Upcoming Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing: Aging in Comfort: Assessing the Special Needs of America's Holocaust Survivors

Providers with Holocaust survivors will find special value in an upcoming hearing held by the Senate Special Committee on Aging. “Aging in comfort: Assessing the special needs of America's Holocaust survivors” is the title of the Jan. 15 hearing. It begins at 2:15 p.m. (Eastern) in Room 562 of the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington and will feature testimony from some of the nation's top experts on this caregiving challenge.

For up-to-date information on participants and testimony, frequently check the committee's website here.

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Caring for Holocaust Survivors the Focus of Senate Hearing

See Also:
NASGA:  Marie Lubowski Winkelman, Florida Victim
NASGA:  Al Katz, Indiana/Florida Victim

Greenwell Springs man sentenced for exploiting elderly, infirm Watson woman

Gary Gorman

LIVINGSTON — A state district judge sentenced a 43-year-old man Thursday to seven years in prison after he convinced an infirm 75-year-old woman who thought they were in a romantic relationship to give him money and property.

 

Judge Bruce Bennett, of the 21st Judicial District Court in Livingston Parish, also ordered Gary Gorman, of Greenwell Springs, to pay restitution. Gorman was found guilty Oct. 1 of exploitation of the infirmed.

 

Bennett said the restitution totaled at least $260,000.

 

Between August 2009 and May 2011, Gorman preyed on the victim, Gloria Cushing, convincing her they would eventually marry, the District Attorney’s Office has said.

 

Cushing, who was diagnosed with early onset dementia and depression in 2009, gave Gorman $80,000 from a reverse mortgage she took out on her home in Watson.

 

Gorman also received two plots of land from Cushing, maxed out her credit cards, obtained her power of attorney and took $132,000 from an annuity left by her deceased husband, the District Attorney’s Office has said.

 

“I just wanted justice to be served,” said Jo Ann Carr, Cushing’s sister. “It’s been a long, hard road that we have traveled.”

 

Michael Betts, Gorman’s attorney, said he disagreed with the jury’s verdict. He said Gorman did not exercise any “undue influence” on Cushing.

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Greenwell Springs man sentenced for exploiting elderly, infirm Watson woman

MAY 20, 2001

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO GUARDIANSHIP SINCE?

David L. Moss and Associates Extends No-Cost Case Valuation to Article 81 Guardianship Proceedings

David L. Moss and Associates has now extended free case valuation to Article 81 Guardianship Proceedings for landlords. Drawing on their vast experience, they can work to safeguard their interests.

David L. Moss and Associates will now provide no-charge case evaluation to landlords in NYC for Article 81 Guardianship Proceedings. Landlords require strong representation in Article 81 proceedings to safeguard their interests and this law firm, leveraging its extensive experience in housing court matters.

“Article 81 of Mental Hygiene Law allows the New York City Department of Social Services or the tenant’s representative to commence proceedings in the Supreme Court requesting appointment of a guardian of the tenant and their property. The proceedings can be filed when the tenant is said to be incapable of representing their own interests,” said a senior lawyer with the firm.

The court order appointing a guardian for the tenant will stay any pending litigation the landlord is fighting with the tenant. Moreover, the landlord would require the court approval for any further actions. A seasoned attorney would represent the landlord to get for them the benefits they are entitled to as result of the landlord-tenant relationship including the payment of rent and ultimately repossession of the property if the tenant lacks the ability to continue to reside there.

Article 81 Guardianship Proceedings are complex civil litigation requiring clinical efficiency on the part of the law firm. As the senior lawyer commented, “Guardianship matters can be highly litigious. When the court is likely to grant the guardian to the tenant, the issue can be powers granted by the court to the guardian. Our lawyers work to bring the other perspective on the matter to the court.”

David L. Moss and Associates has years of experience representing all parties in guardianship proceedings, that enables them to handle the knotty situation. Whether the alleged incapacitated person is facing genuine psychiatric issues or they have fraudulently claimed to be on to keep the property under their possession, the law firm can assist them.

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David L. Moss and Associates Extends No-Cost Case Valuation to Article 81 Guardianship Proceedings

NYC woman claims estranged husband stole $744K from trust fund to spend on Englewood woman

NEW YORK CITY — A wealthy Manhattan woman has filed a lawsuit against her estranged husband, claiming he concocted a series of elaborate lies in order to access her trust fund and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a Bergen County woman.

According to the New York Post, Candice Feinberg claims she granted her husband, Steven Lalicata, access to $744,000 from her account in order to pay off gambling debts to a group of Queens-based mobsters shortly after they married in March 2011.

However, the money was actually spent on expensive gifts and vacations for Lalicata and his mistress, Englewood resident Diana Fernandez, the suit claims.

Feinberg, who filed the suit in Manhattan earlier this year, is seeking $10.7 million in restitution.

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NYC woman claims estranged husband stole $744K from trust fund to spend on Englewood woman

First Of Its Kind Experiment on Persons Diagnosed With PVS Reveals They Might be More Aware Than Previously Thought

Research about patients thought to be in vegetative states with questionable levels of consciousness has been finding that they might be more aware than previously thought. A new study from Tel Aviv University is no different.

Researchers from the university and Loewenstein Hospital evaluated patients in vegetative states who were awake but exhibited “no signs of awareness.”

 

The team showed four patients in such a state — compared to 13 people who were healthy controls — pictures of people they knew and others who were strangers. They also verbally asked them to imagine someone they knew.

 

Monitoring their brain activity, the researchers found those in a vegetative state showed emotional processing in the brain, “suggesting the ability for covert emotional awareness of self and the environment in VS patients,” the study publishes in the journal PLOS One earlier this year stated.  

 

Two patients in a vegetative state eventually recovered, according to the journal, and in the study had showed the strongest connectivity between recognition and the emotional side of the brain.

 

“This experiment, a first of its kind, demonstrates that some vegetative patients may not only possess emotional awareness of the environment but also experience emotional awareness driven by internal processes, such as images,” Sharon said.

 

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First of Its Kind Experiment Reveals Patients in Vegetative State Might Have Emotional Connections to Familiar Faces

Cop accused of stealing $20k from elderly man with dementia

An Elmwood Park police sergeant has been relieved of his police duties amid allegations he forged a $20,000 check from an elderly man with dementia.

 

Although no criminal charges have been filed, Sgt. John Wasilenko has been put on administrative leave, pending the investigation after being named in a citation to discover assets filed Dec. 20 by Cook County Public Guardian Robert F. Harris.

 

During the investigation, the 85-year-old victim admitted he gave about $2,000 in cash to Wasilenko, but couldn’t remember when. He said Wasilenko “protected” him from “a lot of bad guys and politicians in Elmwood Park.” He said he was giving Wasilenko money for a trip and was supposed to give him $6,000 over the next couple years, the citation said.

 

In an independent medical evaluation conducted in March, a doctor noted the man suffered from dementia with very significant cognitive deficits and was “totally incapable of making person and financial decisions.”

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Cop accused of stealing $20k from elderly man with dementia

No excuse for elder abuse in Michigan

Elder abuse is one of the most horrendous, yet one of the most under-reported crimes in Michigan. Would you believe there are over 100,000 cases a year – and growing?

Many victims will not report a crime because the abuser is usually a relative or caregiver. Only one in 25 cases of financial elder abuse are reported for fear of sending a loved one to court.

Types of elder abuse include caregiver neglect (33 percent), emotional/psychological abuse (24 percent), financial exploitation (24 percent), physical abuse (17 percent) and sexual abuse (2 percent). Women are two times more likely to be victims than men.

The latest financial scam impacting the elderly is called “Cracking Cards.” The scammers convince the elderly to provide their debit card and pin number with the promise of putting extra money into their account. Once they have the information – they put counterfeit checks into the account and make off with a surplus of money.

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No excuse for elder abuse in Michigan

YouTube Video: Because Who is Perfect

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Because Who is Perfect

"The Zimmers"

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The Zimmers

The Zimmers - When You're Smiling!

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The Zimmers - When You're Smiling

Senator wrestles heirs over nine-figure Texas fortune

LAREDO, Texas — Out behind the nursing home where Josefina Alexander Gonzalez turned 99 Saturday, there’s a dilapidated green ranch house, its porch cover still held up by rough-hewn tree trunks.

To the southeast, you see a lot of tall brush and honey mesquite, a view that hasn’t changed much since the 1940s, when her parents bought a 1,000-acre ranch outside this isolated border town.
Look in any other direction, and you’ll see new construction on her property, as developers cash in on the last large tract of open space inside of Loop 20 in north Laredo, now worth as much as $150 million.

But if you wanted to ask her what she thought of all the changes, you’d have to get past the guard in her room at Laredo Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, where she has been stashed by Carlos Zaffirini and his wife, state Sen. Judith Zaffirini.

The Zaffirinis are battling Gonzalez’s daughter and grandchildren for control of that fortune. They filed papers last month arguing that Rocio Gonzalez Guerra should forfeit her inheritance.

Rocio Gonzalez Guerra and her two teenage children stand to inherit an intricate cluster of interlocking partnerships, estates and trusts established by Gonzalez and her late and childless sister, Delfina Alexander.

For all those complications, the outlines of the case are plain: Guerra and her children may be the heirs, but the businesses and their funds are controlled by the Zaffirinis and their associates.

POWER PLAY: State Sen. Judith Zaffirini

 has filed papers arguing that the

 heir whose money she controls should

 forfeit an inheritance.

That’s why the guard is outside Josefina Gonzalez’s room — so she can’t be served papers in a lawsuit to appoint a guardian for her, a guardian who would wreck the Zaffirinis’ plans.

The Zaffirinis already have control over Delfina Alexander’s estate and a trust she set up in her will, and they claim to have power of attorney over Josefina Gonzalez, although Gonzalez’s bank won’t let them touch her accounts, according to court records, as the papers were signed shortly before she was declared mentally incompetent.

In two days of hearings last week, a Webb County District Court judge heard the first of dozens of motions that have piled up in three related lawsuits. This account is drawn from the records of those lawsuits.

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Senator wrestles heirs over nine-figure Texas fortune

Parents lose custody of teen after seeking 2nd medical opinion; girl indefinitely detained in psych ward

BOSTON, MA — A judge has ruled that a Boston teen may continue to be held captive in a hospital and forcibly drugged… indefinitely.  The tragic series of events began when a doctor discarded an earlier medical diagnosis and declared another, prompting objections from her parents and threats to discharge her from Boston Children’s Hospital to take her to get a second opinion.  An epic battle of egos ensued, and the hospital decided that the parents’ insolence in challenging the doctor was tantamount to child abuse.  Without a trial or having broken a specific law, the girl was stripped from her parents’ custody and the state of Massachusetts has kept her indefinitely detained in a hospital since February 2013.  Based on the latest ruling, the girl may very well be locked in a psychiatric ward until she turns 18 years old.

This past December 14th marked exactly ten months since 15-year-old Justina Pelletier was taken from her parents and placed in the custody of Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). Local news station, FOX CT, alleges that internal documents that they have obtained show that doctors called in child protection specialists (DCF) at the first sign of disagreement between the Pelletier family and their medical experts. Boston Children’s denied that this is the case in an email to FOX CT (Connecticut):

“The Hospital is not the custodian or the legal guardian of the patients in its care, nor is it affiliated with any state agency. Our staff are caring and supportive professionals who aim to provide the best and most appropriate care for each and every child, regardless of diagnosis.”

Justina was diagnosed three years ago by respected medical experts from Tufts Medical Center with mitochondrial disease, which causes muscle pain, weakness and loss of coordination. Despite her condition, she led the active life of a normal 15-year-old and enjoyed ice-skating, hiking and spending time with her family.

That was before February, when Justina came down with the flu and was admitted to Boston Children’s Hospital to see her gastroenterologist, who had recently transferred from Tufts.  A mere three days later, other doctors — primarily neurologist, Dr. Jurriaan Peters — dismissed her previous diagnosis of mitochondrial disease, and instead diagnosed her with somatoform disorder. This, in essence, changed her diagnosis from a physical condition to a stress-related mental illness – a psychiatric disorder that causes sufferers to feel pain, although there is no physical cause.

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Parents lose custody of teen after seeking 2nd medical opinion; girl indefinitely detained in psych ward

Krysta M. Douglas accused of abusing 3 adult-care patients

CHANDLER, AZ - Authorities say an adult-care provider is accused of abusing three women in her care at her Chandler home.

Chandler police say 42-year-old Krysta M. Douglas was arrested Thursday on suspicion of physically and emotionally abusing vulnerable adults.

Court records show Douglas provided care for three adults and helped prepare them for transport to a day program facility.

One of the females got upset about a hair decoration not being in her hair and Douglas reportedly became angry.

Co-workers say Douglas yelled upsetting comments at the woman several times and allegedly shook her.

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Krysta M. Douglas accused of abusing 3 adult-care patients

Concussion, Alzheimer's brain pathology may be related

ROCHESTER, Minn., Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A history of concussion involving at least a momentary loss of consciousness may be linked to Alzheimer's-associated plaques in the brain, U.S. researchers say.

The study, published in the journal Neurology, found people with memory and thinking impairments and a history of head trauma had levels of amyloid plaques an average of 18 percent higher than those with no head trauma history.

Study author Michelle Mielke of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said the study involved people from Olmsted County in Minnesota, who were given brain scans, including 448 people without any signs of memory problems and 141 people with memory and thinking problems called mild cognitive impairment.

Participants, who were all age 70 or older, were asked about whether they had ever experienced a brain injury that involved any loss of consciousness or memory.

Of the 448 people without any thinking or memory problems, 17 percent reported a brain injury, while 18 percent of the 141 with memory and thinking difficulties reported a concussion or head trauma, the study said.

The study found no difference in any brain scan measures among those without memory and thinking impairments, whether or not they had head trauma, but those with cognition and memory problems had higher levels of amyloid plaques.

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Concussion, Alzheimer's brain pathology may be related