Suit questions sale of dead man's land

CANTON — One year before he died, Deacon Wilbert Coleman agreed to sell his family’s homestead, a 30-acre plot in Belmont County.

But Coleman’s mental state when the sale occurred and the $1,250 price has prompted questions from relatives and the administrator of Coleman’s estate.

Coleman’s estate last week filed a lawsuit in Stark County Common Pleas Court trying to regain possession of the land and collect any payments the buyers received when they leased mineral rights for the property to XTO Energy. The estate also wants the court to void a lease with XTO Energy.

The lawsuit questions whether Coleman — because Stark County Probate Court had declared him incompetent in 2009 — understood what he was doing when he agreed to sell the land in 2011. There also is no record that he received the $1,250 noted in the sale.

As for the Coleman homestead, held by the family for more than 60 years, the lawsuit suggests the land was worth $130,000.

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Suit questions sale of dead man's land

Disbarred Lawyer Turns Himself In On Grand Theft Charges

Former lawyer Scott Schieb faces eight counts of grand theft for keeping $200,000 of victims' settlement payments for himself, according to the Sarasota Police Department.

A disbarred Sarasota personal injury lawyer turned himself in today on eight counts of grand theft, allegedly victimizing a World War II veteran among others.

Scott Schieb arrived at Sarasota Police Department headquarters for the charges, having bilked $200,000 from victims, according to the police department.

Schieb was being investigated for seven months following his disbarment from the Florida Bar Association in October 2011, according to police.

The Florida Bar filed a complaint with the Twelfth Judicial Circuit in November saying that as many as 12 victims had their injury settlement payments stolen by Schieb.

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Disbarred Lawyer Turns Himself In On Grand Theft Charges

Conservator In, Companion Out, in Torrington Probate Case of Eli Schutts; the Drama Promises to Go On

TORRINGTON – At a probate hearing Monday in the nursing home that houses Dr. Eli Schutts, 86, Judge Michael Magistrali appointed Lorraine Seely conservator for the retired Western Connecticut State University philosophy professor.

With this ruling Ms. Seely once again has control of Dr. Schutts’ estate and care. The Litchfield Hills Probate Court had previously appointed her and his daughter, Prisca Cox of London, temporary co-conservators but that status expired Aug. 12.

For two weeks, the now wheelchair-bound Dr. Schutts, who has been a resident of Litchfield Woods since early summer, has been without court oversight. Though Ms. Cox was present via Skype, Judge Magistrali only named Ms. Seely as conservator.

“I give her absolute power,” said Dr. Schutts, after Judge Magistrali explained Ms. Seely will be in charge of his affairs though he will still possess power to revoke. “She must have full knowledge of my financial condition. I have a rock-bottom belief in this person – otherwise I’d be pointing a gun at my head."

“I’m not in dementia, I know I’m not,” Dr. Schutts said, further explaining that he understands this arrangement. “I have Parkinson’s.”

The ruling came at the protest of Edith Johnson, Dr. Schutts’ companion since the 1980s, and Deborah Logue, the lay minister of Bethlehem’s Christ Episcopal Church. Both were present, and they claim that Dr. Schutts, who in court said he will not cede control to Ms. Johnson, has been manipulated, and in Torrington his best interests are not the first concern.


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Conservator In, Companion Out, in Torrington Probate Case of Eli Schutts; the Drama Promises to Go On

See Also:
Stage is Set for Monday Probate Hearing to Determine Next Step in Contested Case of Retired WestConn Professor Eli Schutts

Associate probate judge named in Franklin County

CARNESVILLE, Ga. — Franklin County Probate Judge Eddie Fowler has appointed the county attorney to serve as associate probate judge.

At a called Franklin County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday night, county attorney Bubba Samuels said he will serve as the associate probate judge for the foreseeable future. Fowler swore in Samuels on Monday. Fowler and Samuels then signed the order appointing Samuels as the associate judge.

“The appointment requires the approval of the county governing authority,” Samuels told the county commission. “We’re informed by the (Georgia) Judicial Qualifications Commission that they approve of this arrangement to ensure that the business of the probate judge’s office goes on. I’ve also spoke with Probate Judge-elect Ken Eavenson, and he agrees this is the best course of action at this time.”

Eavenson was elected Aug. 21 as the new probate judge, but his term does not begin until January.

Samuels emphasized that Fowler is still the probate judge at this time. As a constitutional officer, Fowler is not under county authority, but the board of commissioners did need to approve his appointment of Samuels. That approval was unanimous Tuesday evening.

The move comes, Samuels said, as a decision of Fowler, who was arrested last week and charged with misdemeanor sexual battery. Fowler is out of custody on bond and has not been in the probate judge’s office since his arrest. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation continues to look into the case.


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Associate probate judge named in Franklin County

Autistic Adult in Crisis Goes Unnoticed

WARNING: Disturbing footage: Mom Discovers Autistic Son in Drug-Induced Crisis, during HOSPITAL stay, while nurses and doctors fail to notice! Patient was given drug Haldol, which is listed on his chart as a drug NOT to give. They gave it anyway. Video illuminates patient abuse and neglect of severely-autistic patients/persons inside hospital and institutional settings. Hospitals are seldom equipped to deal with severe autism and complex medical or behavioral issues.

Source:
Autistic Adult in Crisis Goes Unnoticed

Allstate Sues Florida Brain-Injury Center, Claiming Fraud

Allstate Corp. (ALL), the second-largest U.S. auto insurer, is seeking fraud damages in a lawsuit alleging that a Florida brain-injury facility warehoused patients who were beaten and abused by staff.

The suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Tampa, seeks $7.6 million that the insurer says it paid the Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation to treat its claimants, as well as triple damages under federal racketeering laws and other costs.

Allstate alleges patients from Michigan, which mandates unlimited lifetime medical benefits for automobile injury coverage, were recruited to the Florida facility through an aggressive marketing campaign that promised an array of services that were never provided.

Some patients washed the cars of the center’s employees, an activity that was considered vocational training, according to the lawsuit.

Wayne J. Miller, an attorney representing the facility, known as FINR, said the company would not comment on matters in litigation.

The lawsuit, which also named FINR owner Joseph Brennick as a defendant, follows a Bloomberg News report last month on dozens of cases of alleged abuse at the facility. Patients’ families or state agencies have accused FINR of abuse or care lapses in at least five residents’ deaths since 1998, two of them in the last two years. Three former employees face criminal charges of abusing FINR patients -- one of whom was allegedly hit repeatedly for two hours in a TV room last September.

Removals Ordered

Last week, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration said FINR was treating people without brain injuries -- in breach of its license -- and ordered the company to move dozens of patients to other facilities.

Allstate said it began investigating the treatment of its insured patients at FINR in 2011. Its review included interviewing patients, hiring experts to study medical records and ordering exams with a neuropsychologist. The lawsuit covers the cases of a dozen patients -- identified only by initials in the legal filing -- whose care was paid for by the Northbrook, Illinois-based insurance company.

In some cases, patients were kept too long at the facility or shouldn’t have been there in the first place, the lawsuit alleges.


Full Article & Source:
Allstate Sues Florida Brain-Injury Center, Claiming Fraud

See Also:
Florida Orders Brain-Injury Center to Move Some Patients

Stage is Set for Monday Probate Hearing to Determine Next Step in Contested Case of Retired WestConn Professor Eli Schutts

TORRINGTON—Appropriately or not, Eli Schutts, an 86-year-old retired philosophy professor at Western Connecticut State University, has been a resident of Litchfield Woods Health Care Center since the early days of summer.

His fate is a matter of uncertainty, but the picture may become clearer Monday when he will be the focus of a Torrington Probate Court hearing at Litchfield Woods.

The Litchfield Hills Probate Court had previously appointed a temporary conservator for him, but that order expired Aug. 12. At Monday’s 9:30 a.m. probate hearing, which will be open to the public, former temporary conservator Lorraine Seely is expected to seek permanent appointment.

Edith Johnson, Mr. Schutts’ companion since the 1980s, doubts his best interests have been put first. She is in a public fight to see Mr. Schutts freed from facilities, but the previous appointment of Ms. Seely and questions over his physical well-being have left her with little recourse.

The struggle of Ms. Johnson as a lay person and non-family member to act as an advocate illustrates the difficulties one encounters when challenging established power. Her undertaking also gives an indication of the limits of institutions to accommodate or accept independent voices on behalf of patients.


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Stage is Set for Monday Probate Hearing to Determine Next Step in Contested Case of Retired WestConn Professor Eli Schutts

The Defining Issue of Our Generation

Baby boomers are accustomed to feeling self-important. The 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 were dubbed the Me Generation for good reason. We have high expectations, we want only the very best, and we are savvy consumers of goods and services.

We are not the Greatest Generation – that was our parents – but we were raised to believe in the American Dream. It was there on television (black and white at first) in the lives of Beaver Cleaver, Donna Reed, Dick van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It involved growing up with your mom and dad; completing school and getting a good job; falling in love and getting married; having two great kids, a house and a two-car garage; seeing your children grow up and have children of their own; and living happily ever after. No wonder we have high expectations.

Unfortunately, we soon discovered that real life was not like TV. Throughout our lives boomers have collectively revised and reimagined every facet of the American Dream. When we were having babies, for instance, boomers transformed the way pregnancy and childbirth was approached not merely by health care, but also by society as a whole.


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The Defining Issue of Our Generation

Florida Orders Brain-Injury Center to Move Some Patients

A Florida brain-injury center facing allegations of abuse has been ordered to move dozens of its patients to other facilities, according to a state report released today.

The Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation, one of the largest facilities of its kind in the country, is treating patients without brain injuries -- a breach of its license, say Florida regulators.

During a surprise inspection earlier this month, state officials say they found that 50 of 98 patients whose records were reviewed did not meet the licensing criteria for treatment at the center’s main facility near Wauchula, about 50 miles Southeast of Tampa.

The state said the institute, commonly called FINR, must submit a plan to relocate those patients to a facility “that is appropriate to meet their needs.”

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration also found that FINR was keeping patients too long, another violation of its “transitional living facility” license. It ordered the center to develop a new protocol for discharging patients.

Wayne J. Miller, an attorney representing FINR, didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.

Surprise Inspection

Investigators from three state agencies conducted a surprise inspection on Aug. 2 and 3 following a Bloomberg News report of dozens of cases of alleged abuse and neglect at the facility. FINR, a for-profit company, treats patients from across the country.

Related: Abuse Of Brain Injured Americans Scandalizes U.S.

Patients’ families or state agencies have alleged abuse or care lapses in at least five residents’ deaths since 1998, two of them in the last two years. Three former employees face criminal charges of abusing FINR patients -- one of whom was allegedly hit repeatedly for two hours in a TV room last September.

Florida’s Department of Children and Families has received 514 allegations of abuse or neglect at FINR since 2005, including 37 that were “verified” by its investigations, according to records released by the agency. Investigators are still reviewing 23 of the claims.

Amid the heightened regulatory scrutiny, 10 lobbyists from four different firms registered with Florida officials this month with the state to represent FINR, according to state records.


Full Article & Source:
Florida Orders Brain-Injury Center to Move Some Patients

See Also:
Abuse of Brain Injured Americans Scandalizes U.S.

Florida Ended Death Probe at Private Brain Rehab Center

Florida's Most Vulnerable in Danger of Abuse

Florida Brain-Injury Center Gets Surprise Inspection

Connecticut Pulls Disabled From Site of Alleged Beatings

Police Probe Death of State Psychiatric Patient in Florida

Probate judge faces charge in Franklin County

CARNESVILLE - A Franklin County Probate Judge faces one count of sexual battery in an ongoing investigation.

According to Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent In Charge Jim Fullington, the agency charged 71-year-old Judge Eddie Fowler with the one misdemeanor count last Tuesday night.


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Probate judge faces charge in Franklin County

Suspect in South Daytona deaths takes plea on fraud charges

Still under investigation in the deaths of an elderly man and woman whose bodies were found two years ago in South Daytona, Kimberly D. Smith pleaded guilty on Monday to a slew of fraud and exploitation charges.

Smith was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years probation. She was also ordered to pay almost $150,000 in restitution to the families of Goldie Robinson and Arthur Sheldon.

Police say Smith was the self-appointed caretaker of Robinson, who was 77 when she disappeared in mid-2010, and Sheldon, a Port Orange man who was 66 when he vanished in late 2009 or early 2010.

Authorities searching for Robinson found Sheldon's body in a garbage can on Aug. 25, 2010. They found Robinson's in a shallow grave just more than a week later. Both deaths have since been ruled homicides.

Police haven't been able to charge anyone with murder, and the investigation remains open. Many of the charges Smith pleaded to Monday related to her use of the elderly woman's personal identification and credit card.

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Suspect in South Daytona deaths takes plea on fraud charges

Texas Judges: Out of Order - Part 3

Texas is one of just six states that select all of its judges in partisan elections. Critics say that creates conflicts of interest and politics becomes more important than qualifications. In the third part of “Texas Judges: Out of Order,” we look at the pros and cons of the way Texas selects judges and some alternatives.

"All rise, the 95th District Court of the State of Texas is now in session. The Honorable Ken Molberg presiding.”

Lawyers snap to attention as Judge Ken Molberg prepares to rule on a motion involving two healthcare companies. At one point he raises his voice and tells an attorney to stop talking when she interrupts him. Never mind, that the attorney’s law firm contributed generously to Judge Molberg’s reelection campaign. As it turns out, the opposing law firm in the case donated too.

"It’s not unusual for me given the many years I’ve been in this community as a lawyer before I was a judge to know both sides of that table very, very well and to have had both of them contribute to my campaign,” said Molberg.

“You just saw a small motion where I got a little testy with one of the lawyers who happened to be one of my largest contributors. That lawyer didn’t get any slack out there this morning,” he pointed out.

Judge Molberg is a former Dallas County Democratic Party Chair and one of the biggest fundraisers among the county’s civil and criminal judges. Records show that in the first six months of his reelection campaign Molberg raised more than $175,000 just in case he drew a primary opponent which he didn’t. And 93% of the contributions came from attorneys and the legal community many of whom appear in his court.

How that’s perceived by the public bothers some of Molberg’s colleagues on the bench including Judge Jim Jordan, whose courtroom is down the hall. Like Molberg and most Texas judges, Jordan’s campaign contributions also come almost entirely from lawyers.

“Any litigant who comes into the court should leave the court knowing that their case was decided on the law and the facts and not believing that their case was decided because the judge received a contribution from an attorney or one of the parties,” said Jordan.

“And as hard as we work to make sure we make our decisions based on the rule of law, it’s difficult to fight the perception if we’re taking money from the lawyers and the parties coming into our courts, he said.”

Money and party politics are the biggest reasons Jordan wants to do away with partisan elections as a way of choosing Texas judges.

“A judge’s robe is black. It’s not blue or red. So we need to get our selection off the partisan ballot," said Jordan.

Molberg says attorneys contributing money don’t expect favors; they just want to elect judges who know the law. And Molberg is adamantly opposed to the so-called retention system used in at least 14 states, where judges are appointed often by the legal community or the governor. Then, at the end of their terms, voters decide whether to keep the judges or get rid of them.

“The reality is a guy like me does not want a body of 12 lawyers deciding who are going to be the judges out here,” explained Molberg. “I feel a lot more comfortable if the guy who works down at the gas station is in on the deal. I don’t want the governor just saying this is who your judge is going to be. I think that is very unhealthy.”

Full Article & Source:
Texas Judges: Out of Order - Part 3

See Also:
Texas Judges: Out Of Order

Texas Judges: Out of Order - Part 2

Congressional Testimony: Sharyn Eklund -- presented to William M. Windsor for Lawless America

Kenyan national to face elder abuse charges in Baltimore

A woman who police said attacked a 90-year-old Baltimore man she was supposed to be taking care of will return to the city to face charges after fleeing the country years ago.

In August of 2007, Anastacia Olouch, a Kenyan national, was indicted on multiple charges of assault, abuse of a vulnerable adult and reckless endangerment in the beating of Jaki Taylor's 90-year-old father, John, as he lay helpless in a bed in his home.

Jaki Taylor said she was angered that Olouch was able to elude authorities and leave the country without facing trial for her alleged crimes.

Police arrested the 59-year-old after seeing video from the security cameras Jaki Taylor installed in their home. In the video, the caretaker was in the process of changing the elderly man's diaper when she started hitting him. The victim was naked and couldn't defend himself or communicate.

"This woman came into our country, beat on my dad, and the system said it was OK to do that," Taylor said in 2007.

Police said right before Olouch was supposed to stand trial on Aug. 8, 2007, she ran.

Detectives from Baltimore's warrant task force began searching for her, but she was able to get on a plane and fly back to Kenya. For the past five years, the FBI and Baltimore police have been working to bring her back. She is expected back in Baltimore sometime Thursday.

Full Article and Source:
Kenyan national to face elder abuse charges in Baltimore

Texas Judges: Out of Order - Part 2

Complaints about Texas judges are usually handled in secret and rarely lead to punishment. That’s what state lawmakers heard when they met to review the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct, the agency that disciplines judges.

Today Shelley Kofler continues our series, Texas Judges- Out of Order. She takes a look at why the agency is under attack and changes the legislature may consider.

Every 12 years or so state lawmakers appointed to the Texas Sunset Commission look at the operations of a state agency and recommend changing or eliminating the agency.

But this year when the Sunset staff asked to observe disciplinary hearings for judges and look at the handling of citizen complaints, the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct said no, that the Texas Constitution requires information about judicial proceedings be confidential.

The judicial commission’s resistance to open its meetings and records even to state officials lead to a heated confrontation in April between State Senator John Whitmire of Houston and the judicial conduct commission’s board chairman Thomas Cunningham.

“Do you have a recommendation for how we resolve this,” Whitmire asked Cunningham. “Because I promise we’ll be doing the same thing two years from now if we have to,” he added his voice growing louder with frustration.

“There are alleged conflicts of interest and biases and misconduct, and the public has nowhere to go but to turn to y’all,” Whitmire said.

“We are not here to be stonewalling. All we are doing is complying with the law as we see it,” Cunninham responded.

Citizens testified that the agency’s secrecy makes it impossible to know whether Texas’s 3,910 judges are being held accountable. Austin attorney Bennie Ray told lawmakers that even when judges are punished it’s a slap on the wrist in a closed meeting.

“There’s no way for the public or a voter to easily track a judges complain history. Judges could have a number of informal complaints and nobody would know about them,” Ray testified.

The Sunset report says the judicial commission received more than 1,100 complaints last year. Most were dismissed. A little over two dozen were sanctioned in private. Only six judges were publicly scolded and identified but they all kept their jobs.

Full Article and Source:
Texas Judges: Out of Order - Part 2

See Also:
Sunset Commission Report on Judicial Conduct

Texas Judges: Out Of Order

Judicial Discipline: Commission right to expose judge’s sordid secret

Thanks to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, the reason for Onondaga County Family Court Judge Bryan R. Hedges’ abrupt retirement April 5 is no longer a mystery.

Hedges walked off the job when confronted with allegations that he had a sexual encounter with his niece 40 years ago, when she was just 5.

By quitting, Hedges may have thought he could keep his sordid secret forever, escape public humiliation and remain an upstanding member of the judicial fraternity. The commission, to its credit, decided it had an obligation to the public to remove Hedges from office so that he could never serve again.

There is little disagreement about the facts of the case. Hedges admits that in 1972, when he was 25 years old and staying at his mother-in-law’s house in Albany, his 5-year-old niece — who is deaf and, at the time, could not communicate — walked into the bedroom while he was masturbating. The commission says he motioned her into the room and put her hand on his penis as he masturbated. Hedges disputes some of the details, but admits the encounter happened.

Hedges appears to have brushed off the incident.

He went on to become a lawyer and an assistant district attorney in Onondaga County and then, in 1985, a Family Court judge. Among his responsibilities was overseeing cases involving the sexual abuse of children. The public rightly wonders whether his own history colored his decision-making on the bench.

The victim, Ellen Cantwell Warner, has had a harder road.

As a hearing-impaired child who hadn’t yet learned American Sign Language, she could not tell her parents what had happened. When she finally told, as a teenager beginning to understand sexuality, nothing happened to Hedges. Painful memories resurfaced when the Penn State and Syracuse University sexual abuse cases blew up earlier this year. Warner courageously decided to go public to empower other victims of sexual abuse, especially deaf victims, to come forward.

Hedges continues to be in denial about the seriousness of his actions. He issued a statement saying the allegation against him was untrue and that he was not given a fair hearing. Neither claim is supported by the exhaustive record of the case. What the record does show is Hedges basely attacking the victim and her motives.

The former judge had two allies on the commission. Joel Cohen, in a dissent (pdf) joined by Paul Harding, said it was enough that Hedges resigned. (Shades of the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal, where reassigning priests was thought to be punishment enough.) Cohen further complained the commission’s catalog of Hedges’ misconduct will “publicly and permanently stigmatize him.”

What about the victim, who has been permanently harmed and stigmatized by Hedges’ actions?


Full Article and Source:
Judicial Discipline: Commission right to expose judge’s sordid secret

Britney Spears Has Had ENOUGH Of Her Conservatorship!

Eek! Can't say we blame her!

It was recently revealed that Britney Spears would most likely remain under conservatorship for the remainder of the year - possibly only to keep her from having to testify in a lawsuit from Sam Lufti - and the pop star is said to becoming more and more frustrated with the arrangement, as she's clearly able to manage her own affairs at this point!

And she has a $15 million contract with The X Factor to prove it!

According to an insider:

"Britney told Judge Reva Goetz in her chambers with her court appointed attorney, Sam Ingham present, that she is ready for the conservatorship to end. Britney said she doesn't understand why it's still in place and expressed her belief that she has got to be the only person under a conservatorship that has managed to land a $15 million work contract. Britney wants the conservatorship to end, it's fine with her if it stays in place as far as her business and professional life, but she wants to call the shots when it comes to her personal life. Britney pointed out to the judge that she will be on live television weekly this fall once X Factor premiers on Fox in September and the tremendous progress she has made since the conservatorship was put in place almost four years ago. Britney's team of doctors just don't feel that she is ready for the conservatorship to end. They have specific concerns related to her mental health and aren't ready to tell the judge that Britney is ready to go it alone just yet. Judge Goetz is the only person that can end the conservatorship."

Full Article and Source:
Britney Spears Has Had ENOUGH Of Her Conservatorship!

See Also:
OOPS...Britney Spears' Conservator Did It Again

The Forgotten Ones - Compassion for the Elderly

“I am so lonely at night. I have no one to talk to from the time I get home at 3.30 pm until I go out again the next day at 10.00 am. The dark makes me sad.”

“My dog is my only company and he’s getting old and his hips are very sore. I might have to have him put down. I am scared of being without him. I will be totally alone then.”

“No one comes to visit me. My daughter only calls me if she wants money.”

“I haven’t spoken to anyone for three days.”

These are real words spoken by real elderly people I have spokento in the past week. They make me cry. They make me scared to get old.

It seems the older a person becomes the less visible they are.

They are no longer deemed important once their bodies and minds start to fail and it appears they no longer have anything offer the mainstream world.

I know I am generalising because I do know many people who love and cherish their older relatives and take extremely good care of them, however I do know that too many people don’t.

I spend a lot of time with elderly people due to the care I provide for my Mother in Law each week and regular visits with her 70 year old brother and cousin. The more time I spend with them the more I realise that, whilst their bodies are frail and their minds are failing them, inside is still a human being who hasn’t forgotten what it is like to love, laugh and cry. Sadly many of them have more cause to cry than they have to love and laugh.

In previous times our elderly were also better taken care of. Families seemed to have more time to spend with their parents and grandparents. Family outings included all generations. In many cases up to three generations lived in the same home. The elderly were called upon to impart advice, provide assistance with rearing of children, help with cooking and mending. They were included. They had a purpose. They weren’t discarded.

A conversation with an elderly person is something special. They know about things we couldn’t even imagine.

So next time you see your granny or grandpa or the old lady next door, sit down with them and really talk to them. You will be surprised how long it’s been since someone really wanted to talk to them about them and their life and what matters to them.

Also, do you have any elderly people in your street? Do you know them? Do you know their names? Do they have regular visits from family and friends? Do you not have any idea? So many elderly people live alone without regular visits from family and friends. Most often the only person they see each day is the Meals on Wheels volunteer. Next time you see an elderly person, smile and say hello. Help them if they are struggling. You could be the only person they have spoken to all day. You will most likely make their day.

* Please volunteer to visit the lonely and forgotten elderly. ♥




Source:
The Forgotten Ones: Compassion for the Elderly

Most mental health clinics have suspect Medicare claims

A troubling new report on for-profit mental health centers reveals nearly all of those in Houston have problems with their Medicare claims, confirming many of the problems first reported by the Houston Chronicle nearly a year ago.

The report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, found that 13 of the 16 clinics in Houston - 81 percent - had "questionable" claims submitted to Medicare. These types of clinics, known as "community mental health centers," offer intense mental health therapy in an outpatient-setting, as an alternative to a mental health hospitalization.

After examining claims submitted to Medicare during 2009 and 2010, the agency noted several billing problems: clinics billing for services not needed, patients being sent long distances for treatment and the fact that patients were not being referred to the for-profit clinics by health care providers first.

The Houston Chronicle reported nearly a year ago how the amount of Medicare dollars flowing to two troubled sectors - private ambulances and mental health clinics - was steadily rising. The news organization's reports detailed how able-bodied Medicare enrollees were frequently being ferried by ambulances to clinics all over the Houston area.

Full Article and Source:
Most mental health clinics have suspect Medicare claims