Judge Orders Psychiatric Evaluation of Eagles Co-Founder, Randy Meisner

A judge ruled the estate of Eagles co-founder Randy Meisner should pay an $8,000 advance sought by a psychiatrist appointed to examine the musician in response to a longtime friend's concern about the musician's medical care.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Barry's ruling, issued Tuesday, also states that the examination should be limited to whether Dr. David Trader believes Meisner was mentally sound when he chose his temporary conservators, Arthur Ford and Thomas DeLong. Under the current temporary conservatorship that Barry established on April 1, the judge named Ford, a longtime Meisner friend, as the temporary conservator of the musician himself.

The 70-year-old Meisner's accountant, Thomas DeLong, was appointed temporary conservator of his business affairs.

Meisner sought to be placed under a conservatorship shortly after his 63- year-old wife, Lana, suffered a fatal gunshot wound March 6 when she lifted a rifle that accidentally discharged in the couple's Studio City home.

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Judge Orders Psychiatric Evaluation of Eagles Co-Founder, Randy Meisner

Florida: Judge Chastised for Jailing Mentally Ill Woman for Jail Outbursts

In a Broward courtroom, Jennifer "Mia" Woodward was loud. Confrontational. Emotional. She spoke out when told not to. Refused to answer questions. The judge says she even gave him the finger.

Judge Mark Speiser threw her out of one hearing in an estate case in probate court, telling her to "Get your face out of here!" At a hearing weeks later, after continued outbursts, he'd had enough: he jailed her for 15 days on contempt charges.

Though Speiser also presides over Broward County's felony mental health court, he did not recognize signs that Woodward was unbalanced. Had he known she was suffering from bipolar disorder, he now says, he likely would not have locked her up.

The judge had the authority to swiftly jail her, without providing her with an attorney, for disrupting the professional operation of the court. The Florida Supreme Court, however, ruled earlier this year that such "extraordinary power" must be used "cautiously and sparingly."

Whether Speiser abused that power is now the central question in a bitter dispute between the judge and Public Defender Howard Finkelstein.

Finkelstein argues that Speiser is a "hothead" who acted in a fit of anger and does not have the temperament to oversee Broward County's mental health court.

Woodward "was unjustly jailed in an act more reminiscent of the dark ages than in accordance with today's ethical treatment of the disabled," Finkelstein complained in a July 21 letter to Chief Judge Peter M. Weinstein.

Finkelstein's office has filed an appeal on behalf of Woodward, 51, of Pompano Beach, and has helped her file a complaint against Speiser with a judicial review board.

The judge, given his background in mental health issues, "absolutely should have known" or at least suspected her condition, Finkelstein alleges.

"It doesn't take very long in talking to her to realize there is something off," Finkelstein said of his client.

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Judge Chastised for Jailing Mentally Ill Woman for Jail Outbursts

No jail for Napier lawyer convicted for breaching trust

A lawyer has been sentenced to home detention and community work for breaching the trust of clients.

Richard Henry Hill,  of disgraced law firm McKay Hill, was sentenced in Napier District Court last week.

Judge Michael Crosbie said Hill, 70, "knowingly and dishonestly converted client funds" from the McKay Hill partnership in an unauthorised manner.

"The purpose of the dishonest conversion was to meet the firm's expenses, including wages and partners' drawings," Judge Crosbie said in sentencing notes.

Judge Crosbie said Hill's offending was in stark contrast to that of his former partner.

Remorseless Gerald George McKay stole $556,000 from clients' trust fund accounts and estates, and was jailed earlier this year on a raft of charges.

"Unlike your former partner Mr McKay, it is not suggested that you are responsible for any loss of clients' funds," Judge Crosbie said at Hill's sentencing.

Hill was found guilty on one representative count of a criminal breach of trust committed between October 1, 2003 and June 14, 2005.

During that time, Hill was a partner in McKay Hill.

Hill first faced one charge of criminal breach of trust at the court in 2011.

He and McKay were investigated after irregularities were uncovered in the law firm's trust account.

The judge said Hill had a "very public fall from grace" and was remorseful.

"The impression I gained was that you were effectively using your clients' funds as your banker.

"The conviction alone will carry more weight for you than many, as it often does for offenders who have led an otherwise exemplary life and are well known in the community."

He said Hill had no "relevant previous convictions". Those factors and others, along with the health of Hill and his wife, brought the sentence down from two years to 18 months, so the judge could consider home detention.

Hill's wife had Alzheimer's disease and the former lawyer was her primary caregiver.

The sentence was cut further, to 8 months' home detention, but with 100 hours' community work added.

McKay Hill held funds in trust for clients in a solicitors' trust account.

McKay, 74, was sentenced in Napier District Court in April after a jury trial.

He was found guilty of five charges of theft, five charges of using a document for pecuniary advantage, and one representative charge of criminal breach of trust.

According to the Law Society website, McKay was suspended but Hill still had a practising certificate.

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No jail for Napier lawyer convicted for breaching trust

How to Help Someone with Posttraumatic Stress (PTSD)

Being close to someone who is suffering because of trauma can be a difficult, bewildering experience. Trauma symptoms may appear suddenly, sometimes surfacing many years after a traumatic event. Or symptoms may creep up gradually. You might notice your loved one seems “off”—not like their usual self. Or their emotions can flare up suddenly and intensely for little apparent reason, even to the person. Some trauma survivors seem unusually flat or numb. They may become needy or clingy. Or they may withdraw, refusing help entirely.

Although symptoms may differ, responses to trauma have a similar underlying cause: a nervous system stuck in threat. Understanding what happens inside a person experiencing posttraumatic stress (commonly referred to as PTSD) provides a pathway to compassion, clarity, and possible solutions.

This article is not therapeutic advice, and the advice of a qualified psychotherapist should always be sought. Think of this article as a general guide for families who suspect that a loved one has been impacted by trauma.

Trauma and stress are not the same thing. Stress refers to the body’s response to threat—a physiological and biochemical cascade of bodily changes designed to ensure survival. Informally, “stress” can also refer to subjective experiences: how it feels to be experiencing the challenge in the environment and in the body’s responses.

The difference between stress and trauma is one of degree. Not all stress is bad; we need some challenges to stimulate us and encourage our growth. Trauma (or traumatic stress), on the other hand, refers to an internal state of overwhelm. This is an important point, and it explains why something that is “no big deal” for one person can be extremely traumatizing for another.

Trauma comes from overwhelm—when environmental circumstances are perceived as bigger than the individual’s capacity to handle them. When overwhelm happens, the body automatically mobilizes a survival response to deal with the threat, just as it does during stress. However, when the threat is too big or lasts too long and there is no effective response, it becomes trauma. For example, a person being cruelly taunted may not fight back because if they do, they may get into legal trouble and make the threat even worse. Not fighting back may be the smart thing to do, but the overall result is the body’s automatic survival response is ineffective against the threat.

When there is no way to fight back or run away, instead of deactivating, the mobilized survival response becomes “stuck” in the “on” position. It wants to complete and turn off, as it would if there had been a successful resolution of the threat, but it can’t. As a result, some bodily functions are stuck on “on.” For example, there may be lasting changes in blood pressure, heart rate, digestion, muscle tension, hormonal levels, and emotional reactivity.

Both stress and trauma involve the activation of the body’s threat response cycle. This survival response is hardwired into all vertebrate animals. Under threat, the unconscious brain and the body attempt to:

• Orient to the perceived threat (stopping, looking, listening, etc.)
• Evaluate the perceived threat
• Then, based on that evaluation, respond with either fight, flight, or freeze
• If the stimulus is determined to not be a threat, return to normal (called “deactivation”)

When stress happens, deactivation is possible. Traumatic overwhelm makes deactivation nearly impossible. 

Most importantly, threat responses are unconscious, hardwired, and involuntary. People cannot control these responses. When trauma has occurred, the person’s nervous system may still be involuntarily responding to prior circumstances more than to what’s actually happening. (This is what causes flashbacks or other re-experiencing of traumatic circumstances.) Posttraumatic stress responses are essentially the body’s survival alarms going off at the wrong time, because they have never been able to completely turn off.

Posttraumatic survival responses also occur much more quickly than conscious thought. In fact, intense activation of the threat response cycle shuts down the cortex, the area of the brain responsible for rational thought and verbal communication. This is why logical arguments don’t work when a person is in a posttraumatic stress response. They may be, literally, “too angry for words.” This also means that, for the most part, people with posttraumatic stress don’t intend to respond inappropriately to things going on in the environment around them and may feel very badly after the event is over, but at the moment, their automatic survival wiring is running the show.

Even when acute trauma triggers are not causing posttraumatic survival responses, a person whose nervous system is stuck in some phase of the threat response cycle is likely suffering. Eventually, they may start to numb out (dissociate) to protect against the ongoing awful feelings. Others become caught in cycles of addictive behaviors in order to try to manage the distress.  (Continue Reading)

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How to Help Someone with Posttraumatic Stress (PTSD)

My Son With a Disability Deserves the Same Opportunities as Everyone

Carol and Jacob Glazer in New York City in August 2015          

Our society should tell people with disabilities they can work and live equally

Twenty four years ago my son, Jacob, was born with hydrocephalus, or water on the brain. After several surgeries, doctors told us Jacob would be living with both physical and intellectual disabilities. They also told us not to expect much of Jacob in terms of his ability to participate in civic life, community life and in work. And they plunged us into what I now call the “The Tyranny of Low Expectations.”

All these years later when people speak to Jacob, they still infantilize him, speaking slowly, avoiding big words, as if he’s a toddler. It may not seem like a big deal, but for people with disabilities and their families, it is among the largest challenges we face. Like Jacob, it starts early in life for someone born with a disability, or after acquiring a disability for those who do so later in life. The bar on expectations for that person is often set so low by doctors, teachers, friends and even families that the person with a disability lives with artificially low ceilings.

The reasons for the tyranny of low expectations are rooted in our societal approach to disability, which has historically been viewed as a problem to be fixed (and in many cases feared or isolated), versus a natural part of the human condition that each of us is likely to encounter in our lives. In the past, people with intellectual disabilities were sent away from their families to institutions, where they would not be threats to public safety. I shudder when I think how, if Jacob had been born only 20 years earlier, he’d likely have been taken away from me.

We’ve also viewed disability as a problem whose responsibility to find solutions rests with the individual, not with the community or our collective society. The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act 26 years ago this week effectively declared that people with disabilities had a right to participate in all aspects of life, in their community and the workplace. And our society—our builders, our bosses and our brethren—has to provide reasonable accommodations to enable people with disabilities to participate.

But we have not yet raised that low-set bar on expectations that means most Americans with a disability receive a continuous flood of signals—some intentional, some not—that tell us that we cannot really expect to work, or learn or participate equally.

How do these signals manifest themselves? As children, while the special education system teaches independent living or “life skills” (like cooking, personal hygiene and travel training), far too little attention is given to skills that can be used in the workforce. It’s no wonder then that only about one in five working-age Americans with disabilities is employed. The public benefits system—despite efforts at reform—reinforces the expectation that people with disabilities aren’t expected to work; and an outdated statute from 1938 means that people with disabilities can still be paid less than minimum wage to perform menial tasks in a segregated work setting. Proposed new federal legislation aims to remedy that problem, but it has yet to pass.

Every parent hopes that his or her child will become independent, contributing members of their communities, leading full and productive lives, using and being rewarded for their full talents and abilities. We set expectations for them and they rise to the occasion—but we must be mindful of the expectations that we are instilling.

Those who set the early expectations for people with disabilities—parents, school administrators, employers and neighbors—usually have the best of intentions. Nevertheless, many unwittingly engage in the tyranny of low expectations, seeing deficits, not strengths. Disability, not ability. And people with disabilities pick up those messages. When the world doesn’t expect much of you, it’s hard to expect much of yourself. It’s hard to believe in yourself when others don’t. I always tried to hold the bar high for Jacob—and still do—and today he proudly works a part-time job where he gets a paycheck and feels valued for his work.

Those of us with a personal experience of disability know that people with disabilities possess unique problem-solving skills, tenacity, resilience and creativity. Employers must understand the benefits of a diverse society that uses the talents of its citizens to full advantage. We must change attitudes and see strengths—not limitations. We must convert pity to high expectations and help corporate America to recognize promising talent.

More than ever before, people with disabilities are present throughout American society—carrying on our daily lives as workers, consumers, students, neighbors and volunteers—and contributing greatly to our national and community life. But America still has a long way to go to close the gaps in levels of participation between people with and without disabilities. We can start by raising our expectations.

 
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My Son With a Disability Deserves the Same Opportunities as Everyone

Family Kept in the Dark After Death at Texas Psychiatric Hospital

Shortly before noon on April 14, 2014, while their adult son slept in the next room, Anna and Daywood Clayton decided to call the police.

It was not a spur-of-the-moment decision for the elderly couple from Borger, Texas. They had agonized for days over what to do about 55-year-old Keith Clayton, who was hallucinating, talking about suicide and showing symptoms of schizophrenia.

They had asked a local judge how to get their son hospitalized. And they had called their 28-year-old granddaughter Samantha Clayton in San Antonio to ask for her blessing to send her father to one of Texas' state-run psychiatric hospitals. Having Keith Clayton committed seemed the best option to his parents, who were approaching their 80s and felt ill-equipped to care for a grown man with a serious mental illness and a history of alcoholism.

"We knew he needed help," Anna Clayton would later tell a police detective. "We just had no other choice."

It was an unseasonably cold day when the officers arrived; a light snow sprinkled the high plains of Texas Panhandle country. Daywood Clayton recalled trying to get his son, before he was handcuffed by the officers and loaded into their car, to put on a sweater.

It would be their final interaction.

Four days later, Keith Clayton was pronounced dead in an emergency room. He had stopped breathing after employees at the North Texas State Hospital in Wichita Falls forcibly restrained him for allegedly picking a fight. An autopsy found he died of a ruptured spleen caused by blunt trauma to the abdomen. He suffered internal bleeding and several fractured ribs.

It took five months for a medical examiner to rule the death an accident.

What happened during Keith Clayton's short stay at the psychiatric hospital hundreds of miles from home is still a mystery to his family members, who say the state has refused to give them an explanation. Anna Clayton said she didn't even know state hospital employees were involved in her stepson's death until a Texas Tribune reporter called her last month. For two years, she said, she'd been told he died in a "scuffle."

"We didn't have any idea if it was a patient that did it, or if it was a staff member, or not," she said.

"They wouldn't tell us what happened. They wouldn't tell us anything."

Asked why Keith Clayton's family wasn't given complete information on his death, officials from the state hospital directed questions to their parent agency, the Texas Department of State Health Services. Officials there said they could not discuss specifics of the hospital's dealings with the family.

Keith Clayton's death is an example of the sometimes-fatal effects of restraints used to subdue patients at Texas' state-run facilities for people with mental illness — institutions that face an uncertain future due to unpredictable funding, crumbling infrastructure and a growing demand to house patients from an overcrowded criminal justice system. At a time when the state claims to be reducing its reliance on forcible restraints, Keith Clayton's case raises questions about the secrecy around such incidents, particularly when they end in death.

Keith Clayton's parents, daughter and stepsister said they wrote letters and made dozens of phone calls to state hospital administrators and other officials in the year after his death. At every turn, they said, they were told the information they sought was secret.

For Samantha Clayton, this was particularly hard to stomach. Despite her father's struggles with alcohol, he had been in good physical shape, she said, roller-blading for long distances and doing manual labor for his job at a trucking company. "Him just dropping down and dying, it just doesn't make sense," she said.

Keith Clayton was cremated. His family held a memorial in Borger. Two years passed. Anna Clayton, now 86, said the family eventually gave up on trying to discover the circumstances of his death.

"After a while, at our age, we're just not able to keep it going," she said.  (Continue Reading)

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Family Kept in the Dark After Death at Texas Psychiatric Hospital

Doctors Sue Vermont for Forcing Them to Promote Killing Their Patients in Assisted Suicides

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed suit in federal court Tuesday against officials in the Vermont Board of Medical Practice and the Office of Professional Regulation on behalf of health care professionals who wish to abide by their oath to “do no harm.” The state agencies are construing Vermont’s assisted suicide law as requiring them, regardless of their conscience or oath, to counsel patients on doctor-prescribed death as an option.

According to the agency, only physicians must refer patients to others who will counsel for assisted suicide; however, all of the health care professionals filing suit contend it is unethical for them to counsel for, refer for, or in any other way participate in suicide at the hands of medical personnel.

“The government shouldn’t be telling health care professionals that they must violate their medical ethics in order to practice medicine,” said ADF Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden. “These doctors and other health care workers deeply believe that suffering patients need understanding and sound medical treatment, not encouragement to kill themselves. The state has no authority to order them to act contrary to that sincere and time-honored conviction.”

Although Act 39, Vermont’s assisted suicide bill, passed with limited protections for healthcare providers, state medical licensing authorities have construed a separate, existing mandate to counsel and refer for “all options” for palliative care to include the option of assisted suicide. The Vermont Department of Health adopted this expansive reading.

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Doctors Sue Vermont for Forcing Them to Promote Killing Their Patients in Assisted Suicides

A Disability Rights Hero Lost

August 1, 2016—Berkeley, CA—Disability Rights Advocate’s (DRA) Co-Founder and Executive Director, Larry Paradis, passed away last week.  DRA’s Co-Founder and Supervising Attorney Sid Wolinsky will continue with Director of Litigation Mary-Lee Smith to direct the work of the nonprofit legal center, started in 1993 to advance equal rights and opportunity for people with all types of disabilities nationwide.

Linda Dardarian, Chair of DRA’s Board of Directors, said of Larry: “It has been my honor and privilege to have Larry as a friend, colleague, and mentor.  Larry was an amazingly talented, brilliant, and accomplished disability rights trailblazer, and a deeply good, caring, decent, and giving person.

Larry broke down barriers all across this nation.  If you use a wheelchair or scooter and can freely travel because the corners have curb ramps, Larry did that.  If you are blind and can access websites to shop or read books, Larry did that.  If you are deaf and can watch captioned movies at your local theater, Larry did that.  If you have a disability and can enter your polling place and use the voting machine privately, Larry did that.  Larry spent his life working tirelessly so that people with disabilities would be fully included in all aspects of American life.  That is his legacy, and he will be loved and admired forever for it.”

Larry became disabled as a young adult while attending Harvard Law School. He devoted his life to protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities.

As the Executive Director of DRA, Larry never stopped litigating cases.  Larry took on and won hundreds of high impact, precedent-setting cases—achieving dramatic improvements for people with disabilities seeking access to health care, employment, transportation, education, disaster preparedness planning, voting and housing.

Larry’s legal work was of the highest order—through three decades of work, he almost never lost a case.  He was named by California Lawyer magazine one of California’s Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) in 2011 and 2003.  In 2004, Larry was voted Trial Lawyer of the Year by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association.  He was a member of the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities and served on the boards of many advocacy organizations including the Berkeley Center for Independent Living, Disability Rights Bar Association, National Council on Disability: International Watch Committee, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, Berkeley Commission on Disability, Disability Statistics Center at UCSF, and the UCSF Center for Personal Assistance Services.

Sid Wolinsky said: “I’ve lost a dear friend, comrade and brother.  Larry touched the lives of millions of people and made the world a better place.  The work which Larry so brilliantly and tirelessly executed is not finished.  DRA will continue to honor his legacy by pursuing the goal about which he was most passionate—advancing the rights of men, women and children with disabilities.”

Larry will be remembered as a hero for the disability community, a skilled and dedicated lawyer, and a devoted father and husband.  Larry is survived by his wife and two sons.

More information about a celebration of Larry’s life and a legacy fund to be established in Larry’s honor can be found here: http://dralegal.org/larry-paradis-legacy/

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A Disability Rights Hero Lost

Genesis reaches $52.7 million settlement with Department of Justice

Genesis Healthcare will pay $52.7 million under an "agreement in principle" to settle four separate U.S. Department of Justice investigations, the nation's largest long-term care company said.

The settlement will resolve allegations over inadequate staffing numbers at several of the provider's long-term care facilities from 2005 through 2013, along with allegations of billing fraud for hospice services, according to a statement released by the company. The settlement covers alleged Medicare rule violations for physical therapy at two subsidiaries owned by Genesis.

“The company has agreed to the settlement in principle in order to resolve the allegations underlying these successor matters and to avoid the uncertainty and expense of litigation,” the company's statement said.

Genesis said it has already set aside $39.1 million for the settlement, but it expects to record an additional loss contingency expense of $13.6 million in the second quarter of 2016 as a result of the lawsuits. They added that they plan to pay the full amount over a period of five years.

The provider currently operates nursing homes in 34 states and employs nearly 90,000 workers nationwide.

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Genesis reaches $52.7 million settlement with Department of Justice

Colorado: "Justice for All" Rally August 19th

August 19 from 10 am until Noon
Colorado Supreme Court
2 East 14th Ave.

For more information, contact Luanne at JusticeForAllRally@gmail.com

Nurse assistant accused of stealing $10K, jewelry from elderly patient

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A Jacksonville health care worker has been accused of stealing $10,000 in cash and jewelry from an elderly patient who suffers from dementia.

Rhonda Watina Cole, 41, was arrested Tuesday on charges of grand theft, exploitation of the elderly, dealing in stolen property and providing false verification of ownership, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

Police said Cole was one of the multiple nurses who would go to a Mandarin home to take care of an elderly patient with dementia beginning in April.

The victim felt uncomfortable and Cole later was fired, police said. But the family said they did not realize that they had been robbed until much later.

According to the police report, the victim had a safe that could be accessed with a single key, containing $10,000 in cash and valuable jewelry.

In May, the victim's family attempted to open the safe, but couldn't because someone had messed with the combination.

In July, the family members tried to open it again and found several items inside were missing.
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said it's important for people to be aware of who is coming into their home.

"If anyone has parents or family members that have dementia, it would be a good idea to install security camera in the house if they do have people assisting that are coming in and out of the house.

 That way, you'll have a recorded document if anyone takes anything from the home," Smith said.

After the family contacted police, all of the home health care workers who had access to the money and jewelry were checked through the JSO pawn database. None of the workers had pawned anything, accept for Cole, police said.

Investigators said they discovered Cole started pawning the victim's jewelry in April and the most recent pawn occurred a couple weeks ago.

The police report said Cole pawned 28 items of jewelry at pawn shops throughout Jacksonville.
Smith said the incident is an example of why people should monitor any workers they may have in their home and keep things like safes a secret.

"If they have valuables, cash or jewelry, keep just a small amount of cash in the safe and the rest in a bank or in a safe where only the parents of the offspring would have the combination to it or have the key," Smith said.

Police arrested Cole this week after analyzing receipts from the pawn shops. Cole denied stealing the items from the safe, claiming she found the items in a bag hidden in shrubs outside the home, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Cole was booked into the Duval County Jail on a $360,000 bond.

News4Jax checked Cole's background, discovering she was arrested once before in 2000, but the charges were dropped.

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Nurse assistant accused of stealing $10K, jewelry from elderly patient

New Program to Root Out Fraud in Florida's Guardianship System

Charles Waldon spent decades working several jobs while raising a family of five children. He invested in real estate in South Florida and in Georgia, all aimed at building a nice nest for retirement.

"I worked all my life, you know, and tried to build up a retirement," said Waldon via Skype Monday. "I think I did a pretty good job."

But Waldon can’t enjoy the fruits of the retirement he worked so hard to build. The 85-year-old former firefighter is in the midst of a family conflict between his youngest daughter, Carla Alger, and his daughters – Sandra Dunn, Inez Howard and Glenda Waldon. The family’s strong divisions over money, care of their parents, and properties and produced accusations of exploitation from both sides.

So Alger asked Miami-Dade Probate Court to help protect her parents and the retirement funds they need during their senior years, she said.

"Granted I started the process out of desperation because I thought if I don’t do something they [her sisters] are going to take mom and dad,” Alger said while in court last week.

Her sister Sandra "Sandi" Dunn disagrees.

“My dad is on food stamps. She’s preventing him for accessing his own money,” Dunn said.

Last year, a Miami-Dade probate judge appointed a professional guardian for the couple – Charles and Peggy Waldon – after a panel of doctors said they were incompetent. Peggy, who suffers from dementia and requires round the clock care, is a ward of the state.

"She always ordered me, because mom was not a passive person at all, to be taken care of at home," Alger said of her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer disease. “And that’s a promise I made to her. That’s a big motivation why I filed the petition."

No Financial Oversight

With Florida’s 3.7 million people over 65 years of age, elder exploitation has become the crime of the 21st century, experts said. The guardianship system is driven by money and entrenched in relationships with all the ward’s assets used to pay the fees of all attorneys, medical experts and the guardian, sometimes exhausting seniors’ savings.

"When you take away someone’s constitutional rights and you put into third party hands – a total of $270 billion in the United States – it is just simply rife for fraud, waste and abuse,” said Sharon Bock, Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller.

Charles and Peggy Waldon are among 8,000 guardianship cases in Miami-Dade probate courts system with virtually no financial oversight or a system in place to watch over how the money is spent. Miami-Dade is hardly alone – a few counties in the state have watchdogs looking over the trouble guardianship system. (Continue Reading)

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New Program to Root Out Fraud in Florida's Guardianship System

Diane Coleman Honored

Diane Coleman, CEO/President of Not Dead Yet, holding the Adele Carlson Advocacy Award at the Gala.

The award recognizes individuals who have had a significant impact on the Disability Community.

#ROCtheADA — at Rochester Museum & Science Center.

See:
Not Dead Yet

90-year-old woman killed by alligator at South Carolina nursing home

CHARLESTON, S.C. – A 90-year-old woman was found dead in a pond after she went missing from her nursing home in what is believed to be the first-ever fatal alligator attack in South Carolina history, according to officials.

Investigators said they believe Bonnie Walker slipped or fell into the pond, and then the alligator attacked her, according to The Post and Courier.

“It’s the first one as far as we’ve been keeping records,” Robert McCullough, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources told the paper.

Her body was discovered in a pond behind the West Ashley assisted-living facility, where she lived. An autopsy found the cause of death to be multiple sharp and blunt force trauma injuries.

Walker’s body was found several hours after she went missing Wednesday.

The alligator was later removed from the pond near the nursing home.

It’s still not clear how Walker left the facility by herself. No one from the facility returned calls for comment on the her death.

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90-year-old woman killed by alligator at South Carolina nursing home

Elder Care Company Placed Thousands Of Seniors Into Nursing Homes To Defraud Medicare And Medicaid

The head of more than 30 assisted-living facilities in Florida has been charged for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid of more than $1 billion over the last 14 years — the largest case of health care fraud ever handled by the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to the DOJ’s findings, Esformes Network facilities owner Philip Esformes allegedly placed around 14,000 elderly people in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, even if they didn’t meet the criteria to enroll. Many of these unqualified patients then received “medically unnecessary services” that staff billed to Medicare and Medicaid. In some cases, prosecutors claimed, Esformes and his “co-conspirators” plied elderly patients with narcotics to force an addiction that would prolong their stay and continue their reliance on Medicare costs.

The fraud didn’t stop outside of Esformes’ facilities. He and other top-level staffers allegedly received financial kickbacks for referring patients to other health care providers in the nearby communities who also forced unnecessary medical treatment on patients to receive federal dollars. These kickbacks were often paid in cash and disguised as charitable donations — and allegedly went toward Esformes’ personal purchases.

“Medicare fraud has infected every facet of our health care system,” said U.S. Attorney Ferrer in a DOJ press release. “As a result of our unrelenting efforts to combat these pernicious schemes, [we will] continue to identify and prosecute the criminals who, driven by greed, steal from a program meant for our aged and infirmed to increase their personal wealth.”

Esformes’ lawyer said he “strongly asserts his innocence” in the case, but his history in smaller courts for similar cases of health care fraud have left the DOJ with little sympathy. The DOJ said Esformes will be held without bail based on his current wealth and criminal history — two factors that make him much more likely to flee the country.

This record-breaking case was brought by the DOJ’s Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which was created in 2007. Cracking down on health care fraud has played a major role in the Obama administration’s effort to reduce wasteful health care costs; several provisions in the Affordable Care Act allocated more funds toward this effort and strengthened penalties for fraud.

The DOJ has recovered nearly $16.5 billion in health care fraud since January 2009 — making almost $8 in financial returns for every dollar spent on fraud investigations. Just last month, the DOJ announced a massive health care fraud sweep charging 301 individuals across 36 federal districts for their role in $900 million in fraudulent medical billing.

Full Article & Source:
Elder Care Company Placed Thousands Of Seniors Into Nursing Homes To Defraud Medicare And Medicaid

Nurse assistant accused of stealing $10K, jewelry from elderly patient

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A Jacksonville health care worker has been accused of stealing $10,000 in cash and jewelry from an elderly patient who suffers from dementia.

Rhonda Watina Cole, 41, was arrested Tuesday on charges of grand theft, exploitation of the elderly, dealing in stolen property and providing false verification of ownership, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

Police said Cole was one of the multiple nurses who would go to a Mandarin home to take care of an elderly patient with dementia beginning in April.

The victim felt uncomfortable and Cole later was fired, police said. But the family said they did not realize that they had been robbed until much later.

According to the police report, the victim had a safe that could be accessed with a single key, containing $10,000 in cash and valuable jewelry.

In May, the victim's family attempted to open the safe, but couldn't because someone had messed with the combination.

In July, the family members tried to open it again and found several items inside were missing.

News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said it's important for people to be aware of who is coming into their home.

"If anyone has parents or family members that have dementia, it would be a good idea to install security camera in the house if they do have people assisting that are coming in and out of the house. That way, you'll have a recorded document if anyone takes anything from the home," Smith said.

After the family contacted police, all of the home health care workers who had access to the money and jewelry were checked through the JSO pawn database. None of the workers had pawned anything, accept for Cole, police said.

Investigators said they discovered Cole started pawning the victim's jewelry in April and the most recent pawn occurred a couple weeks ago.

The police report said Cole pawned 28 items of jewelry at pawn shops throughout Jacksonville.

Smith said the incident is an example of why people should monitor any workers they may have in their home and keep things like safes a secret.

"If they have valuables, cash or jewelry, keep just a small amount of cash in the safe and the rest in a bank or in a safe where only the parents of the offspring would have the combination to it or have the key," Smith said.

Police arrested Cole this week after analyzing receipts from the pawn shops. Cole denied stealing the items from the safe, claiming she found the items in a bag hidden in shrubs outside the home, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Cole was booked into the Duval County Jail on a $360,000 bond.

News4Jax checked Cole's background, discovering she was arrested once before in 2000, but the charges were dropped. 

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Nurse assistant accused of stealing $10K, jewelry from elderly patient

Lawmaker urges elder abuse predator list

People convicted of sexual predator crimes go on a national list so that others are aware of the potential danger they may pose.

A member of Congress has proposed a similar list for those convicted of running scams. Rep. Gwen Graham (D-FL) says such a list is needed to help protect senior citizens from fraud and abuse.

“Florida has a reputation as the best place in America to retire,” Graham said. “Unfortunately, that reputation is under threat by an increase in elder abuse and fraud targeting seniors.”

Graham has introduced legislation to create a national registry of people who have been convicted of abusing or scamming seniors, to make them more easily identified.

Florida sees rise in activity

Using state of Florida data, Graham estimates that there were more than 2,500 cases of scams directed against seniors last year in her state alone. She says these crimes have risen by 74% over the last five years.

Under her proposal, the Justice Department would design a registry that states could use as a guide to develop their own lists of offenders. The lists would be public and searchable, identifying people found guilty of committing both physical and financial crimes against older people.

She notes that a few states already have such a registry. If the Justice Department created the model, she says, more states would provide the service.

Once all the states created lists, Graham said the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could then compile all the information and make it accessible through a national database.

Information is key

Access to warnings and information about scams and scammers could help consumers avoid being victimized, officials say. While technology has made consumers more vulnerable to scams, technology may also hold the key to prevention efforts.

Last month Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear launched a text messaging service that notifies consumers in his state when a new scam surfaces or an old one picks up intensity.

Through the program, Beshear has warned consumers in his state of a student loan debt relief scam, a Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes scam, and a scam targeting previous scam victims.

Beshear notes that seniors are a major target of these schemes, losing nearly $37 billion a year nationwide.

Full Article & Source:
Lawmaker urges elder abuse predator list

Steve Miller: Jared E. Shafer Defaults In Federal Racketeering Lawsuit

LAS VEGAS - Court appointed private guardian Jared E. Shafer and a number of his associates were sued in U.S. Federal Court by the family of the late Guadalupe Olvera for stealing over $400,000 from the WW2 hero's estate while he was under court appointed guardianship.

Mr. Olvera's story was the first to expose blatant exploitation of the elderly in Las Vegas by Clark County Family Court appointed private guardians in collusion with the national agency that certifies them, Wells Fargo Trust Dept. employees, and employees of Sun City retirement communities.

In all cases, Clark County Family Court Judge Charles Hoskin and his appointed Hearing Master Jon Norheim made the appointments of Jared E. Shafer, et. al. to watch over the fortunes and persons of wealthy Southern Nevada retirees who were later bilked of their assets.

Since the lawsuit was filed on August 8, 2014, most of the Defendants have failed to mount a defense for their actions in a timely manner, and therefore the following Application for Default Judgements was filed on July 27, 2016.

Presiding Judge Gloria M. Navarro is expected to rule on the Application within the next several weeks.
~Steve Miller

See Also:
NASGA: Lupe Olvera, NV/CA

Plea rejected in elder exploitation case after woman denies charges

PRINCETON — A Lerona woman, who was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday on a charge of financially exploiting an elderly person after entering a “best interest” plea in April, will now stand trail.

Judge Derek Swope rejected the plea, which is similar to a “no contest plea,” of Mary H. Williams, 75, because Williams spoke during the sentencing and denied she did anything wrong.

Swope, who was set to make a decision on sentencing, said he had no choice but to send the case to trial.

In April, Williams entered the best interest plea in a case that involved a Princeton man, Harold DeWeese, who is now deceased.

Assistant Prosecutor Kelli Harshbarger at that time said it is called a best interest plea “because they are not admitting guilt, just saying it is in their best interest under the circumstances not to contest the charge,” which carries a penalty of one to 10 years in jail plus restitution.

Swope asked Williams directly in April if she were entering the plea because she realized if the case went to trial, the consequences could be worse (than a plea agreement) if she were found guilty, and she agreed.

Harshbarger outlined the case in April, saying Williams was hired as a caregiver to DeWeese and his wife in 2009 when he was 88.

DeWeese’s wife was eventually placed in an assisted living facility and during that time she noticed money was missing from the couple’s account.

Shortly after that, Harshbarger said, the evidence would show that DeWeese divorced his wife and received about $400,000 from the division of marital assets. It was also thought that DeWeese may have been suffering from dementia.

Harshbarger said the evidence would show that, during this time, DeWeese had little or no contact with his children, and that he had moved into Williams’ home.

The family attempted to obtain guardianship because of the possibility of dementia. However, she said the evidence would show that court papers could not be served because Williams said DeWeese was ill.

DeWeese died in 2013, and Harshbarger said the state’s evidence would show that he died and was buried on Williams’ property without his family’s knowledge, and he was listed as having no assets.

An investigation was started more than two years ago by State Police Sgt. Mark Haynes. Williams was indicted in October 2015.

“The focus of the investigation was on a bank account that had over $160,000,” Harshbarger said.

“From that they were able to trace the purchase of a doublewide” that was placed on Williams’ property.

Sentencing was set for June but was eventually moved to Thursday, when several of Deweese’s family members chronicled what had happened to him and how he had been treated by Williams.

They all asked that Williams be incarcerated and not be allowed to ever care for an elderly person.

Debbie Toler, DeWeese’s daughter, told Swope that sometime between 2005 and 2008 they hired Williams to help her mother, who was ill, at night.

“We rarely saw her (Williams),” she said. “I was glad to have constant care for my parents as my dad’s mental health was beginning to decline as well. My mother’s mental capacity was never compromised.”

But during this time, Toler said Williams “brainwashed” her father and convinced him to move in with her.

“She then prevented him from having contact with me, all his family, church friends, and other friends, and removed him from all his doctors’ care,” she said. “It is hard to describe the traumatic impact this had on me and our family after having enjoyed such a close relationship with my dad all my life.”

Toler said her father’s thinking capacity at 90 had already started to decline.

“Her goal was to conspire to convert as many of his assets as she could to her own use.” Tyler said of Williams. “To accomplish this, she convinced my dad that his family was only interested in his money.

She also convinced him that we didn’t care about him and wanted to put him in a nursing home and that he had to divorce my mother, whom he had been married to for 64 years, in order to secure his assets.”

Toler said Williams moved him to her house and then would not allow her to talk to him or see him.

“This caused tremendous anguish for me as I was not able to know how my dad was doing, and see him, much less have a relationship with him like I always had,” she said.

Toler said Williams told her father’s doctors and the funeral home director in Hinton after he died that he had been abandoned by his family 10 years ago.

“Mary intentionally destroyed my parents’ marriage of 64 years, my relationship with my dad, his relationship with his grandkids and great-grandkids and his relationship with all his friends and extended family,” she said. “We were robbed of a wonderful legacy and many more precious memories that would have occurred in his final years had Mary not entered our lives. Nothing can replace what we have lost through all this.”

Toler requested that the court require Williams to also pay to have her father’s body moved from Williams’ property to the grave beside her mother.

“I have been plagued with repetitive dreams about my dad and had to relive this nightmare over and over in my mind for the past few years,” she said. “I believe she should be incarcerated. Mary Williams has never expressed remorse to me for her actions.”

Alyson Dolan, granddaughter of DeWeese, told Swope that “Williams conspired to separate myself and my family from my grandpa to bring about financial gain for herself.”

“Mary was ruthless in her pursuit of my grandparents’ assets, and had no mercy as she devastated his and our lives,” she said. “He was a precious man, as anyone who knew him would say, and I adored him.”

But Dolan said he disappeared from their lives.

“Once she moved him to her home on Bent Mountain, he was her prisoner,” she said, adding that she called Williams’ home on many occasions and asked to speak to him, but was denied.

“Mary robbed my grandpa and me of our relationship,” she said.

Dolan later looked directly at Williams and said, “You came in and brainwashed a 90- year-old man with dementia, shattered his beautiful life and exploited him for his last 4 years of life. I choose to forgive you, but because you have shown no remorse I also want you to pay for your crimes.”

Swope asked the family’s attorney, Robert Holroyd, if the family had ever tried to go to court to be able to have access to DeWeese and get him out of her home.

Holroyd said attempts were made through adult protective services, but to no avail.

They also tried to have him declared mentally incompetent, he said, but he did not show up at the hearing because Williams said he was ill.

Holroyd said DeWeese had been dead for nine days before the family learned about it.

At that point, Williams’ attorney, Andrew Maier of Hinton, told Swope his client is 75 and “has cancer and is disabled,” living on disability payments and is not able to care for any elderly people.

“This is a tragedy,” he said, saying the case was a “failure of fiduciary responsibility” on Williams’ part, not criminal, suggesting probation and restitution.

Then Swope asked Williams if she wanted to speak.

She did, telling Swope that she had nothing to do with DeWeese’s divorce and she never abused him.

She denied doing anything the family said she had done.

Williams said DeWeese told her he “wanted to spend the rest of his days” in her home and he didn’t want to see or talk to his family.

She said she had done nothing wrong.

Although some of Toler’s family wanted to speak again, Swope said there would be no “back and forth.”

At that point, Swope said he rejected the plea agreement because Williams had denied any guilt.

“I’m sending this case to trial,” he said, setting the date for Nov. 15.

He also said much of what was said at the sentencing hearing would “not be admissible in a criminal case” because the question for the trial is, “Did she financially exploit an elderly person?”

A pre-trial hearing was set for Oct. 3.

Dolan said after the decision that she is “okay” with the case going to trial.

Full Article & Source:
Plea rejected in elder exploitation case after woman denies charges

$89K recovered in dependent adult exploitation case

DES MOINES, Iowa —The Polk County Attorney's Office reported Friday that $89,400 has been recovered in an adult financial exploitation case.

Officials said the person charged in the case pleaded guilty to dependent adult abuse financial exploitation, received a deferred judgment, and was placed on probation.

The effort was accomplished jointly by the Department of Human Services, the Polk County Sheriff’s Department, and the Polk County Attorney's Office.

In Iowa, a person that receives a deferred judgment must abide by all the terms of their probation, including paying court fines and restitution before their record is expunged.

Officials said the victim received payment in full for restitution.

Full Article & Source:
$89K recovered in dependent adult exploitation case

Pressure is rising to end system that allows disabled workers to be paid pennies per hour

Matthew McMeekin and his mother Bebe McMeekin

Seventy years ago, Goodwill Industries of Houston was founded in order to employ disabled people whom nobody else would hire.

That whole time, a portion of those with the most severe handicaps have been paid less than minimum wage, which is allowed under a 1938 federal law enacted on the grounds that even a small paycheck is better than none. About 40 people perform tasks like stuffing bags for giveaways, or re-packaging a retailer's returns, for a few cents an item.

At the end of July, that program will end -- not because any laws have changed, but because Goodwill sees where the political winds are blowing.

"There's a lot of pressure from disability rights organizations locally and nationally to change the law," says Goodwill of Houston spokeswoman Kym King. "Part of our decision was that this was coming, and we wanted to be proactive about that."

Only four out of the 15 Goodwills in Texas are still authorized to pay workers less than minimum wage. Many of the organization's 165 individual outlets have already gotten out of the business.
Why? Disability advocates have long argued think that allowing workers to be paid less than minimum wage in segregated work environments -- known as "sheltered workshops" -- is disempowering and unfair.

After years of complaints, the federal government has started to curtail the practice, presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has come out against it altogether, and some states have passed laws that effectively ban it in favor of services that help the disabled find decent-paying work.

None of that has happened yet in Texas, where the latest figures from the Department of Labor show that 10,000 disabled people are paid less than minimum wage. But pressure is mounting, as advocates push for the decades-old model to be replaced with something better.

Disability Rights Texas, a federally-designated protection and advocacy group, issued a report last week that lays out the case for scrapping the sub-minimum wage, sometimes called 14(c) employment after the section of the Fair Labor Standards Act that sanctions it. The organization interviewed 100 clients from 12 out of the state's 109 organizations authorized to employ disabled people for sub-minimum wages, and found that the system isn't working for the people it's supposed to serve.

"People with disabilities are being underpaid to an extreme degree, are not developing any meaningful job skills and are denied the opportunity to find competitive, integrated employment," the report reads. "Texas has before it both an opportunity, and an obligation, to ensure people with disabilities have access to the same employment opportunities as all other Texas citizens."

The group did not name the institutions it targeted in its investigation, says supervisory attorney Lucia Ostrom, to protect interviewees against retaliation. But the report said that these nameless employers often do not provide the training that workers are supposed to receive, wages are frequently miscalculated, and the state's vocational rehabilitation system is failing to place them in mainstream positions.

Disability Rights Texas also provided to the Houston Chronicle a list of the 109 organizations that hold 14(c) certificates as of January 2016 (find a map here). Among the largest is North Texas Rehabilitation Services in Garland, which had 321 employees being paid less than minimum wage, assembling products and store displays in a segregated environment. Shelonda Coleman, the non-profit's CEO, is impatient with those out to abolish her business model.

"If you have the patience to train them to do the job, then go for it," she says. Coleman agrees with disability rights advocates it's possible for all her workers to attain mainstream employment, but she thinks would take more resources than are currently available to support them. "Okay, come and help us. We want your help," she says. "We're not trying to limit anyone. Our goal is to get them ready for the community."

Goodwill Industries of Houston's Kym King says she's also nervous about will happen to those who had worked in the organization's sheltered program. "It's really not about the money for them. It's about the quality of life that comes along with having g job, and the confidence that comes when you are part of the world of work," she says. "If these individuals were able to be in a competitive work environment, we would have transitioned them already."

The largest employer of disabled workers, however, is the state of Texas itself: North Texas State Hospital, a mental inpatient healthcare facility in Wichita Falls, employs 636 people for less than the minimum wage. The state also supports sheltered shops by requiring that agencies hire 14(c) employers for contracts that were worth nearly $140 million in 2013, according to a review early last year.
That program, known as "state use," is currently under scrutiny by the Texas Workforce Commission. In early 2014, a task force convened by a law passed the previous year also recommended that the state ensure all workers paid under state contracts be paid at least minimum wage by September 1, 2016, which would push many more employers out of the sheltered workshop business.

That deadline will probably pass with no action. But it may not take much longer for something to happen. 

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Pressure is rising to end system that allows disabled workers to be paid pennies per hour

Aging Can Be Better, Doggone It

There’s more to aging well than eating right, exercising, and reducing stress.

Adding a furry friend to the mix helps a whole lot, too. Plenty of research has been conducted on the positive effects of pets on their humans — but the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging, has recently formed an innovative partnership with Mars Petcare to advance research in the area of human-animal interaction (HAI) among older adults.

 “If there’s anything we can do to keep older adults healthier longer, we want to do it,” said Abigail Stevenson, Ph.D., global director of stakeholder relations for Mars Petcare. The company has been involved in research surrounding this topic for over 40 years, but Stevenson said they’re happy to be partnering on this new study.

Research has shown time and again that pet owners in general have healthier hearts, are sick less often, make fewer visits to the doctor, get more exercise, and are less depressed, said the National Center for Health Research.

 Elderly individuals who have a cat or dog are more often able to perform “activities of daily living,” such as bending, climbing the stairs, bathing, and taking medications.

 Pets may also have a significant impact on allergies, asthma, social support, and social interactions with other people.

 Full Article and Source:
Aging Can be Easier, Doggone It

Loneliness Is Bad for Your Brain

Feeling lonely is dangerous for your brain health, according to a new study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference this week.

Lonely older adults are not only more likely to experience declines in mobility and physical limitations; they are also more likely to have memory problems and are at higher risk for dementia, says Nancy Donovan, geriatric psychiatrist with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Donovan and her colleagues studied 8,300 men and women 65 and older and found that those who reported feeling the loneliest had a 20 percent faster decline in mental ability than those who said they weren’t lonely. Depression also accelerated the decline. Interestingly, problems with memory did not predict loneliness, which implies that being lonely may be causing memory problems but memory problems don’t necessarily cause loneliness.

Donovan called loneliness “a form of suffering that is untreated.” Previous studies have found that loneliness increases the risk for early death by 45 percent, and a 2012 Dutch study found that loneliness increased the risk of developing dementia by 65 percent.

But does loneliness cause physical changes that hurt the brain or could it be that lonely people don’t take care of themselves or have anyone to care for them? Researchers aren’t sure, but they suspect that loneliness has physiological effects, Donovan says. She speculates that the psychosocial stress of loneliness may cause inflammation that is harmful to the brain. It’s also possible that people in the earliest phase of dementia are avoiding friends and family because they are confused, uncomfortable or embarrassed.

“In some studies, social withdrawal is actually the earliest behavioral sign of change in people who will go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease,” Donovan says. “So the question is: Why is that? Is it a frustration or an avoidance? We don’t know, but that’s what I’m very interested in looking at.” She adds that some older adults have trouble understanding the intentions and thoughts of other people and that may contribute to the problem as well.

Full Article & Source:
Loneliness Is Bad for Your Brain