COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. — Colonial Heights police arrested multiple
employees at the Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center
Wednesday morning, charging them with crimes ranging from abuse and
neglect of vulnerable adults to falsifying patient records. The arrests
came after a complaint was made in October. Police say a 74-year-old
patient was hospitalized and ultimately died due to inadequate care
received at the facility.
Eighteen staff members have warrants
issued against them, including Shawonda Jeter, 46, the administrator of
the center and Danielle Harris, 53, who is a nurse. Both women are
currently in custody without bond.
"We have secured warrants on 18 individuals who are staff members at
Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center," Major Rob Ruxer, of
the Colonial Heights Police, said.
More charges could be forthcoming as the investigation continues.
The
series of arrests followed an investigation launched by the police in
October after Adult Protective Services reported a potential elder abuse
case.
Multiple local and state agencies, including the State
Attorney General’s Elder Abuse Task Force, are involved in the ongoing
investigation and were present during the arrests.
According to police, charges include both felony and misdemeanor
counts, including the abuse of vulnerable adults, falsifying patient
records, and obstruction of justice.
CBS 6 cameras captured evidence bags being removed from the facility.
"During
the investigation, our investigators, as well as individuals with the
Elder Abuse Task Force, have secured and served multiple search warrants
on the facility in order to obtain medical records,” Ruxer said.
One nurse has been charged with five counts of misdemeanor falsifying patient records.
"The
Virginia Department of Health has staff on the ground to ensure that
all residents are receiving proper care and will remain involved to
ensure that the proper individuals are placed in leadership positions
moving forward," Delegate Mike Cherry told CBS 6 in a statement.
Colonial Heights police are still working to apprehend all 18 individuals and are requesting assistance from the public.
They are urging family and friends in the community to report any similar situations at the facility to the police department.
CBS 6 previously reported about Colonial Heights facility in July
when the Virginia Department of Health's Office of Licensure and
Certification looked into the nursing home following a CBS 6
investigation. The investigation uncovered four instances where the
facility violated federal rules.
A PR firm sent us the following statement:
"We are aware of the events that happened today and are cooperating fully with law enforcement.”
The prosecutor identified the victim as a 74-year-old woman with cerebral palsy and diabetes. She said the woman was supposed to be removed by a lift out of her bed, but that was never done.
Innovative Healthcare Management LLC, owner of Colonial Heights Rehab and Nursing, is facing scrutiny following the recent arrest of 18 employees at the facility after the death of a 74-year-old woman residing there.
RICHMOND, Va — The quality of care in Virginia's nursing homes is
getting worse, according to regulators, but so is the level of oversight
from the agency responsible for holding facilities accountable to
acceptable standards.
Those whose loved ones have been harmed at
nursing homes call the combination of lacking oversight and declining
conditions a "domino effect" that puts vulnerable residents at risk.
Failure, disbelief, and regrets
Tracey Pompey and Joanna Heiskill used to be strangers, but separate tragic nursing home experiences brought them together.
In 2015, Pompey's father was found dead at Glenburnie Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Henrico County.
“He was face down on the floor in his room, and he was covered in stool," Pompey recalled.
An
investigation by Virginia Department of Health (VDH) found facility
staff knew that her dad was vomiting stool that day, yet failed to
notify the family or a physician, resulting in a delay in treatment.
“It could have been different had they just sent him to the
hospital," Pompey said. "I've allowed myself not to think about it, but
it does bring up sad emotions."
Four years later, Heiskill's
mother was rushed from what used to be Bonview Rehabilitation and
Healthcare to a hospital with low oxygen levels. She later died.
Heiskill
claimed the facility did not give her mom the proper medication. VDH
inspection records showed her complaint was substantiated and further
revealed that staff misappropriated her mother's money by applying to
receive her social security benefits without authorization and
withdrawing cash from her resident trust fund account.
“They failed my mother, miserably. They failed my mom," Heiksill said. “I regret putting my mother in the facility."
Letitia Edwards eventually became connected with Heiskill and Pompey and recently had a concerning experience of her own.
WTVR
Her mother is currently in a facility that she does not want to name.
In October of this year, Edwards said she discovered her mom in her bed
with a broken leg, but she said staff could not explain how it happened
and would not let her see an incident report.
“It
just really pains me that it's not just my mother that has experienced
this. I've witnessed at that facility a lot of neglectful things,"
Edwards said. "I'm in disbelief right now."
It's stories like
these which prompted Pompey and Heiskill to form the group "Justice and
Change for Victims of Nursing Facilities" to advocate for stronger laws
and regulations to protect a vulnerable population.
But over the years, their disappointment has only grown, as they see the same issues that impacted their families continue.
Just
this week, Colonial Heights Police announced multiple employees at
Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center were arrested in
connection to an alleged elder abuse case, after police said a patient
was hospitalized due to alleged inadequate care.
The advocacy group believes cases like this could be prevented with more enforcement from regulatory agencies.
“Our
government here in Virginia— we’re holding them accountable for what’s
happening in these nursing facilities, and their silence is deafening,"
Heiskill said.
Watch advocate Joanna Heiskill calls on the government to show they care
Virginia's lacking oversight
It's the Virginia
Department of Health that's responsible for ensuring nursing homes are
meeting state and federal requirements. In order for facilities to be
licensed at the state level and participate in Medicare and Medicaid
programs at the federal level, the government sets health, safety, and
care standards for nursing homes to meet.
But as CBS 6 uncovered in a previous investigation, when people submit complaints alleging poor care and conditions, VDH is often slow to take action.
For
example, both Steve Lambert and Heather Tyler said they waited more
than eight months for the agency to even open a case into their
complaints, when federal timeline requirements say complaints assessed
at even the lowest prioritization levels should be investigated within
45 days or during the facility's next inspection. For both Lambert and
Tyler's complaints, an inspection had occurred after they submitted
complaints.
“I found it very disheartening that the Department of Health had not responded," Lambert said.
“Get
off your rear ends and do something about this. Make people
responsible. Make them accountable for what their job is supposed to
be," Tyler said.
A
2023 performance review of VDH by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS), which monitors state agencies' oversight activities,
found Virginia was failing to initiate investigations of the most severe
complaints within a required 3-day timeframe.
CMS data also
showed 71% of Virginia's nursing homes were overdue for inspection, as
of December 2024. That's the third worst rate in the country and well
above the national average of 20%.
It's unacceptable to U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner who allot CMS funding for oversight efforts.
“Why
is Virginia so far out of whack from other states?” Sen. Kaine said.
"If it was just a federal funding issue, yes, you would see Virginia
with a poor track record, but it would match what other states’ track
records are and I think this is obviously a significant issue for the
state as well."
“I think it's an embarrassment that Virginia is so far behind other states," Sen. Warner said.
In
a corrective action plan that VDH submitted to CMS in response to
failures cited in the 2023 performance review, VDH said it "experienced a
significant increase in the number of nursing home complaints." Data
provided by the agency shows VDH received over 800 complaints so far in
2024, a 57% surge since 2018.
But VDH reported that vacancies of inspectors and supervisors limited their ability to respond within required timeframes.
It's
coming at a time when the state is also "observing an overall decline
in the care being provided to residents" and as CMS says it's
"increasingly concerned" with the quality of care at facilities,
especially those owned by private equity companies and investment firms.
“One
of the things that I feel very strongly about is the way money dictates
the care, the quality of care. I think our government can do better and
should do better," Heiskill said. “Look at the massive amount of
corporations that have recently been purchasing these nursing
facilities, and they're being allowed to do it, again, with no oversight
on what's going on.”
Then, there's the report from the state
legislature's investigative unit JLARC which revealed a VDH plagued by
years of financial mismanagement, operational challenges, and a staffing
crisis. The latter of which rendered the agency "unable" to fulfill its
regulatory obligations.
CBS 6 questioned Governor Glenn Youngkin about these escalating concerns.
“How
did the oversight system get this bad, and what is your plan to fix
it?” reporter Tyler Layne asked the governor during a public event.
“When
we came in in 2022, the Virginia Department of Health was very—
troubled, is how I'll describe it, and they were troubled in lots of
ways. One of them was that they had not been able to really put together
the organizational structure to provide the kinds of oversight
necessary," Youngkin said.
But he said VDH has already been
implementing recommended changes for improvement, and he expressed
confidence that Health Commissioner Dr. Karen Shelton can right the
ship.
After VDH initially declined multiple interview requests,
Shelton eventually agreed to sit down and discuss these issues with CBS
6.
Health Commissioner acknowledges 'tremendous difficulty'
“What
I've been able to gather through looking at federal data, looking at
public records, is that when it comes to VDH’s regulatory
responsibilities, it seems that the agency is significantly falling
short of meeting those goals. Is that something that you as the
Commissioner acknowledge?” reporter Tyler Layne asked Commissioner
Shelton.
“I think that we all acknowledge that there's been a
tremendous difficulty after COVID with a lot of healthcare workforce
shortages, so both in the nursing home industry itself as well as within
the Virginia Department of Health," Shelton said.
Shelton said she currently has a 46% vacancy rate of nursing home inspectors.
“How is that sustainable?” Layne asked.
WTVR
“We are taking definite measures in order to increase that. We are
looking at compensation studies for our current staff. Some of our
vacancies— we have lost staff to other state agencies. Some of the state
agencies pay more than we do for the same kind of investigations for
other complaints," Shelton said.
Some of the other short-term
administrative solutions Shelton has implemented include contracting
temporary inspectors, focusing efforts on the most high-need
inspections, and the agency has created a strike team to investigate
complaints.
“Do you find that VDH is able to get around to these quick enough to your satisfaction?” Layne asked.
“We’re always striving to do better," Shelton responded.
Complaints
assessed at the lowest priorities are the most backlogged right now,
Shelton said. Federal rules require the agency to investigate nearly
every complaint that comes in, and Shelton said only a small number of
overall complaints received are outside of VDH's regulatory scope.
But the stakes are high when facilities remain unchecked.
A
recent Congressional report title Uninspected and Neglected found
"nursing home residents are the people who ultimately suffer when
understaffing at state survey agencies reduce their capacity to oversee
health facilities” and that “poor conditions... are directly connected
to insufficient enforcement.”
“Do you believe that there is a correlation between lack of oversight and worsening conditions?” Layne asked.
"Well,
I think it's really up to the nursing home industry themselves. It's
the facilities who provide the care for the patients. So it's really
incumbent upon them to be providing the best possible care for their
patients," Shelton answered.
“It is, but it’s also the state's responsibility to hold them accountable if they're not doing that," Layne said.
“Absolutely," Shelton responded.
'Draconian' powers to hold facilities accountable
To that end, Shelton said Virginia is abnormally restricted in its enforcement options.
“Currently, the state powers are pretty draconian in nature," Shelton said.
By
law, she said VDH has no authority to impose fines on poor performers
without petitioning in court, put their license on probation, or require
staff training. Shelton said these are typical enforcement measures
that every other state in the region has access to.
On the federal
level, CMS can impose intermediate sanctions, but Shelton said it's
"very important" for the state to have those authorities too.
Watch Health Commissioner Dr. Karen Shelton discusses 'Draconian' state powers
Additionally, Shelton said state licensing fees for health
facilities have not increased in 40 years, which is currently set at
$1.50 per bed and capped at $500 per facility.
While VDH would
typically collect $150 in licensing fees annually from a facility with
100 beds, Shelton said other states, on average, would collect around
$5,000 for the same-sized facility.
An increase in fees would give
the health department more money to hire inspectors, whose starting
salaries currently range between $71,000-$82,000.
Shelton is calling on the General Assembly to change the laws in these areas, with support from Governor Youngkin.
The
proposed measures to increase nursing home regulation come at a time
when Youngkin has prioritized decreasing government regulations across
his administration.
“Is
this one of the areas, in your conversations with the governor, where
he thinks there might be too much regulation?” Layne asked Shelton.
“I
think by comparison, as I mentioned, you can look at the other states
and other agencies and see that we do not have as much regulation as
they do, and we're just trying to get up to speed to give us the
appropriate tools to manage our job," Shelton said.
When pressed
for a more direct answer to that question, Shelton declined to elaborate
further, but noted that the governor supports VDH's proposed
legislative priorities.
The issue of lacking regulation was also brought to a December state Board of Health meeting.
Vickie
Runk, who runs assisted living communities in Lynchburg which are
subject to different oversight standards than nursing homes, is the
board member appointed by the governor to represent the nursing home
industry.
She believes inspectors have been coming down hard on nursing facilities — but for the wrong things.
“While
we're short, what we should be focusing on is care-related complaints,
not the paperwork, the everyday compliance that is barriers to us
focusing on the care," Runk said.
She said she supports VDH's
legislative proposals, but right now, she wants investigators to limit
the scope of their probes to the problems families care about most, not
minor noncompliance issues.
“Those inspectors should be in there,
integrated their focus on resident care, any possibilities of neglect or
medication mismanagement, food that's not being properly distributed
and prepared. If we're focused just on those charts and that paperwork
and who signed off on something and who was trained by this person or
who wasn't trained by this person, we're not focusing on care, and
that's our job," Runk said.
Watch: Virginia Board of Health Member Vickie Runk Addresses Inspector Shortage
Though Virginia is seeking additional funding sources, Shelton said
CMS has provided stagnant federal funding to states for oversight
activities. Congress has not increased CMS funding in this area in more
than ten years, despite requests under democratic and republican
administrations for more money.
The commissioner acknowledged the
frustration that some Virginians have expressed as they look to VDH for
answers to their nursing home concerns.
She pledged that improving the oversight system was a top priority to her.
"Our
nursing home residents are some of our most highly vulnerable
population, and they deserve and they need great quality of care, high
intensity care, and we are here to help to regulate the communities that
do that, and to make sure that we're working together to facilitate
that best care," Shelton said.
"And do you feel VDH is doing a good job with that right now?" Layne asked.
"We are moving forward at a fast pace," Shelton said.
'They've let us down'
While state leaders present an array of solutions, advocates remain doubtful.
“The lawmakers here, I just feel like they've let us down. They've let me down," Edwards said.
For years, they've written legislators, shared their stories, and lobbied for change — but they've seen little progress.
“It leaves me feeling very frustrated, very angry and just disappointed," Heiksill said.
“That's
why our elderly in nursing facilities are suffering, and families are
having to go through losing their loved one," Pompey said.
CBS 6 will monitor any proposed nursing home legislation in the upcoming General Assembly session and track its progress.
The Alzheimer's Association released a list of gift recommendations for
individuals with the disease at every stage of dementia. Experts offer
insights on how to navigate the holiday amid dementia.
The top gifts this holiday season might not be the best fit for
everyone, especially those who have Alzheimer’s disease. There are seven
million Americans living with the disease, according to the Alzheimer’s
Association – and some gifts might not be appropriate depending on a
person's stage of dementia.'Family members and friends may have to
rethink their gift-giving strategies when shopping for someone living
with dementia,' Elizabeth Edgerly, Ph.D.
trackers, in the form of
watches, bracelets or key rings, can offer an individual their
independence while keeping them safe. 5. 'Memory' calendars can be
filled with family photos and pre-marked with important dates. Gifts for
middle to late stages 6. Music playlists can be compiled with your
loved one’s favorite artists and songs. 7. Comfy, loose-fitting
clothing, like sweat suits, slip-on shirts, night gowns, bathrobes and
lace-free shoes, are easy to throw on, remove and wash. 8.
Soothing
gifts like a soft blanket or handheld massage ball can help relieve
stress and anxiety. 10. 'Adaptive' dining accessories — like no-spill
cups, plate guards and silverware with handles — encourage independence
at the dinner table. Gifts for engagement 11. A memory phone can store
photos with names and contact information. 12. Puzzles and activity
books stimulate the brain and promote cognitive sharpness. 13.
Make
plans to spend time with the person doing the things they like,' she
advised. 'It can be playing a game, looking at old pictures, watching a
favorite movie or going out to eat.' 'The adage that the best things in
life are free is true. Spending time and engaging the person in
meaningful ways can be the best gift of all.'
AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - The South
Carolina Vulnerable Adult Guardian ad Litem program delivered 70
stockings to various assisted-living and skilled-nursing facility
locations across the state earlier this month.
The
program, a division of the South Carolina Department on Aging, provides
guardians ad litem for vulnerable adults who have been abused,
neglected or exploited and are in the custody of the South Carolina
Department of Social Services.
The program has six regional coordinators who cover the 46 counties in South Carolina.
“Ad litem” means someone appointed to act in a lawsuit on behalf of a child or other person who is not considered capable of representing themselves.
Gifts were delivered statewide, including in Aiken, Bamberg and Orangeburg counties.
“It
is a pleasure and privilege to assist vulnerable adults with
necessities and treats for the holiday season,” said Brenda Marchant,
director of the program.
Among the items delivered were beads, snacks, fruit, festive ties, socks and lip balm.
Items
in the stockings were purchased by the program’s Vulnerable Adult Fund.
To help create stockings, the program used money from the fundraising
5K Race for the Ages.
Wendy Williams hasn't
been seen in public very much since her dementia diagnosis, so fans
were thrilled when the 60-year-old was spotted looking happy and healthy
in Florida recently.
In a clip shared to Instagram on Sunday, Dec. 15 by the account toinethedon,
Williams smiled while she picked up a take-out order from the Fort
Lauderdale restaurant Sista Sara’s Shonuff Oysters with her nephew, Travis Finnie.
Williams sat in the backseat of a black car wearing a green jacket and
holding a black purse as she greeted and thanked the restaurant workers.
Commenters thought Williams seemed like her old self again.
"She looks almost ready for her purple chair," noted one person, referring to the famous chair from her talk show set.
"She looks good," agreed someone else.
"Glad too see you Wendy looking well praying for you 🙏," declared another fan.
In October, Williams shared a health update with the Daily Mail,
saying that she was "doing good" despite her February 2024 diagnosis
with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia—the same diagnosis as actor Bruce Willis.
Williams' diagnosis came after years of cognitive decline and shortly before the premiere of a controversial Lifetime documentary chronicling her physical and financial struggles.
The Wendy Williams Show premiered
in 2008 and ran for 13 seasons before airing its final episode in
2022. Williams was forced to take a series of hiatuses in later seasons
due to her health issues, which also include Graves’ disease and
lymphedema.
July
1, 2023; a niece of the victim called Broken Arrow Police to say her
aunt with Alzheimer's had been put into a home by Carlson. Carlson had
gotten guardianship and was accused of mis-using the victim's money.
The niece got an attorney and got guardianship back and showed officers the accounts.
Police
say Carlson closed out several of the victim's CD's worth a total of
$130,000 and deposited the money into Carlson's personal account and
spent the money on trips, cash and casinos.
Police
say Carlson used the victim's money to write checks to herself and
others and made several ATM withdrawals from a casino from the victim's
account.
Elderly
and vulnerable people in south-east England have told the BBC how they
lost control of their money and property after dealing with a law firm
based in Essex.
They described how
they were persuaded - and sometimes felt under pressure - to grant
lasting power of attorney (LPA) to a man called Ron Hiller, a partner in
the firm.
LPA is a legal agreement
in which someone appoints an "attorney" to make decisions on their
behalf, either for finance or health and welfare.
Attorneys
are supposed to act in their clients' best interests. But we
investigated 30 cases involving Mr Hiller and his firm, Craybeck Law,
and found a disturbing pattern of events:
People found they had no access to their bank accounts and no idea how much Mr Hiller was charging for being their attorney
Large amounts of cash were withdrawn without a reasonable explanation
Properties
were sold for what owners and others considered was lower than market
value, and possessions were cleared and disposed of without owners'
knowledge or informed consent
There
has been a massive rise in LPAs in England and Wales in recent years.
In 2023, more than one million people registered - a rise of 37% on the
year before.
I spoke to dozens of
vulnerable people, as well as their friends, family and neighbours, who
expressed concern about Ron Hiller's business practices.
My
findings also raise concerns about the potential lack of oversight
within the system, and whether the body that regulates attorneys - the
Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) - is able to deal with such
problems.
A spokesperson for Craybeck
Law has denied any wrongdoing but said the firm could not respond to
claims about specific individuals, because of client confidentiality.
We made repeated attempts to speak to Mr Hiller in person, including at his home, but he did not respond.
Carole's story
Carole was in her 60s, living alone in a house in Uxbridge, west London.
In April 2022 she was admitted to hospital with an infection. She never came back.
Her
friends and neighbours, Bert and Hazel, wanted to visit her in hospital
but Covid restrictions were in place. Then the hospital told them she
had been transferred to a care home.
They rang the home repeatedly but were never put through. They left messages but their calls were not returned.
Within
months, Carole's house had been completely cleared out and sold for
£355,000 - a low price, the neighbours thought, considering other houses
in the street were fetching up to half a million.
Hazel and Bert were worried about what was happening, but they had no legal right to know any more details.
Together we paid a visit to Carole's care home in the Hertfordshire town of Rickmansworth.
Carole
told us she was desperate to leave, but was stuck there. She said she
had been introduced to Ron Hiller at the care home, and he had convinced
her to grant him lasting power of attorney over her finances.
Most
people appoint family members to be their attorney but for Carole, this
had not been an option. Her closest relative was Sandie - however, she
lived about a 100-mile drive away and suffered from serious health
problems.
A property and finance LPA
can be activated as soon as it is registered. Carole told us she had
been in a lot of pain when she arrived at the care home, and her LPA
shows she agreed to grant these powers to Mr Hiller straight away.
Since
that point, she had been without her bank cards and had received no
statements. She was also in the dark about how much she was paying Mr
Hiller to manage her finances.
She had wanted to call Hazel and Bert, but Mr Hiller had given her a new phone that didn't contain any of her old contacts.
Carole
told us he had advised her to sell her house in order to pay the care
home fees, then later told her it had fetched a low price because nobody
had wanted to buy in her area.
As we
sat talking, Sandie looked at her phone and discovered the house was on
the market again. This time, the asking price was almost £100,000 more
than when Mr Hiller had sold it for Carole.
After meeting Carole in the care home, Sandie asked for detailed accounts from Craybeck Law.
What came was a slow drip-feed of bank statements, with no real explanation of Mr Hiller's charges and hardly any receipts.
However,
they did show that large sums of money had been taken from Carole's
account. Her bank card had been used to make a series of £300 cash
withdrawals from ATMs in the Essex town of South Benfleet, near Mr
Hiller's office.
He told Sandie that
Carole had authorised the withdrawals - but later, when Carole asked to
see invoices, they were not produced.
The
statements also showed a charge for arranging for Carole's house to be
cleared. I later discovered the work was given to Silverback Commerical
Removals, and that the director of this firm was David James Hiller -
the son of Ron Hiller.
Craybeck Law
denied there was any conflict of interest and said the decision to use
Silverback was reached after quotes were sought from alternative
providers. Carole has no record of these.
I heard a similar story about house sales a few miles away in Watford.
Ron
Hiller was appointed to oversee the finances of an elderly woman called
Elizabeth - her house had been sold for £350,000 after she went to live
in a care home.
It was then left empty and sold on a few months later for £525,000 - without any signs that improvements had taken place.
Craybeck
Law said it would not comment on individual cases but told us that the
properties it handled were often in poor condition and that sometimes
they needed to be sold quickly to cover care home fees, and "to avoid
the risk of a sale falling through".
Under pressure?
Many of the people I spoke to, felt Ron Hiller had put them under pressure to appoint him as attorney.
Some
also told me they had been introduced to him by care professionals, who
had led them to believe he was a qualified solicitor.
On
the website for Craybeck Law, Ron Hiller is described as a partner in
the firm's elder client division. However, the letters after his name -
MCICM - denote a diploma in credit management and debt collection.
There is no mention of Ron Hiller on the official register of qualified solicitors either.
A
spokesperson for Craybeck Law denied Mr Hiller had ever given the
impression he was a qualified solicitor. They added that changes to the
law in 2008 meant that individuals who were not qualified solicitors
were permitted to become partners in law firms.
In
the Hertfordshire town of Letchworth, a woman called Petra told me how
an NHS social worker called Margaret Falegan had brought Mr Hiller to
her house during a professional visit.
Petra
suffers from anxiety and had previously told Ms Falegan - whom she
described as her mental health nurse - that she was having trouble with
her bills.
She felt she was being put
"very much" under pressure to grant Mr Hiller power of attorney, even
though she felt uneasy about him.
The next day, she went to her local Citizens Advice Bureau and - with the help of the staff there - suspended the process.
A
few weeks later, she received a letter from Mr Hiller. It read: "I've
informed the mental health team, Stevenage, of your decision, as this
may impact on the level of support they may have planned to provide you
in the future."
Whatever Mr Hiller
had meant by this, Petra read it as a threat. She told me she was still
upset about the letter months later, and it had destroyed her trust in
the mental health team.
I
have heard of other cases where Margaret Falegan introduced Mr Hiller
to potential clients in the course of her professional duties. In one,
the appointment was made in spite of objections from the man's relatives
that he had dementia and did not understand what he was signing.
When
I approached Ms Falegan for a response, she denied putting pressure on
her clients to sign with Mr Hiller. However, she did not say whether her
employer, Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
(HPUFT), knew that he had accompanied her on client visits.
In
response to my findings, HPUFT said it had now launched an
investigation into Ms Falegan, as well as other social workers who had
introduced Ron Hiller to clients. The trust said it had also raised the
matter with the appropriate professional bodies and the police.
"If
an NHS or care worker is making introductions between their clients and
potential attorneys that is very concerning," says consultant
psychiatrist James Warner.
"If
[elderly or vulnerable people] don't have the ability to decide who they
want to appoint as their attorneys, they shouldn't be appointing
attorneys."
Craybeck Law said that
when a potential client was introduced to the firm, a qualified
individual - usually a social worker - would have a discussion with that
person, to ensure they had the mental capacity to make the decision to
appoint the firm as their attorney.
They said this would take place without a Craybeck Law representative present.
It also said the firm had processes to ensure that no individual felt coerced into signing powers of attorney.
Wills
In
several of the cases I looked at, Craybeck Law - and chiefly Ron Hiller
- not only acted as attorney but also executor of clients' wills.
An executor is legally responsible for carrying out the instructions in a person's will and handling their estate.
However,
in at least two cases, Mr Hiller seems to have ignored the instructions
he was given. One client was surprised when I told her that the will he
had drawn up for her split her estate between four charities -
including one she had never heard of.
Another client told me he had not seen a copy of a will Mr Hiller had drawn up for him, and did not understand its contents.
Valerie
in Borehamwood also appointed Mr Hiller as attorney and executor of her
will. After she died in 2022, it emerged that her family had been left
out of her will and her entire estate - estimated at about £220,000 -
was left to a police charity.
Her
brother and sister-in-law, John and Kaye, live in Australia and were not
well-placed to challenge the will. The fact that family members were no
longer beneficiaries also meant they were not entitled to any financial
information.
"We couldn't see how
much [Ron Hiller] was charging for probate or how much he charged every
year for being her power of attorney," Kaye told me.
Ann
Stanyer, a leading lawyer in this field, told me that if an attorney is
also the executor of a will, there is much less scope for proper
scrutiny: "They can both operate the powers of attorney during their
lifetime and take fees through that, but they can then take big fees
from the estate as well."
Craybeck
Law said that the firm was governed by the Solicitors Regulation
Authority's (SRA) rules and principles, including strict conduct and
ethical guidelines that it upheld.
It
said that much of what had been put to it was inaccurate and based on
second- or third-hand hearsay and that it fully refuted the insinuations
made about the way it supported its clients.
The SRA has now confirmed it is looking into allegations made in this article.
Moving on
Carole has now moved out of the care home in Rickmansworth, and into a small flat in Folkestone near her cousin Sandy.
She
has the added work and expense of buying all the basics for her new
home, because Ron Hiller disposed of all her furniture and most of her
possessions.
However, she is happy to be making a fresh start.
Her story, and the others in this
article, were only a few of those I heard about Ron Hiller. He has acted
as attorney for scores of people - a fact that Ann Stanyer finds odd.
"You've
got to run [LPA] properly and you can't possibly do that if you've got
volumes of these things," she says. "I have four or five which are
active and that's more than enough."
The
Office of the Public Guardian doesn't appear to track when an attorney
has an unusually large number of clients. A former senior judge at the Court of Protection, Denzil Lush, is concerned that the OPG is not designed to spot potential problems with the system.
For
instance, if an attorney's powers are revoked by more than one of their
clients, the OPG does not automatically look at why this is happening.
The
issue has caught the attention of Parliament - a private members bill,
which has gone to its second reading, proposes greater safeguards.
Many
MPs feel it is an urgent problem because of the sheer numbers involved.
More than eight million people in England and Wales have now registered
an attorney to act for them.
The
system was designed to protect elderly and vulnerable people, but the
danger is that without better safeguards, it could be leaving them open
to harm.
