Stuck in the hospital: Guardianship backlog exacerbates capacity issues in Mass.

In Massachusetts, if a patient has not appointed a health care proxy, only a legal guardian is recognized to make decisions.

By Jericho Tran 

With hospital capacity increasing during the flu season, health care professionals are sounding the alarm on the need for legal guardians to help patients who have not filled out a health care proxy form.

In most cases, the situation is avoidable by filling out the paperwork and assigning a legal guardian in case something happens and you're not able to make decisions for yourself — but legal and medical professionals say in other cases, especially with the aging population, there are no friends or family available, so patients are literally stuck inside hospitals.

"The emergency rooms are full, and a lot of that are people waiting to be admitted to another floor of the hospital, but there's no beds," said attorney Brandon Saunders, a partner at BSK Law Offices.

Patients without legal guardians may be stuck inside medical facilities for months at a time, eliminating space for the influx of patients at the height of the flu season.

"The length of time to get a guardianship has increased, and people are sitting longer, and I think it's having a greater strain on the capacities of these hospitals," Saunders said.

In Massachusetts, if there's no appointed health care proxy, the only recognized decision-maker is a legal guardian.

Saunders, who goes into court to appoint a guardian for patients, says it can sometimes take weeks.

"We were about 1,000 petitions for guardianship last year," he said. "That's up from the year before, and up from the year before that."

In the meantime, those patients are unable to get the specialized post-acute care they need.

"It's just exacerbated, as I say, in the winter, when when we are experiencing a flu surge, so capacity constraints are even worse," said Michelle McGrory, the associate chief nursing officer for care transitions and rehab services at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "That also exacerbates our congestion in all of our emergency rooms across the state, because patients cannot be moved from the emergency room to these inpatient beds because patients are stuck and we can't discharge them."

In September, the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association found that 38 hospitals across the state reported 50 patients were stuck in hospitals waiting for the appointment of a legal guardian — with that number only expected to grow.

"There needs to be either a funding source or a better pool of available guardians," Saunders said.

Hospitals are asking anyone who is eligible to be a guardian to volunteer. They also asking legislators to provide funding for a volunteer guardianship program.

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Stuck in the hospital: Guardianship backlog exacerbates capacity issues in Mass. 

Former Banner nurse accused of molesting incapacitated patient

By 13 News Staff

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - A former nurse at Banner-University Medical Center has been arrested after allegedly molesting an incapacitated patient.

Jadd Gebrial Sarah made his initial court appearance on Wednesday, Feb. 4, where the judge set bond at $50,000.

Sarah faces charges of sexual abuse, aggravated assault, and vulnerable adult abuse.

The interim complaint shows a nursing supervisor at Banner called 911 on Feb. 2 to report an employee had sexually assaulted a patient.

Police responded to the hospital the following day and learned Sarah was the accused employee.

The document shows the victim was admitted to the hospital for seizures.

The interim complaint also states Sarah was seen on camera entering the victim’s room while she was “incapacitated by both her seizures and different medicines” and then fondling her.

The document shows that during the sexual abuse, the victim “appeared to have no ability to resist Sarah.”

The victim was able to communicate with police and said, according to the interim complaint, that the nurse did touch her.

After being read his rights, the interim complaint shows Sarah admitted “that he screwed up and he did not know why he did it and that it has never happened before.”

His next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 13.

A Banner Health spokesperson sent the following statement to 13 News:

“At Banner Health, we hold ourselves and every one of our team members to the highest standards of conduct and professionalism. Immediately upon learning of an incident that occurred at one of our facilities, we contacted law enforcement. The individual involved in the incident is no longer employed by Banner Health. We remain committed to ensuring a safe environment for every patient in our care.”

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Former Banner nurse accused of molesting incapacitated patient

Kent County man charged for allegedly using APS position to exploit vulnerable women

A Kent County man has been charged with abusing his position with the state to try to gain the property deeds of three vulnerable women. 

Author: Cali Lichter

KENT COUNTY, Mich. — A Comstock Park man is facing decades in prison after detectives allege he abused his position as a state Adult Protective Services (APS) Investigator to exploit three vulnerable women. APS investigators are tasked with protecting vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Derek Plumb faces five charges: one count of embezzling more than $100,000 from a vulnerable adult, and four counts of forgery of a document affecting real property. 

Court documents say in August of last year that a Byron Township woman reported a fraudulent Lady Bird Deed taken out on her house and deeded to the Adult Protective Services Investigator assigned to her case, Derek Plumb. 

A Lady Bird Deed transfers the house deed to a beneficiary when the owner dies. 

A detective with the Kent County Sheriff’s Office found, through a check with the Kent County Register of Deeds, that there were two other houses that were deeded to Plumb and his company, Blackstone AP LLC. There was a Quitclaim Deed for one residence, giving immediate ownership to the LLC, and another Lady Bird Deed for a residence deeded to the LLC. 

There was an initial deed for the reporting victim’s house with Plumb as the beneficiary and another listing his LLC as the beneficiary.  

All three were confirmed to be clients on Plumb’s APS cases.  

When the detective met with the notary on the documents, according to the court documents, the notary claimed he did not notarize the documents, did not meet the women and that his signatures on the documents were forged. 

Through a handwriting analysis, it was found that the signature characteristics on the documents were similar to Plumb’s. 

In early January, Plumb allegedly admitted to detectives he was struggling financially, “saw an opportunity” and “made a poor decision.”  

Detectives say he admitted to taking advantage of the situation, having one of the women sign the deed knowing she was showing dementia like symptoms and did not know what she was signing. 

In the case of another victim, authorities said he initially recalled having her sign the document without knowing what it was but later admitted he may have signed her name on the document. 

He said he knew where the notary’s stamp was and that he stamped the documents and forged the notary’s signature. 

In an email to 13 ON YOUR SIDE, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said the following:  

"Financial exploitation of an older adult is one of the most commonly reported forms of mistreatment, and generally that financial exploitation is done by someone the elderly person trusts. On many occasions the person  is a family member, but we have seen cases where it involves neighbors, friends, anyone who may have a close trusting relationship with the elderly person. In addition, only 1 out of 14 cases of abuse of an elder is ever reported, making it one of the least reported crimes we deal with."

Plumb is facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He will be back in court later this month.  

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Kent County man charged for allegedly using APS position to exploit vulnerable women

See Also:
Kent County worker accused of embezzling $100K, defrauding elderly in property scheme 

Pennsylvania Woman Charged After Elder Exploitation Investigation in Chatham County

Posted by Brighton McConnell 

A Pennsylvania woman is being sought for allegedly using thousands of dollars of an elderly victim’s money to pay her family’s personal business.

The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office announced charges against 71-year-old Pamela Bagdis of Norristown, Pa. on Tuesday, charging her with five counts of felony obtaining property by false pretense, five counts of felony elder exploitation, and one count of felony larceny. The release said an incident was reported on Jan. 15 that accused Bagdis, who served as a power of attorney for an elderly Chatham County victim, of taking money. An investigation then led to the sheriff’s office’s allegations of Bagdis using the victim’s funding to pay her and her husband’s personal business more than $35,700.

Bagdis’ age and address match that of the spouse to lawyer Bernard “Jay” Baldis of Pennsylvania, who was convicted in 2010 for a tax evasion scheme where he used a group of shell companies to hide more than $24 million of income for himself and 11 clients. The U.S. Justice Department said its investigation found Baldis and his cohort effectively withheld $4.9 million from the Internal Revenue Service and he was ultimately sentenced to 10 years in prison. Federal court filings from 2018 and Pennsylvania Superior Court filings from 2019 cite Pamela as Bernard’s spouse.

The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office said Bagdis has not yet been arrested or served and a court date for the charges has not yet been set.

Featured image by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group

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Pennsylvania Woman Charged After Elder Exploitation Investigation in Chatham County

We Found New York’s Guardianship System in Shambles. Now State Lawmakers Say They Have a Plan to Help Fix It.

Two years after ProPublica first documented the state’s dire shortage of guardians — and the substandard care some provide — lawmakers are pitching a $15 million-per-year fix. It’s unclear whether the law has the governor’s support.

by Jake Pearson 

New York state lawmakers have introduced legislation to boost spending on the state’s troubled guardianship system by $15 million a year — an unprecedented cash infusion for a bureaucracy that has long struggled to care for the tens of thousands of disabled or elderly New Yorkers who cannot care for themselves.

By law, judges appoint guardians to manage the health and financial matters of people they deem incapacitated, and these guardians are then compensated from the estates of their wards. But there are not enough guardians to serve the roughly 30,000 New Yorkers who need them, and the new bill, called the Good Guardianship Act, aims to help the most vulnerable segment of this population: those who are too poor to pay for a private guardian and who have no family or friends willing to serve.

In the industry, they are known as “the unbefriended,” and the millions in new funding would flow to a statewide network of nonprofit guardians who serve them.

The proposal follows a 2024 ProPublica investigation that revealed how the state’s guardianship system was failing this group in particular by conducting little to no oversight of guardians, some of whom provided substandard care and exploited those they were charged with looking after.

The stories prompted the state attorney general to open an investigation into several guardianship providers and spurred the court system to appoint a special counsel to enact reforms. But advocates said the Good Guardianship Act presents the most promising step to date in improving the system — if it can get the support of Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The legislation mirrors the recommendations of a task force appointed by the governor last summer, yet Hochul has not said whether she supports the plan and did not include any funding for guardianships in the $260 billion executive budget she recently unveiled.

“What’s it going to take for the governor to pay attention to guardianship and realize there’s a viable solution on the table?” said Kimberly George, who runs a nonprofit that serves about 200 New York City wards and helps lead Guardianship Access New York, a coalition of groups that’s pushing the bill in Albany.

A spokesperson for Hochul, a Democrat who is running for reelection, said the governor will review the legislation.

In recent years, Albany has provided just $1 million to help fund a statewide guardianship hotline, which provides advice for people considering guardianship for their relatives or friends. But the Good Guardianship Act would provide considerably more guardians for those who need them, effectively ensuring that qualified nonprofit groups with a history of providing guardianship services are available to be appointed by judges in cases involving the unbefriended.

To ensure that state funding only goes to what the legislation calls “reputable” nonprofits, groups must be in good standing with a state regulator and their guardianship plans and funding requests must be reviewed by a contractor picked by the director of the state’s Office for the Aging.

Assembly Member Charles Lavine, a Long Island Democrat who chairs the Assembly Judiciary Committee and introduced the legislation, expressed confidence that the bill would pass this session, noting it has no opposition and fixes a readily identifiable problem.

“It’s time that we did something to be able to provide those who are in actual, real need,” he said in an interview. “We believe we are working in the right direction.”

Lavine hosted a roundtable last fall focused on confronting what he dubbed “the crisis” in the guardianship system, describing it as being “stretched very, very thin.”

The legislation also has the support of legislative leaders in the state Senate — including its powerful majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, her spokesperson said.

State Sen. Cordell Cleare, a Harlem Democrat who chairs the Aging Committee, is shepherding the bill through the chamber. It’s on the panel’s agenda for Wednesday and is expected to be adopted. 

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We Found New York’s Guardianship System in Shambles. Now State Lawmakers Say They Have a Plan to Help Fix It.

Kent County worker accused of embezzling $100K, defrauding elderly in property scheme

A Kent County man who worked as a Michigan Adult Protective Services employee faces five felony charges, accused of embezzling over $100,000 from elderly women.

Credit: WZZM

Author: Kayla Crandall

KENT COUNTY, Mich. — A Kent County man is facing multiple felonies, accused of embezzling money and defrauding elderly women in a property-swapping scheme. 

Derek Plumb, 40, worked as a Michigan Adult Protective Services employee with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.  

Plumb is accused of embezzling more than $100,000 from a vulnerable adult. He allegedly defrauded 3 elderly women by forging their names to transfer the deeds of their homes/property to himself, the Kent County Prosecutor's Office confirmed. 

According to online court records, charges were filed on Jan. 9. He faces five total charges, including embezzlement and forgery. 

"Financial exploitation of an older adult is one of the most commonly reported forms of mistreatment, and generally that financial exploitation is done by someone the elderly person trusts. On many occasions the person is a family member, but we have seen cases where it involves neighbors, friends, anyone who may have a close trusting relationship with the elderly person," Kent County Prosecutor said in an emailed statement. "In addition, only 1 out of 14 cases of abuse of an elder is ever reported, making it one of the least reported crimes we deal with."

Plumb is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday. 

13 ON YOUR SIDE reached out to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for comment. We're waiting to hear back. His employment status with MDHHS was not immediately clear. 

If you suspect abuse, neglect or exploitation, you can call Adult Protective Services at 855-444-3911.  

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Kent County worker accused of embezzling $100K, defrauding elderly in property scheme 

Hermon, Maine, group home worker accused of attacking resident

The victim was taken to the hospital Saturday evening and the employee was charged

by Adam Bartow, Executive Producer and Jim Keithley, Reporter 

HERMON, Maine — A person from Bangor who works at a residential group home in Hermon is accused of assaulting a resident at that home.

The Penobscot County Sheriff's Office was called to the home at about 4:50 p.m. on Saturday. When deputies arrived, they determined that the victim needed to be taken to the hospital.

After an investigation, Innocent Muzungu, 26, of Bangor, was charged with intentionally endangering the welfare of a dependent person (Class C felony), misdemeanor assault, and obstructing the report of a crime (Class D misdemeanor).

Muzungu was taken to the Penobscot County Jail.

Waterville resident Leta Miller said when she heard about the assault, she immediately thought of her uncle, who lives in a different group home in Hermon.

Miller said she called her uncle's caregiver when she heard the news.

"I said: 'Is everything okay? What's going on? Are you safe? Is my uncle safe?' And she came back with: 'It wasn't this house.' She stressed that, 'It wasn't this house,' and she said my uncle was safe," Miller said.

Miller said she only gets to speak to her uncle once a week over the phone. She is currently fighting for guardianship.

"He gave me away at my wedding," Miller said. "I miss him so much."

It is unclear whether the group home resident who was assaulted remained hospitalized on Monday.

The Sheriff's Office said it was still investigating the incident.

Maine's Total Coverage contacted the company that authorities said manages the group home where the alleged assault occurred. The company said it has no comment at this time. 

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Hermon, Maine, group home worker accused of attacking resident 

KY nursing home residents could get ‘granny cams’ to watch for abuse under bill

By John Cheves

A Kentucky legislator has proposed a so-called “granny cam” law to allow nursing home residents to position video cameras in their rooms that could catch incidents of elder abuse. 

House Bill 491, filed by state Rep. DJ Johnson, R-Owensboro, would require nursing homes to allow residents and their families or other legal guardians to install video- and audio-recording equipment in the residents’ rooms. The recording equipment would not be hidden; in fact, a sign at the room’s entrance would announce its presence. For shared rooms, the resident’s roommate would have to agree to the surveillance, although the equipment would be pointed away from the roommate. 

Nursing home advocates say the cameras, already authorized in at least 20 states, could be an invaluable tool in protecting some of Kentucky’s most vulnerable citizens, by offering proof when they’re mistreated.

“It’s not a replacement for quality care. It’s not a replacement for family involvement. But I think that having some video monitoring available has been helpful in the past for family members and for residents who have not been believed about the quality of care they’ve been experiencing in the nursing home,” said Denise Wells, executive director of the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass. 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Kentucky nursing homes had among the worst collective ratings in the country for health and safety quality, the Herald-Leader has reported. In 2018, 43 percent were rated “below average” or “much below average” by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 

Since the pandemic, Kentucky state health officials have struggled with a massive backlog in their mandatory annual inspections of nursing homes, leaving some facilities largely unscrutinized for years, the Herald-Leader has reported. 

When family members ask questions about a loved one’s bruises or other injuries, they’re sometimes not taken seriously because they’re outside visitors, Wells said. Likewise, when an elderly resident says a staff member hurt them, it’s sometimes assumed they suffer from cognitive decline and imagine things, she said.

“Unfortunately — and this is in line with the fact that people with disabilities are much more likely to experience abuse — it’s typically because they are viewed by a perpetrator as somebody who is not a reliable witness, so to speak,” Wells said.

“We definitely work with residents, as ombudsmen, who have concerns about certain caregivers,” she said. “When they report something, that caregiver might get suspended for two days pending an investigation, but then they’re placed right back in that person’s room, because the allegation was not substantiated.” 

Johnson, the bill’s sponsor, said he doesn’t know if it will get a committee hearing during this legislative session, much less be signed into law. There might just be a discussion this year, he said. 

Families should “have a right to keep an eye on” their loved ones living in nursing homes, Johnson said. However, he said, he’s not only hearing from families interested in his bill, he’s also hearing from the nursing home industry, which has “general concerns.” 

“So the bill, I would say, is in flux,” Johnson said. 

“I don’t think we’ve seen a final version of it,” he said. “The whole point is to have these conversations so we can come up with what would be the best legislation doing anything at all.”

Esther “Mitzi” Piskor is tossed from a wheelchair onto a bed by a Cleveland, Ohio, nursing home employee on May 13, 2011. Piskor’s son, Steve, was suspicious about the treatment his mother received at the nursing home, so he hid a video camera in her room. A decade later, the state of Ohio passed Esther’s Law to authorize cameras in residents’ rooms. Steve Piskor/YouTube

The major lobbying group representing the nursing home industry in Frankfort, recently renamed the Kentucky Coalition for Aging Resources and Empowerment, did not respond to a request for comment for this story. 

Texas was the first state to authorize “granny cams” in nursing homes in 2001. 

Among the many states to follow Texas is Ohio, which enacted Esther’s Law in December 2021. 

Ohio’s law is named for dementia patient Esther “Mitzi” Piskor, a victim of elder abuse at a Cleveland nursing home. Her son, Steve, who was suspicious because of his mother’s bruises and withdrawn behavior, hid a camera in her room. It captured video of aides brutally tossing Esther into and out of her bed and a wheelchair. 

Several of the aides were fired and convicted of crimes following an investigation. 

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KY nursing home residents could get ‘granny cams’ to watch for abuse under bill 

Bills would cap number of guardianship clients, require monthly visits

by: The Unicameral Update

In the wake of evidence of guardians who are not adequately serving their clients, the Judiciary Committee heard testimony Jan. 29 on two proposals that seek to improve Nebraska’s guardianship system.

LB 985, sponsored by Bennington Sen. Wendy DeBoer, would prohibit a private person from accepting appointment as a guardian or conservator if they already have 20 clients.

DeBoer said the cap would mirror the one already in place for the state’s Office of Public Guardian, which serves as guardian when no alternative is available.

While abuse by a guardian is rare, she said, it does occur. In December of last year, she said, an alleged case of fraud and abuse was made possible, in part, by the lack of a cap on how many clients a private guardian may serve.

“The more individuals you serve as a guardian for, the more accounts you have access to and the more you can bill for your services,” DeBoer said. “In order to limit the potential for abuse, I believe a cap is necessary.”

Amy Miller testified in support of LB 985 on behalf of Disability Rights Nebraska. She said the organization has spent the last three years researching the state’s guardianship system.

Approximately 10,000 people are under guardianship in Nebraska, she said, and an estimated 90% of those are full guardianships — meaning the guardian makes almost all life decisions for the client.

“Your guardian gets to decide where you live, what type of medical care you receive, whether you’re able to get a job or take classes and all of the money matters related to your life,” Miller said. “It’s hard to imagine how one person with even 20 wards under their care could thoroughly represent all of those issues for so many people.”

Jina Ragland also supported the measure. Speaking on behalf of AARP Nebraska, she said a caseload cap would ensure that guardians aren’t stretched too thin.

“This [bill] would increase the likelihood that they could spend more time with older adults and respond quickly to emergencies,” Ragland said.

Tim Hruza testified in opposition to LB 985 on behalf of the Nebraska State Bar Association. Being a guardian is difficult and intense work, he said, and making it harder to find individuals who are willing to serve may not be the answer.

“Our concern is simply that a cap of 20, while well intended … may not get to the root cause [of the problem],” Hruza said.

The committee also heard testimony on LB 1178, sponsored by DeBoer, which would allow individuals under a guardianship or conservatorship to attend required hearings either virtually or in person. The bill also would require guardians to make at least monthly monitoring visits, keep written records of those visits and maintain periodic contact with care providers.

Finally, the bill would authorize courts to award costs and reasonable attorney’s fees in specified proceedings, payable either from the trust involved or by another party.

“Monthly visits ensure guardians actually know their ward’s current condition, living situation and needs, and are not just managing their affairs on paper,” DeBoer said.

Miller testified in favor of LB 1178. Currently, she said, guardians file an annual report that consists of two pages of questions. In examining those reports, she said, Disability Rights Nebraska found one attorney who indicated that he did not visit his ward of 10 years who lived only eight miles away.

“If any guardian doesn’t visit, how do they know the condition of their ward?” Miller said. “It makes common sense to go lay eyes on a person.”

No one testified in opposition to LB 1178 and the committee took no immediate action on either proposal.

The Unicameral Update is the official news service of the Nebraska Legislature. 

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Bills would cap number of guardianship clients, require monthly visits