

Over the course of seven months, 46-year-old Lane defrauded a vulnerable adult of money in Tucson. The loss was discovered by the patient's family member, who received notices for insufficient funds.

"Crimes of this kind are among the most disturbing," said Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne. "The vulnerable adult patient in this case trusted Ms. Lane to offer professional care and was instead the victim of theft."

Sentencing is set for May 14, 2012. She is facing between 6.5 and 25 years in prison.

Source:
Tuscon Caretaker Convicted of Fraud

FL: ALF Bill Dies in the House

After years of rampant abuse in Florida’s assisted living facilities, Gov. Rick Scott and top lawmakers promised to create the most significant reforms in a generation to better protect thousands of frail elders and mentally ill residents.

But after a dramatic week of infighting and gamesmanship, House and Senate leaders on Friday couldn’t agree on major safeguards, delivering a crushing blow to elder advocates who had long been pleading for changes.

Just hours after the Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill to increase ALF inspections of troubled homes and shut down the worst abusers, the House refused to take up the measure amid heavy lobbying by powerful industry leaders in the waning days of the session.

“The biggest problem, I feel, is to have nothing. Gain no ground at all,” said Larry Polivka, who led the governor’s task force examining problems in ALFs. “It will have to be addressed next year.”

The defeat came after a dramatic plea on the Senate floor by Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico. She urged House members to pass the measure that would have ushered in some of the nation’s toughest provisions to punish homes caught abusing and neglecting residents to death.

The failed effort follows months of reports in The Miami Herald of people dying in ALFs across the state — including residents beaten, starved and injected with lethal doses of drugs — prompting a legislative panel and a Miami-Dade grand jury to push for changes in oversight by state regulators.

But key differences between House and Senate plans — including tougher penalties on abusers — doomed proposals to increase oversight of facilities that are now the primary residences for Florida’s elderly and mentally ill.

Full Article and Source:
Lawmakers Fail to Agree on ALF Reform Bill

See Also:
The Miami Herald's Investigative Series: Neglected to Death

Up to 10 Percent of Nation's Elderly Suffer Abuse from In-Home Caregivers

While seniors often are the target of a variety of telephone and Internet scams, some of the most common forms of elder abuse are committed by those closest to vulnerable adults, such as in-home caregivers.

As there are few requirements for an individual to become a caregiver, it can be difficult to find a reliable, trustworthy caregiver, Kalkaska County Commission on Aging (KCOA) Director Gay Rowell said. The KCOA can place caregivers in homes and does full background and reference checks, as well as helping families work out payment methods.

"We put caregivers in the home," Rowell said. "We do in-home services and we encourage the family to let us help."

According to nationwide statistics from independent studies compiled by the National Center on Elder Abuse, an estimated one to two million Americans age 65 and older have been injured, exploited, or mistreated by a caregiver.

"The sad reality is that most of the financial exploitation that we see is committed by somebody known to the victim," said Lynne McCollum, Legal Services Developer and Elder Abuse Prevention Specialist for the Michigan Office of Services to the Aging.

Full Article and Source:
Up to 10 Percent of Nation's Elderly Suffer Abuse from In-Home Caregivers

ND Man Sentenced for Embezzlement, Owes Over $1 Mil Resitution

A Grand Forks man was sentenced for receiving over $1.2 million in retirement checks for his deceased father. Silas Lee McHenry, Jr., 67, pleaded guilty last October on a charge of embezzlement of government property. Mchenry, Jr. received his deceased father`s retirement checks from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from April 1983 through November 2009.

McHenry, Jr., was appointed as his father`s guardian to manage his affairs after McHenry Sr. was disabled. After McHenry Sr. died in March of 1983, McHenry Jr. didn`t notify OPM of his father`s death and continued to receive his father`s monthly retirement checks.

McHenry, Jr., was sentenced to 44 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,246,362.22, and to pay a $100 special assessment to the Crime Victim`s Fund.

Source:
Grand Forks Man Sentenced for Embezzlement

MA Hospital Locked in Battle Over Patient's Guardianship

A lawyer representing North Shore Medical Center filed a motion Wednesday to remove two women as legal guardians of their brother, a patient at Union Hospital, after one of the women caused numerous disruptions in the hospital, the lawyer said.

“(The woman) has interfered with the treatment of her brother... and interfered with the treatment of the other patients,” attorney Robert Ledoux told Judge Spencer Kagan at Middlesex Probate and Family Court.

But the accused woman, Lauren DeCruz, 65, of Lynn, said she is concerned about the way hospitals, including Union, have treated her brother, Richard Bianchi, because he is a diagnosed schizophrenic.

“I just think Richard has the right to be treated the same way someone without mental illness is treated,” DeCruz told the judge.

Ledoux said nurses in the Intensive Care Unit at Union called Lynn Police on DeCruz last week after she caused a disruption in the ICU following an ethics consult regarding Bianchi’s care, and she was given a no trespass order.

“Families of other patients had to be removed because she was so loud,” Ledoux said.

DeCruz said she argued with Union Hospital personnel over their treatment of Bianchi after he stopped breathing. Bianchi, 56, has Stage 4 lung cancer and other ailments in addition to his mental illness. She maintains the police did not issue a no trespassing order, but said she has been sending her husband in her place to prevent more disruption.

“There’s no piece of paper that says I can’t go on the property,” DeCruz said.

Ledoux said his clients believe there is a “do not resuscitate” order in effect for Bianchi, but admitted to Kagan that he isn’t sure where it came from. DeCruz said her brother never signed the order, and, as a mental patient, it should be invalid if he did.

“The (order) was very much misinterpreted, falsified and kept from the family,” DeCruz claimed.

DeCruz, who was a nurse for 35 years, said she plans to take care of Bianchi at her own home with the help of hospice care if she maintains guardianship.

Full Article and Source:
Hospital Locked in Battle Over Patient's Guardianship

Keep the Courts Out of Hospital Rooms

Advanced-care directives are instructions about end-of-life care made by an individual to determine the course of treatment in the event that he or she is near death and unconscious or mentally incapacitated, or in a persistent vegetative state with no hope for improvement. In an age when medical science can keep comatose people alive for years, such directives allow people to end life as closely as possible in accordance with their wishes.

Two bills sponsored by Republican Rep. Dan Itse of Fremont would make the use of advanced-care directives more difficult. In some situations, they could potentially countermand the wishes of a dying individual. They both deserve defeat.

The use of advanced-care directives has increased slowly and steadily over the two-plus decades they've been in use. Having a directive on file makes decision-making far easier for loved ones and medical providers. Everyone would be wise to fill one out, have it witnessed, copied and filed with important papers and medical providers. But the reality is, people procrastinate. House Bill 1216 would punish them for it by taking power away from their loved ones and needlessly giving it to the courts.

Full Article and Souce:
Keep the Courts out of Hospital Rooms

MEMORANDUM

To: All friends and victims of Senior citizen abuse, and Financial

March 14, 2012

By now, you should be aware that after a large number of complaints were filed with the Illinois Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission complaining about the antics of the two guardian ad litem and the attorney for the plenary guardian, the commission determined that they should prosecute me and call me a 'liar.' The ARDC elected to prosecute me for complaining that the Civil rights and the Human Rights of Mary Sykes and Gloria Sykes were violated by attorneys appointed by the Court to protect the rights of Mary Sykes.

The complaint that was filed against me should be available on the ARDC website. I have prepared a Motion to Dismiss the complaint as the complaint while replete with distortions and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ conclusions fails to state a claim. Indeed, had the author of the complaint done any due diligence – such as reading the numerous communicates from ordinary citizens the complaint would never have been filed. That said, Mr. Chambers has forwarded to various active groups copies of the Motion and the exhibits. It is hoped that they post the Motion and the exhibits so as to energize everyone who is concerned with ‘substance’ and not ‘form’ to join in the effort to ‘save’ both Mary Sykes and Gloria Sykes. (see Gloria’s affidavit attached to the Motion) Gloria Sykes made the error of attempting to ‘fight’ for her mother’s liberty, right to own and enjoy her property, and to fraternize with her friends, and family. The consequences are a series of Court orders that have rendered her homeless and unable to access her property. Mary is just deprived of all her liberty, property and human rights. While all this is going on Mary’s substantial estate (estimated at a million dollars) has been reported to have been dissipated.

I have filed a ‘human rights’ complaint with the United Nations. I expect absolutely nothing from the effort, however, it has had one consequence. I have been called a liar pursuant to the new definition. A lie is any combination of words and phrases that does not advance the agenda of the political elite. The word and the concept of accuracy and/or truth are irrelevant to the new definition.

As I am in the middle of my seventh decade of life, I am a word conservative. I find it very difficult to refer to a chattel mortgage as a ‘hard loan,’ or a guarantee as a ‘credit swap.’ The concept of a liar being a person who tells the truth about of quasi or de jure public official is just too much for me. I am hoping that some of the blogs will post this appeal to all ‘word conservatives’ to join arms and protest such radical changes in the English language. In the meantime, I would like to urge everyone to raise their voice and join the hue and cry to reject ‘form’ and demand substance, i. e . ‘free Mary Sykes while she still has time to enjoy some her life!

I had a terrible thought just now – can you imagine the guardian ad litem in the Sykes case being judges! This type of travesty is entirely possible if you take democracy for granted. It is not a spectator sport. The political elite feed us ‘form’ and are vague as to substance. The recent harassments of Gloria Sykes will limited and directed to harass and deprive her of her civil rights are a stark reminder that it was not too long ago men in ‘brown shirts’ took over a country and plunged the world into a nightmare. Elder Abuse is doing the same one senior at the time – that senior could be me! Ergo ****.

Ken Ditkowsky
www.ditkowskylawoffice.com

See Also:
Mary Sykes, Illinois Victim

In the Matter of Kenneth Karl Ditkowsky

OOPS...Britney Spears' Conservator Did It Again

The once-troubled pop star sure has been in the news a lot lately. Settling lawsuits, postponing her wedding, negotiating to be a judge on The X Factor, putting one of her mansions up for sale. It makes you wonder … is Britney Spears making any decisions about her life, or does her father, as her Conservator, decide everything?

Several months ago, we wrote how her father, Jamie Spears, was using the conservatorship to insulate Britney from lawsuits, including one by a company called Brand Sense. The company had sued Britney for breach of contract, after Team Britney cut Brand Sense out of profits from her perfume deal with Elizabeth Arden. Because Britney had been declared mentally incompetent, which justified the conservatorship, her father and their attorneys were able to keep Britney from being questioned under oath in a deposition for the lawsuit.

The downside to this? They can’t have their cake and eat it too. If Britney is not competent to answer questions in a deposition, then can she be competent enough to be married? Likely not, which is why her wedding date is being postponed until the Lufti lawsuit ends.

But, that’s not the only problem. Most recently, newspapers report that Trawick is negotiating with Simon Cowell’s The X Factor for Britney to be a judge on the show. Reportedly, they’ve offered Britney $10 million, but she wants $20 million. She’s even said to be ready to undergo media training to get ready for her judge-ship.

This of course raises the question. If she’s competent enough to serve as a talent judge on a major TV network television show, how in the world can she be so incompetent that she can’t make her own decisions?

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OOPS, Britney Spears Conservator Did It Again

Jury Trial Expected in Jeffrey Schend Case

A former Appleton guardian accused of stealing from his elderly and disabled clients is expected to go to trial in July.

Jeffrey M. Schend, 45, appeared in Outagamie County Court today for a status conference on six felony counts of theft and one misdemeanor theft count.

Judge Gregory Gill Jr. told attorneys the case would likely go to trial in July, though didn’t immediately set dates for the trial, which is expected to last a week.

As a guardian, Schend was appointed by county judges to handle finances for elderly and disabled people deemed incompetent to manage their own affairs.

Officials weren’t able to account for about $500,000 from the estates of his former clients.

The trial had been scheduled to begin [March 12], though was delayed based on the continuing investigation. Outagamie County hired a forensic accountant to review Schend’s finances.

The review was recently completed, and attorneys are expected to meet with the accountant as soon as next week.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Melinda Tempelis said it’s still likely prosecutors would file additional charges against Schend before the case reaches trial.

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July Trial Expected in Case of Jeffrey M. Schend, Former Appleton Guardian Charged with Theft of Elderly, Disabled Clients

See Also:
The Jeffrey Schend Case

NH: House OK's Advance Directive Bills

Lawmakers are poised to change the state’s advanced-directive laws which govern a person’s wishes if he or she is incapacitated or near death.

The House approved House Bill 1216, which would prevent hospitals and other health care facilities from removing life-sustaining services or nutrition without a court order, unless the person has a living will or designated guardian.

And the House approved HB 1217, which would allow advanced-directive forms, including those from other states, to be valid in New Hampshire.

HB 1216 was approved on a 206-118 vote, and HB 1217 on a 214-110 vote.

Directives include such things as hydration, nutrition or life-sustaining treatment such as ventilation or kidney dialysis.

Under current state law, such treatment may be withheld if the directive is included in a living will, or the person has a designated guardian or court order, or if it is a facility’s standard protocol.

Source:
House OK's Advance Directive Bills

Iowa: Elder Abuse Remains a Grossly Under Recognized Social Injustice

Elder abuse is grossly under-recognized and under-reported. It’s estimated that 84 percent of elder abuse cases go unreported and that 40 percent of all elder abuse involves some form of financial exploitation.

Research also has shown that elder abuse can dramatically shorten the life of a victim. The types of elder abuse include physical abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, financial exploitation, denial of critical care by caretaker, self-neglect and verbal/psychological abuse.

Iowa is one of five states that does not have a law specifically addressing the unique needs of older adults. Iowa has a Dependent Adult Abuse Law, which is overseen by the Department of Human Services. Under this law, in order for DHS to intervene in cases of suspected abuse, there must be the following criteria: a dependent adult (a person age 18 or older), a caretaker and an allegation of abuse recognized by Iowa Code 235B or 235E.

This current law does not address the needs of victims who are experiencing abuse from someone who is not their caretaker, nor does it address an older adult who is experiencing self-neglect due to mental health issues or dementia.

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Elder Abuse Remains a Grossly Under Recognized Social Injustice

Jeffrey Schend Case Investigation Drawing to Close

Attorneys say an exhaustive investigation into a former guardian accused of stealing from his elderly and disabled clients is drawing to a close.

An upcoming review of a forensic accountant's findings could result in additional charges against Jeffrey M. Schend, of Appleton. Schend, 45, appeared Monday in Outagamie County Court for a status conference on six felony counts of theft and one misdemeanor theft count filed against him last year.

As a guardian, Schend was appointed by county judges to handle finances for elderly and disabled people deemed incompetent to manage their own affairs. Officials weren't able to account for about $500,000 from the estates of his former clients.

Schend, who is free on a signature bond, faces more than 54 years in prison if convicted on each of the current counts.

Source:
Appleton Guardian Theft Accounting Completed

See Also:
District Attorney: Jeffrey Schend Could Face New Charges