For five years Grace Connors was isolated in a residential facility against her wishes and denied the love, comfort and care of her only daughter, Mary Claire.
Her spirit and her health failed while in Hospice.
Who benefits from forced public and state guardianships? Not Grace; she's was never allowed to go home, never allowed to receive any care, food, or even water from her family. She was not even allowed to have a phone.
Ask yourself who benefited from Grace's imprisonment.
Grace had a Long Term Care Insurance Policy that provided for full care in her home. Instead, your tax dollars paid over $5,000 a month to confine her in a nursing home against her wishes and the wishes of her family.
A judge ruled that Daniel Hauser must get medical treatment for his cancer.
Hauser, 13, has refused chemotherapy, against the advice of doctors, in his fight against Hodgkin's lymphoma. Hauser and his family have instead opted for "alternative medicines" as his treatment.
District Judge John Rodenberg issued a 60-page ruling saying Hauser has been "medically neglected" and is in need of child protection services.
Colleen and Anthony Hauser will maintain custody of their son, but have until May 19 to get an updated chest x-ray for Daniel and select an oncologist.
More information: The Hauser’s believe that the injection of Chemotherapy into Danny Hauser amounts to an assault upon his body, and torture when it occurs over a long period of time. They believe that it is against the spiritual law to invade the consciousness of another person without their permission. Forced Chemo - Hauser Family Statement on Ruling
A court-appointed attorney for Daniel, Philip Elbert, called the decision unfortunate. "I feel it's a blow to families. It marginalizes the decisions that parents face every day in regard to their children's medical care. It really affirms the role that big government is better at making our decisions for us." Minn. judge rules teen must see cancer doctor
A Nevada Assembly panel was urged to support a Senate-approved plan to let patients in care facilities or their families or guardians install surveillance devices in the patients' rooms.
Sen. Barbara Cegavske told the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee that SB290 would protect seniors in hospices, nursing homes and other group home settings from abuse, and would comfort guardians of such patients who might live far away.
Cegavske: "The capabilities of monitoring from a remote location provide a sense of security to both the facility and the residents."
Cegavske said she introduced SB290 in large part because of an unexplained hand injury her mother sustained while in a Minnesota nursing home last year. Cegavske's mother has Alzheimer's disease and can no longer play the piano as a result of the injury.
In 2007, a Norwalk attorney was accused of stealing $90,000 from a Florida retiree and smaller amounts from other clients.
Duncan Hume's misconduct, for which he was disbarred and convicted of third-degree larceny, was part of what state bar officials said at the time was a spate of attorney thefts that included accusations against lawyers practicing in lower Fairfield County. Two of Hume's clients, including a woman who lived in Stamford, sought compensation from a special fund set up by the state's attorneys in 1999 to help people in their situation, the Client Security Fund.
In March, Gov. M. Jodi Rell, state Treasurer Denise Nappier, and state Comptroller Nancy Wyman tried to transfer the $2 million held in the fund into the state's general fund to help bridge the budget gap, according to a lawsuit filed by attorneys and the Connecticut Bar Association.
Five people have filed a class action lawsuit against a Marietta lawyer, claiming he defrauded them of millions of dollars in an elaborate Ponzi scheme.
Last month, Robert Price Copeland pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to one count of wire fraud. The suit also names five financial planners and five businesses.
Prosecutors say Copeland’s five-year scam defrauded more than 125 people out of $40 million, including some senior citizens who gave him their life savings.
My Grandma, Jean McKee Blackwell, was stolen from me when I was 11 years old.
I am now 15 and want to speak out about what the conservator and guardian in Tucson Arizona did to my family.
My whole family lived together and we were very happy. Janice Bernardini came in and separated my Mom and Dad. My Dad was sick and needed Mom to take care of him. He died because they did not care. He was only 43 and was supposed to meet my kids someday. Now I am the man of my family and I will not let them take anymore from me.
I love my Grandma and want her back. I am not allowed to call her or visit her without “permission” or supervision. My Mom and Grandma Jean were best friends and they won’t ever let them talk again.
My Grandma has money and they like to use it. They threw my Mom, sister and me on the street with no place to go. They spent over 1million dollars to ruin my Mom. We had to leave Arizona just so Mom could raise us in peace. Mom is not allowed to talk about what they did to our family. They made her sign a paper promising not to speak. Judge Clark Munger called my Mom a bad mother. HE WAS WRONG.
He may have hurt my family but he will be stopped. I will get my Grandma free so she can watch me and my sister make Dad proud.
After weeks of closed-door negotiations among lawmakers, Probate Court judges and the governor's budget staff, a bill has been crafted to keep the financially troubled system afloat and cut the 117 courts down to 50 in time for the fall 2010 election.
The draft bill that is expected to reach the House floor early next week includes $12.4 million in new funds to prevent the court system from going bankrupt and the creation of a new 12-member legislative commission to decide which districts stay open or close.
Rep. Bob Godfrey, who negotiated the draft agreement: "This will bring the colonial Probate Court system into the 21st century. We'll be adopting reforms of economy of scale and save courts money while preserving the user-friendly aspect of the courts."
Minimal court jurisdictions would include about 40,000 residents and each court would have to be open 40 hours a week.
The new Probate Court system would include magistrates appointed by the state's chief justice of the Supreme Court, for assignment when needed throughout the state.
The deal would include $4 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and $8.4 million for the next fiscal year.
NAMI Erie-Ottawa is offering an education meeting on Psychiatric Advance Directives to avoid guardianship 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at Sandusky Artisans, 138 Market St., Sandusky. The presenter will be Niki Hanselman.
Call 419-732-6264 to register. This class is for consumers, professionals and family members.
Those who want to extend the time some hospital patients may live before their life support is cut off are worried that their proposal is running into a wall at the Capitol.
Legislation by state Rep. Bryan Hughes would require life-sustaining treatment to continue for patients whose condition is deemed futile by doctors until a transfer to another medical facility can be arranged, if their family requests it.
Currently, hospitals can stop life support after 10 days in certain cases if the patient is terminally or irreversibly ill and cannot express treatment wishes.
Hughes: "No other state in the country has a law that Draconian. The balance of power is completely shifted against the patients and the families."
Hughes' bill is being pushed by Texas Right to Life and groups for the disabled, including the Coalition of Texans With Disabilities and Not Dead Yet of Texas, also back Hughes' proposal, as does the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Mexican government has hired a lawyer to monitor a Nashville child-custody battle involving a severely brain-damaged girl.
Alessandra Villalobos, 4, is also at the center of a medical malpractice lawsuit that is seeking millions of dollars for her care.
The girl's mother, Ingrid Diaz, is a Mexican national from San Pedro Pochutla, a city on the southwest coast of Mexico in the state of Oaxaca. Diaz is in the country illegally, but her daughter is an American citizen who was born in Nashville.
Diaz is trying to regain custody of her daughter from a local nurse.
Why doesn't Murray retire from his job at the Post Office?....
Because the guardian will take his pension!
I am old enough to retire. I have been a Postal worker for over forty years. I hold a full time position earning approximately $50,000 a year, in addition to working extensive overtime.
I was happy for all those years until I was introduced to the judicial system in 2000. The landlord of the building I had been living in for the prior ten years refused to make what I considered necessary repairs, so I resorted to self help and withheld a portion of the rent. The apartment that I was living in was rent controlled, so it is easy to understand why the landlord decided to start eviction proceedings.
Instead of eviction, I was placed under guardianship by Hon. Anthony Cutrona, Justice of the Supreme Court in Kings County, Brooklyn, NY in March of 2001 in order to “protect” me.
This is when my life turned into a nightmare. When a guardian is appointed for a person, all their civil rights are lost. I could no longer control my own money. The court ordered that all of my salary, including all overtime pay, must be sent to the guardian, a company ironically called Self Help Community Services, Inc. Each week, the guardian returns a total of $325 which my wife and I are expected to live on.
I am in dire need of dental work, but when the bill became five hundred dollars, the guardian would no longer pay it.
My hearing loss is having a negative effect at my job (I am totally deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other), but when I ordered hearing aids, the guardian cancelled my personal check. My co-workers find it annoying because they have to constantly repeat instructions because I can’t hear them when they speak. Sometimes people mistake my loudness for aggressiveness.
I have made my problem known to many agencies in New York, have contacted and emailed the first lady, Oprah Winfrey, etc. and has been told that they can not help me.
May 2009 ~ Guardianship abuse victims recognized during Elder Abuse Prevention Month
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are working to resolve the grand theft case of a married couple accused of stealing $750,000 in inheritance money from three orphaned children in their care.
The defense attorney for Richard Reyes said that prosecutors have made a plea offer of 4 years in state prison for his client.
Reyes' wife and co-defendant, Yvonne Reyes has been offered a sentence of one to two years, said James Reiss, Richard Reyes' defense attorney.
The Rancho Cucamonga couple, who are currently jailed in lieu of $1.4million bail, are accused of stealing the inheritance money over an 18-month period starting in September 2006.
Paula Werme, a lawyer who has devoted her practice to battling the state Division for Children, Youth and Families, has received a suspended penalty for violating a court order while representing a client in a child neglect case.
Werme was given a six-month suspension from law - all of it stayed for two years if she does not commit misconduct again - by the state Professional Conduct Committee this week. The committee is charged with investigating misconduct complaints against lawyers and issuing penalties in cases.
According to the committee's records, while Werme was representing the father, she wrote a letter to his daughter despite a court order barring Werme, her client or his family from contacting the girl.
The court had issued the no-contact order because previous phone calls between the girl and her father were so upsetting they had exacerbated the girl's unspecified medical condition, according to committee files. In her January 2007 letter to the girl, who was then 16, Werme told the girl her relatives were lying to her when they allegedly told her she would have enough money to attend college if only her father paid his overdue child support.
Drew Peterson, charged in the death of his third wife and suspected in the disappearance of his fourth, soon might face another legal battle: a custody fight.
The ex-cop had two children with Kathleen Savio, whom he's accused of killing, and another two with Stacy Peterson, who has been missing since 2007. Drew Peterson's adult son Stephen announced Monday that he has taken custody of the children, but relatives of Savio and Stacy Peterson are looking into whether they can change that.
"It's an issue that's moved to the front burner," said Martin Glink, an attorney representing Savio's father and sister, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Peterson shortly before his arrest last week. He added, that he hasn't talked about the issue with his clients or anyone else in the Savio family.
The Adult Guardianship and Advocacy Program (AGAP) operated by Family Services Inc. will cease operations on May 22.
The Family Services Inc. Board voted to discontinue the program at its May 6 meeting after spending almost a year seeking a solution to funding challenges.
The program, which trained volunteers to represent the health and legal interests of at-risk and incapacitated adults, cost almost $61,000 to run last year. Funding for the program came from United Way of Greater Lafayette, The Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette, St Elizabeth Regional Health, Alcoa Foundation and other public and private sources.
Judges are politically appointed, politically approved attorneys. These attorneys are not appointed to the Bench for their Integrity; they are appointed because they have political connections. Note how many Lawyers have infiltrated your State Legislature.
These 'political pawn' Bench warmers are rubber stamping every motion their court appointed 'crony' Guardian and/or Conservator's make while denying due process of law to family members and suppressing their irrefutable evidence in 'favor' of their cronies' unsubstantiated claims given 'credibility' by the 'titles' these unscrupulous 'professionals' have before their names.
These courts operate in 'secret' allowing for wild accusations against family members ruled as fact by these 'bench warmers'. Once these unscrupulous agents of the court have obtained 'guardianship'; they strip all rights of the person now their 'ward' enabling them to displace their 'wards' from their homes and families into facilities, deny medical treatments and family members from Advocating for their loved ones health and well being.
These unscrupulous 'agents of the court' are then free to sell their 'wards' homes and all assets often displacing family members who have given up jobs to care for their loved ones.
These unscrupulous 'agents of the court' are then free to bill against their 'ward's funds as if it were they were their own piggy bank. Coupled with the high costs of 24/7 professional/facility care, the funds are depleted too soon and the 'ward' becomes the taxpayer's responsibility.
The loving family members are prevented from Advocating for their loved ones 'wards' of the court/Guardian; their loved one is medicated into compliance, neglected and abused. Immobility leads to mortality and premature death.
Healthcare Providers who Speak Out after connecting the dots of FRAUD upon the taxpayers; illegal 'snatching' of vulnerable citizens (elderly, disabled, and children)for personal profit, feeding State Government coffers; and covering up sentinel events of these wards, are egregiously retaliated against: Blacklisted from working in their professions and ultimately they too become victims of the same racket they have attempted to reform. Whistleblower #1137
As Erie County’s court-appointed public administrator, Acea Mosey oversees the settlement of estates, hundreds of them, for people who die without relatives or heirs.
And she gets paid handsomely to do it.
Exactly how much is hard to determine, but her caseload is big enough to generate more than $600,000 in potential commissions over the course of about three years.
Mosey, a former Erie County Water Authority commissioner active in Democratic Party politics, says her true compensation is closer to $180,000 a year and not all of that money goes to her.
“There’s a lot of bad with the good,” Mosey said of the estates and the profit or loss they generate.
Unlike the public administrator in Niagara County, who steered estate work to his wife and brother, Mosey, who was appointed by Surrogate Court Judge Barbara Howe, is not accused of doing anything improper.
The state court system allows and even encourages Erie County’s practice of awarding its estate work to a single, private practice lawyer working strictly on commission.
With state officials predicting more than 100,000 cases of elder abuse next year, Kildee and other federal lawmakers are pushing for new legislation that would use $100 million to help local agencies find and address such incidences.
The Elder Justice Act would create offices of elder justice at the federal departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. Those offices, said Kildee, would raise the profile of the issue and make it easier to get federal money into communities such as Genesee County. "They're on the front lines," he said.
Any federal money would be welcome, said Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton. The Genesee County Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation program currently relies on about $750,000 in funding from the county's $8-million senior citizen millage.
Because of a forced guardianship, my mother had to spend over four years in nursing homes against her will. It didn’t matter to the judge that Mom wanted to live with me. It didn’t matter that she was terrified and abused while in the nursing home. And it doesn’t matter now to the judge that my Mom needlessly suffered total loss of her sight due to nursing home neglect, among other atrocities.
She begged me to take her home but I was powerless to do so. The judge appointed my brother, an attorney apparently still in “good standing” although on psychiatric disability for at least 10 years, as guardian of the property. His illness and irrational behavior plagued my efforts to free Mom because the judge favored my brother over our mother’s best interest.
And my Mother suffered for it.
The person the judge was supposed to be protecting was my Mother, not my brother.
May 2009 ~ Guardianship abuse victims recognized during Elder Abuse Prevention Month
In an unusual rebuke to state child welfare workers, a Jefferson County family court judge has removed a teenage girl from their care and granted temporary custody to her foster parents.
Circuit Judge Stephen George last month took that step, over the objections of state workers, after the workers reneged on an agreement to let the 17-year-old remain in the Bullitt County foster home where she had been thriving, said the girl's lawyer, Christopher Harrell.
Harrell: "I think it's atrocious. the state previously had agreed not to move the girl from the foster home."
While family court proceedings involving abused and neglected children by law are confidential, Jim Grace, head of Kentucky's child protection services acknowledged the judge's decision to transfer custody from the state to the foster parents "may be unusual." And he said state officials will investigate the matter and see if further action is warranted.
The court order authorizing electroshock treatments for Ray Sandford says that when he arrived at a psychiatric hospital early last year, he was "grossly psychotic" and violent toward staff and other patients.
Sandford, who has been declared legally incompetent, said he agreed to the treatments at first, but after more than 40 of them he finds it hard to remember names and other things. His bipolar disorder is under control, he says, and he should have the right to say no.
The court disagrees, but advocates of the mentally ill who call themselves the "mad pride" movement have rallied to his defense.
"This is worse than waterboarding," said David Oaks, executive director of MindFreedom International, who led about two dozen people in a rally at the Minnesota Capitol this month to draw attention to Sandford's case.
Oaks: "Offer somebody the choice between waterboarding or forced electroshock and a lot of our people who know what it is will say waterboarding."
Sandford: "I just don't like the idea of them being able to force these treatments."
Sandford's caregivers persuaded a judge to order electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) plus a combination of anti-psychotic drugs.
MindFreedom, based in Eugene, Ore., opposes involuntary psychiatric treatment and all use of ECT, but mental-health professionals say ECT is safe and effective in many severely depressed patients for whom drugs have failed.
A record number of complaints were filed against judges in New York for the second year in a row, according to a report issued Friday.
The report from the state Judicial Conduct Commission found that 1,923 complaints were received last year, 212 more than the year before.
The commission decided to remove one judge from office, censure eight and publicly admonish six others. Another six judges resigned last year while they were being investigated and agreed not to seek judicial office again.
Since the commission was created by the Legislature in 1975, it has received 39,457 complaints and removed 157 judges from office. Another 421 resigned while under investigation.
A human rights organization will review complaints people with disabilities have made against certain agencies in northwest Illinois.
The Peoria Regional Human Rights Authority of Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission will meet at 1 p.m. May 20 at the Robert Young Center, 2200 Third Ave., Rock Island.
The Peoria commission is investigating cases in Peoria, Rock Island and Tazewell counties.
Anyone who believes the rights of a person with disabilities is or has been violated, may call the commission at (309) 693-5001. Complainants names are confidential.
Lifelong NY resident, WWII vet, teacher, worker, inventor...
On a visit to daughter in Ct. (2005) Dan Gross became embroiled in the Ct. Probate System where the judge, denied him his constitutional rights, although he begged for them.
The judge went on to give Dan to a conservator who had him locked up in a nursing home, even though it was not the highest level for him, had him forced medications, refused him his own doctors, his own choice of lawyers, prevented him from seeking aid of any advocacy groups, denied his right to visitors, family, stripped him of all assets, put his house up for sale - all his worldly possessions disappeared.
Those we have the utmost gratitude for are Atty. Veronica Halpern (Htfd. Legal Aid), Rick Green of the Hartford Courant, Atty.John Peters, who worked pro-bono to free Dan, Atty. Marilyn Denney (Htfd. Legal Aid), Eric Zager of Fox 61 News, Royal Stark of Quinnipiac Law School and the students who helped, Tom Berrant of CTLegal Project and others, Dan's friends, and finally the outstanding judge of Superior Court, Judge Gormley, who restored justice and freedom to Dan Gross.
We thank God above all and for putting these wonderful people in our path to overcome this perverse system that preys on the vulnerable. Symbol of Hope
Dan said this was always about the money--he was right.
Gloria Allred has filed a petition in an Orange County Court, alleging that Nadya Suleman, the Octomom that most of us are quite tired of hearing about, is taking advantage of her spawn and raking in money without proper consideration of their interests.
Attorney Allred requests that the court appoint a guardian, and a separate theatrical agent, to ensure the Octo kids receive their share of any money earned by their fame.
The petition is filed on behalf of one Paul Petersen. Paul played young Jeff Stone on the Donna Reed Show. Mr. Peterson has made it his mission to ensure that other show biz kids get a fair shake.
What gives Paul Peterson the right to ask a California Court to stick it's nose into the affairs of Nadya Suleman and her children?
Orangeburg County authorities are again cautioning people to be wary of scam artists.
A woman said she, "was phoned by someone claiming to be a representative of the probate court and that the woman asked her several personal questions, including her Social Security number," Orangeburg County Probate Court Judge Pandora Jones-Glover said.
The woman did not give the caller any personal information.
Jones-Glover: "It is not the policy of the probate court to request personal information over the phone. I also don't see why any probate court in South Carolina would do so. If anyone has questions, please call us and we will be happy to deal with any concerns you may have."
Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Lt. Becky Whitman: "People should remember never to give out their personal information over the phone. Scam activity picks up in the spring and around the holiday seasons. More recently we have gotten reports of letters asking for secret shoppers. Most of these invariably have Canadian stamps on them. A lot of times there are misspelled words, too."
Norman Baker is an American hero who has been detained against his will for more than three years.
His "crime": owning too much property. His sentence: a court-appointed guardianship on the brink of costing him everything he spent his life building. His rights: virtually none, significantly less in many ways than an actual law-breaking criminal. His future if this had continued: long-term de facto imprisonment, followed by abject poverty, if he has anything left at all. Unwanted Guardianship How an unwanted guardianship cost a firefighter his freedom and his fortune
The plight of Guardianship Abuse is highlighted in this interview with Norman Baker, a retired fire-fighter who saw his assets put in the hands of a court-appointed guardian and was forcibly sent to a retirement home. Interview With Norman Interview with Norman Baker by his attorney
The Fairfield County Probate Court terminated the guardianship, restoring Mr. Baker to competency and allowing him to regain his freedom and independence after nearly four years. Mr Baker had unsuccessfully challenged the validity of the guardianship in both the Fairfield County Probate Court and then in the Ohio Fifth District Court of Appeals. He had also filed with the Ohio Supreme Court an accusation that the Probate Judge assigned to his case was biased against him. That challenge was summarily dismissed by Chief Justice Thomas Moyer. Baker Guardianship Ends
May 2009 ~ Guardianship abuse victims recognized during Elder Abuse Prevention Month
Four months before he died, Mickey Carroll signed papers turning over control of all his assets to his caretaker, Linda Dodge.
Carroll, 89, was best known as a Munchkin, one of the little people in the movie "Wizard of Oz."
Relatives estimate he left an estate of more than $1 million. They filed a suit in Clayton claiming that "unscrupulous agents" have taken control of the assets and put them "in imminent danger of continued dissipation, waste and theft."
The eight heirs also maintain that Carroll suffered from dementia and was mentally incompetent to sign the legal papers.
Dodge calls the allegations "foolish."
On Jan. 7, five days after moving in with Dodge, Carroll — whose real name was Michael Finocchiaro — signed a durable power of attorney transferring control of his investments and assets to Dodge.
He signed a second durable power of attorney for health care, giving Dodge authority to make medical decisions if he became incapacitated.
In the suit, Janet Finocchiaro says she was concerned about her uncle's health. In a recent hot line complaint to the state of Missouri, she said her uncle was the victim of "elder abuse."
Canada - New legislation scheduled to be proclaimed into law this fall is being called a draconian act that strips rights from dependent adults by a provincial special interest group that spoke to local seniors last week.
The director of Alberta’s Office of the Public Guardian Brenda Lee Doyle: "Those claims are false and the Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act is not only progressive legislation that provides far more protection than it’s outdated predecessor, but it was also drafted through extensive public consultation."
Ruth Maria Adria from the Elder Advocates of Alberta speaking to Peace River seniors: "This is unjust legislation that violates citizens’ rights. Most people don’t know it until it bites them."
A pair of central Virginia lawmakers took questions about the state's rapidly aging population. In-home care, uniform guardianship and medicaid were all on the agenda.
Delegate David Toscano: "We're among the lowest ranking states in terms of our medicaid reimbursement and we need to do a better job there. But it's a process and we have to go from year to year."
Delegate Rob Bell: "The goal would be to say if you're well enough, you should be able to stay home if you want to. If you have to go to a nursing home, the financial piece will be there for you."
For five years Grace Connors was isolated in a residential facility against her wishes and denied the love, comfort and care of her only daughter, Mary Claire.
