Dignity at the End Of Life: From Suffering to Hope

2969 Cahill Main, Fitchburg, WI  53711

This full-day conference boasts a line-up of exceptional speakers covering a wide range of end-of-life topics.

Things have changed dramatically within our health care. To protect yourself and your loved ones, you need to be informed. The information you receive at this conference may be life-saving and it will certainly be life-affirming.

Those that attend will hear talks on perinatal hospice, grief, compassion, hope, patient advocacy and new pathways to care by expert speakers.

Please join us and help spread the word.

Speakers

Julie Grimstad, LPN
Founder & Executive Director of Life is Worth Living
PATIENT ADVOCATES (AND BEFRIENDERS) ARE DESPERATELY NEEDED
Julie is executive director of Life is Worth Living, Inc., past chair of Pro-life Healthcare Alliance and advisor to Human Life Alliance. She is a founder and coordinator of St. John’s Befrienders, a ministry to nursing home residents and homebound elderly. A nationally-known speaker and writer, Julie addresses all aspects of medical decision-making and patient advocacy. She has served as a volunteer patient advocate for over 30 years and was director of the Center for the Rights of the Terminally Ill, Inc. Julie is a contributing writer and editor to Imposed Death: Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, Informed: A guide for critical medical decisions, and the PHA Monthly e-newsletter. Her articles have been published in numerous Catholic and pro-life publications as well as elsewhere.

Byron C. Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS, FASAM, MBA
Professor & Vice-Chair, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, West Virginia University, Charleston, WV
PERINATAL HOSPICE: WHAT IT MEANS TO DO NO HARM-MEDICAL ETHICS AND ANOMALOUS PREGNANCIES
Dr. Byron C. Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS, FASAM, MBA is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and graduated from the University of Iowa Medical School with an MD. Dr. Calhoun completed his residency in OB/GYN at the University of Missouri-Columbia and finished a Fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the Oregon Health Sciences University. Dr. Calhoun is a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology with board certification in general Obstetrics and Gynecology and in the sub-specialty of Maternal-Fetal Medicine. He is also board certified in Addictions Medicine. He has authored 85 peer review articles in the obstetric and gynecologic literature, presented over 100 scientific papers, and has published numerous articles on medical aspects of obstetrics and gynecology. Dr. Calhoun serves as Professor and Vice-Chair in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at West Virginia University-Charleston. Dr. Calhoun and his wife, Kathryn, have five children and 2 lovely granddaughters.

Mark Davis Pickup
Pro-Life Speaker
JOURNAL THROUGH GRIEF OF DISEASE TOWARD MEANING: A CASE STUDY
Mark Pickup’s life and testimony speak volumes about the profound meaning that can be found in human suffering and limitation, through relationship with Jesus Christ. Mark, who has advanced multiple sclerosis and is wheelchair dependent, will share the story of his journey from despair to hope as he found meaning through his Christian faith. He reminds us that everyone suffering needs the support of a significant community to overcome their fears of pain and powerlessness.

Ramón Luzárraga, PhD
Assistant Professor of Theology and Division Chair of Undergraduate Studies at Benedictine University in Mesa, Arizona
COMPASSION AS ACCOMPANIMENT WITH THOSE WHO SUFFER: A ROMAN CATHOLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SUFFERING
Ramón Luzárraga is Assistant Professor of Theology and Division Chair of Undergraduate Studies at Benedictine University in Mesa, Arizona. He holds a Master of Arts in Religion from Yale Divinity School, and a PhD in systematic theology and ethics from Marquette University. He is a member of the editorial board of The Journal of Moral Theology, the only Roman Catholic journal devoted to that subject. He also convened the moral theology group for the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Latino ethics group in the Society of Christian Ethics, a member of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States. He has written articles for references works and book reviews concerning moral and systematic theology.

Cristen Krebs, DNP, ANP-BC
Founder and Executive Director of Catholic Hospice Pittsburgh
HOSPICE CARE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Cristen is the founder and executive director Catholic Hospice, graduated from Robert Morris University’s Doctor of Nursing Practice Program and has twenty-five years of end-of-life care experience. After years in the field of oncology and hospice nursing, she became disheartened with the trend of hospices becoming more business oriented than patient focused. Dr. Krebs began the first faith-based, nonprofit hospice program and first free-standing hospice serving residence in southwest Pennsylvania. Dr. Krebs embraces the prolife health care philosophy and spearheads education for both health care professionals and health care consumers.

Nan & Edward Weber
Founders of Holy Family Ministry Center and Loreto on the Plains
FINDING NEW PATHWAYS TO CARE FOR THE ELDERLY, THE SICK AND TERMINALLY ILL (A STORY OF FAITH IN ACTION – WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE)
Ed and Nan are founders of Loreto on the Plains Personal Care Home (an outreach of the Holy Family Ministry Center) whose mission is to care for those who are sick and terminally ill through respite care, transitional care and end-of-life care. They also educate the laity with the truth about end of life issues. Ed and Nan founded the Holy Family Ministry Center “for the Renewal and the Restoration of the family and Catholic Family Life through the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.”
Ed and Nan are both spiritual directors and Secular Franciscans. They have experience in Marriage Encounter, inner healing prayer and Rachael’s Vineyard (a post-abortion healing retreat and prison ministry).
Nan has a BA in Education, taught for four years and homschooled for 13 years before earning her LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse) at the age of 65. Ed has a BS in Engineering and is a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant). Ed and Nan have ten daughters, 45 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

 

Conference Schedule

 

8:30 a.m.	Registration
9 a.m.	Welcome – Dr. Cynthia Jones-Nosacek, MD
9:15 a.m.	Ramón Luzárraga, PhD – Compassion as Accompaniment with Those who Suffer: a Roman Catholic Understanding of Suffering
10 a.m.	Julie Grimstad, LPN – Patient Advocates (and Befirenders) are Desperately Needed
10:45 a.m.	Break
11 a.m.	Mark Davis Pickup – Journal Through Grief of Disease Toward Meaning: A Case Study
11:45 a.m.	Q and A
12:15 p.m.	Lunch
1 p.m.	Nan & Edward Weber – Finding New Pathways to Care For the Elderly, the Sick and Terminally Ill
2 p.m.	Cristen Krebs, DNP, ANP-BC – Hospice Care in the 21st Century
2:45 p.m.	Break
3 p.m.	Dr. Byron Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS, FASAM, MBA – Perinatal Hospice: What it Means to Do No Harm-Medical Ethics and Anomalous Pregnancies
3:45 p.m.	Panel
4:30 p.m.	Closing

Register online at:
https://www.humanlife.org/product/dignity-life/

SPONSORED BY

Pro-life Healthcare Alliance (a program of Human Life Alliance) & Wisconsin Catholic Medical Guilds

 
Source:
Dignity at the End Of Life: From Suffering to Hope

EM woman sues accusers in elderly exploitation case

An East Moline woman accused of elderly exploitation in 2015 is suing her accusers for malicious prosecution.

Alice M. Hipes, 60, filed the lawsuit in Rock Island County Circuit Court against Alternatives for the Older Adult Inc., one of its employees and East Moline police officer Darren Gault.

Ms. Hipes was arrested in February 2015 and charged in Rock Island County with financial exploitation of an elderly person. The arrest stemmed from an East Moline Police Department investigation based off a tip received by Alternatives for the Older Adult.

Ms. Hipes claims Alternatives for the Older Adult employee Katie Judge "falsely alleged" to East Moline police that Ms. Hipes had "financially exploited more than $70,000 from Donald Kinchner," whom Ms. Hipes served as a caregiver for about ten years, according to the lawsuit.

Further investigation reduced the alleged exploited sum to $47,300, according to the lawsuit.

According to Dispatch•Argus archives, Ms. Judge told police she visited the alleged victim, a 92-year-old man, several times and that he smelled of urine and lived in "substandard" conditions, which included a limited supply of expired food.

Ms. Hipes had been hired to run errands and buy groceries for the man. In exchange, she received $800 per month, plus "whatever money" she needed for personal use, according to East Moline police.

Rock Island County prosecutors dropped charges against Ms. Hipes on April 8, 2016, after a judge blocked the use of a message recorded by Mr. Kinchner before his May 2015 death.

Prosecutors were not allowed to use the recorded message in a trial because it would have violated the defendant's right to cross examine all witnesses, according to the ruling.

Ms. Hipes' attorney told the Dispatch•Argus that no forensic accounting was done to investigate his client's case. He said after the investigator learned Mr. Kinchner paid his bills primarily in cash, the investigator subpoenaed bills and other financial statements, which accounted for the "vast majority" of the money alleged to be missing.

The lawsuit describes the harm Ms. Hipes suffered because of the case, saying she "sustained substantial damages to her reputation, severe emotional and mental distress" and "lost income from employment as a caregiver." Additionally, she was incarcerated in Rock Island County Jail, had her arrest publicized in local news outlets and was deprived of continuing her relationship with Mr. Kinchner.

Ms. Hipes is requesting damages in excess of $100,000.

Alternatives for the Older Adult was unable to comment on the litigation. East Moline Police Department said it does not agree with the allegations and will let the case play out in court.

Full Article & Source:
EM woman sues accusers in elderly exploitation case

Get affairs in order to avoid guardianship, conservatorship

I’ve received questions asking for recommendations to minimize the possibility of a court-supervised guardianship and conservatorship proceeding.

When an individual becomes incapacitated, the courts might become involved to name a “guardian” to make health care decisions and a “conservator” to make financial decisions. This can be expensive and result in an invasion of privacy.

A properly drafted and maintained estate plan can help minimize the likelihood that a proceeding will be necessary if a person were to become mentally incapacitated. Here are some general recommendations to discuss with your own estate planning attorney.

• Make sure your trust is funded.

Even though a trust is not necessary for everyone, trusts generally provide protection against the possibility of a court-supervised conservatorship proceeding down the road. The trust agreement should provide clear authorization for a trustee to make financial decisions and administer assets in the event of a grantor’s incapacity.

The trust agreement only pertains to assets that are titled in the name of the trust. If you have a trust, please make sure that it is properly “funded.” In other words, deeds should be recorded transferring real estate into the name of the trust, and nonqualified (meaning nonretirement) accounts should generally be transferred into the name of the trust.

• Update your statutory power of attorney every three years.

Even if you have a trust, and your assets are properly titled in the name of the trust, an updated statutory power of attorney is still essential. Qualified retirement accounts (such as IRAs) cannot be “owned” by your trust. Your designated financial agent would need to use a statutory power of attorney to make decisions pertaining to your qualified retirement account such as changing the investment strategy, authorizing a withdrawal, etc.

If you do not have a trust, it is essential that you update your statutory power of attorney every three years.

• Provide your statutory power of attorney to financial institutions and advisers.

Consider providing your statutory power of attorney to each financial institution that you work with, as well as to your other trusted advisers (CPA, financial adviser, etc.).

Verify that each institution accepts the form you provide, and notes it in their records. Some institutions have their own version of a power of attorney. Discuss with your attorney how to coordinate the institution’s document with your estate plan.

• Carefully select your financial and health care agents.

Does the person you named as your health care or financial agent know your wishes? Does he have the skills and the time available to properly serve as your agent?

Do not name a child as an agent only because he is the oldest child. Verify the child has the appropriate characteristics to serve as agent.

• Trust your instincts; be clear about your concerns.

Do you have a sense that someone may cause a problem in the event of your incapacity (or death)?

Even if you feel it is a remote possibility, please talk to your attorney about it. Your estate planning documents can be useful tools to speak for you, if the time comes when you cannot speak for yourself.

• Update your HIPAA release.

Update your HIPAA release to specifically list by name those individuals you give permission to, so that they can have access to your private medical information.

• Meet regularly with your advisers (attorney, CPA, financial adviser, etc.).

Keep your advisers updated about your situation. Do your advisers know your wishes and your concerns? Is a beneficiary a spendthrift or particularly litigious?

Have you reviewed your current assets (including titling and beneficiary designations) with your advisers? Have you discussed concerns regarding any disagreements or disputes in your family?

One of the most important steps you can take to prevent an unwanted guardianship and conservatorship is to keep your advisers informed.

Full Article & Source:
Get affairs in order to avoid guardianship, conservatorship

Sikeston woman fights to get mother out of a guardianship

KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff

SIKESTON, MO (KFVS) - The daughter of a Sikeston, Missouri woman who is fighting to get her mom out of a guardianship is taking her battle to Jefferson City.

Teala Mainzer testified on Wednesday, February 1 before a Senate Committee on behalf of Senate Bill 104.

Sponsored by Cape Girardeau Republican and Missouri Sen. Wayne Wallingford, the measure would require the court to prove that a spouse or family member is not able to care for that loved one before placing them with a third party like a public administrator.

Mainzer's been fighting to bring her mom home for nearly three years.

"My desire is to bring her back home to her family, where she wants to be," Mainzer said. "She never wanted to be in a nursing home. I mean, she wouldn't want to be under the care of a stranger. She wants to be around her children. She's happy when her kids are around."

Missouri Sen. Wallingford says he's encouraged the measure will be voted out of committee in the next couple of weeks.

Full Article & Source:
Sikeston woman fights to get mother out of a guardianship

Scams Targeting Older Adults on the Rise: Report

Scam artists target all types of people: men, women, young people and senior citizens. A new report from the Senate Aging Committee zeroes in on the top scams victimizing our parents and grandparents.

Number one on the list: IRS impersonations.

That was followed by sweepstakes scams, robocalls, computer scams, financial abuse, grandparent scams, romance scams, government grant scams, check fraud and identity theft.

In 2016, the most scam reports came from Maine with 800 reports.

Texas had 271 reports.

The Senate Aging Committee says knowing about the reports is key to fighting these scams. That's why they have a "fraud hotline." More than 2,200 calls were made last year.

If you think you are a victim of fraud, report it to the hotline at 1-855-303-9470. They can offer tips on how to avoid becoming a victim.

Full Article & Source:
Scams Targeting Older Adults on the Rise: Report

Disability advocates threaten to sue Texas over special education cap

AUSTIN -- Disability advocates on Monday threatened to sue the Texas Education Agency unless the state permanently ends its special education enrollment benchmark within the next month.

The advocates said immediate action was necessary because of the "devastating harm" caused by the benchmark.

The state already has suspended and pledged to eventually eliminate the decade-old benchmark, which punished school districts for giving special education services to more than 8.5 percent of students. But the state has angered advocates by not saying when it will permanently end the policy.

"The time for action to protect and support Texas's children with disabilities is now," the advocates from the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities and Disability Rights Texas wrote in a letter to the Texas Education Agency and Commissioner Mike Morath.

Asked to comment on the letter, agency spokesman Gene Acuña said that officials were already working to eliminate the 8.5 percent metric. Changes to the policy should be proposed in the spring, he said.

"As always, we continue to seek input from stakeholders during this process," Acuña said.

The Texas Education Agency has denied that any child has been harmed by the benchmark

Page 1 of Ltr to Honorable Mike Morath Commissioner Texas Education Agency 1 30 17

DocumentCloud

Contributed to DocumentCloud by Houston Chronicle of Houston Chronicle • View document

The threat adds a new dimension to the debate over the benchmark, which already is a topic in the state Legislature and the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education.

Legal action also could open the door to an effort to obtain compensation for the tens of thousands of students with disabilities who have been denied services due to the benchmark. Federal law requires schools to serve all eligible students with disabilities.

The four-page letter cited a 2016 Houston Chronicle investigation that revealed the policy and the damage it caused.

The Chronicle found that officials arbitrarily chose the 8.5 percent target while facing a $1.1 billion state budget cut and did not consult lawmakers, the federal government or any research.

Nationwide, about 13 percent of students receive some type of special education services such as tutoring, counseling or therapy -- a percentage that has not significantly changed for years.

In Texas, after the benchmark took effect, the percentage dropped from near the national average down to exactly 8.5 percent. That is the lowest rate in the United States, by far.

More than 100 current and former school employees admitted to the Chronicle that they delayed or denied services to students with disabilities due to the benchmark.

"The children and families of Texas deserve, need, and are legally entitled to better," the advocates wrote in their letter.

The letter also outlined the group's legal theory.

First, the advocates said, the benchmark was inappropriate because states are allowed to monitor school districts "only as necessary to ensure compliance with federal law." Moreover, they argued, the benchmark actively violated the law "because it directs, incentivizes, and has caused school districts to deny enrollment in special education programs to eligible students."

The advocates said they would not file the lawsuit if Morath and the agency counter-sign their letter and initiate the process of permanently ending the benchmark within 30 days.

"We genuinely hope and believe such a lawsuit is unnecessary given our joint interest in making sure the children with disabilities of Texas get the support and services they are legally entitled to receive," the advocates wrote.

Full Article & Source:
Disability advocates threaten to sue Texas over special education cap

Questions Surround Trip Taken by Judge, Lawyers, Women

In wake of Leigh Terry’s death, Judge Casey Moreland defends conduct in and out of court 

by Steve Cavendish & Walter Roche

By the time Metro police showed up at The Stahlman building on May 25, 2016, one of the building custodians had already been in Unit 907 to check out the smell. A complaint from a next-door neighbor about a strong odor led him inside.

What he found was the body of Leigh Terry, 34, dead from a gunshot wound to her right temple. Police would later conclude that she died May 5, based on when she was last seen as well as her cellphone records. They also reasoned, based on her internet search history, which included details about the death of Marilyn Monroe, that Terry had committed suicide.

Leigh Terry

The weekend before, Terry and two other women had been the guests of some well-known (and married) members of the Nashville legal community at a condo on Dauphin Island, Ala.: Bryan Lewis, his law partner Larry Hayes and Judge Casey Moreland. Terry, though, was sent home early from the trip after arguing with Lewis. She returned to Nashville — to an apartment leased for her by Lewis, who police files say was listed as her boyfriend and emergency contact on The Stahlman’s paperwork — and would eventually be found dead on her bed. A gun, which Lewis lent to Terry for her protection, was in her right hand.

The death, the trip and threats Terry had made about exposing the relationship between the judge and Lewis are spelled out in great detail in an investigative report into the woman's death by the Metro police department.

The trip to the Gulf Coast did not get off to a good start. Terry, the daughter of prominent Nashville surgeon Richard Terry, at first refused to go, but changed her mind following a conversation with Moreland’s friend Natalie Amos. Terry, according to the police reports, had gotten into an argument with Lewis over a withdrawal she had made from his bank account.

Lewis told police, "Leigh acted crazy and cursed people on the trip."

According to the reports, Terry argued with Lewis on the flight down, and by the time they reached Alabama, he had decided she was going home. At dinner, according to Amos’ police interview, Terry said that “she would ruin [Lewis],” something she reiterated later in texts to him, when she claimed she would “expose their relationship, Natalie’s and Casey’s.”

Judge Casey Moreland

Moreland tells the Scene that he had met Terry only a few times. Moreland was not on the plane — he and Hayes drove separately and joined up with Lewis and the two women when the plane landed. (He would later return to Nashville on Lewis' private plane.)

Lewis and Amos — the latter a former DUI defendant who appeared in Moreland’s court in 2014 — took Terry to the Homewood Suites hotel in Mobile. Lewis paid for her room and threw several $100 bills to her, and he and Amos left, according to the report, which included a written account from the hotel clerk on duty when Terry was checked in.

Lewis would later tell police he did not believe Terry's threats were serious. He also described Terry in one interview with police as “a friend with benefits.”

Terry contacted a friend in Nashville, Brian Pesterfield, who flew down in his private plane, picked her up and brought her back to Nashville. Pesterfield told police that Terry said she “got out of a DUI by sleeping with Judge Casey Moreland.” The Scene could not independently verify whether the charge was true.

When asked if he had ever had sex with Terry, Moreland says, “I fully reject and deny any personal relationship with Leigh Terry whatsoever.”

There is some disagreement over the origin of the trip. Moreland tells the Scene that he thought it was supposed to be a fishing trip with Lewis and other guys and didn’t realize the women would be coming. Amos told police in an interview that she and Moreland “originally started the discussion about having the Alabama trip” and that she didn’t realize “other people were going to come on the trip.”

Moreland denies he and Amos were there together.

“It wasn’t a weekend for me and her. That might have been her plan or Leigh Terry’s plan,” Moreland tells the Scene. “I never had an inappropriate relationship with Natalie Amos.”

Attempts to reach Lewis and Amos were unsuccessful.

When asked about Terry’s and Amos’ appearances in his court, Moreland is adamant that he recused himself from their cases.

“Because I had even a minimal acquaintance with both Ms. Terry and Ms. Amos, when their cases were assigned to my court — as a result of a process that is entirely random — I took the proper step of recusal to ensure the matters were handled in other General Sessions Courts,” Moreland says to the Scene in a separate statement. “At no time did I intervene on their behalf during or after judgments were rendered by the appropriate courts. There are questions from the media about my stamp and signature on case dispositions following successful completion of ordered probation — in both cases my sign off [is] administrative in nature.”

On Terry’s DUI charges, the General Sessions Court disposition form is signed by Judge John Aaron Holt and marked with a stamp from Moreland. But on at least two of Amos’ disposition forms from May 14, 2014, the signature line carries Judge Moreland’s trademark capital “C” signoff.

This was not the first trip that Moreland and Lewis had taken — the pair went to Costa Rica together in 2013, according to images on Moreland’s Facebook page. But it’s their relationship in and out of the courtroom that has drawn scrutiny.

Lewis is scheduled for a three-day hearing beginning Feb. 13 before the state Board of Professional Responsibility on charges that he improperly sought and got Moreland's assistance in gaining the early release of developer David Chase from a mandatory 12-hour hold. Chase had been arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.

The official complaint charges that Lewis attempted to influence a judge by improper means, had an ex parte contact with the judge and assisted the judge in the violation of the code of judicial conduct. The complaint notes that Moreland was publicly reprimanded for his actions in releasing Chase before the mandatory 12-hour hold.

The Metro Nashville Police Department would not confirm or deny whether they had forwarded Terry’s allegation to the TBI, FBI or the Board of Judicial Conduct. In similar cases, MNPD spokesman Don Aaron says, the department has shared information from investigations with other agencies. He also says the department never directly asked Moreland if he had sex with Terry.

“The primary investigation for the police department was the death of Leigh Terry,” Aaron says.

“There are other issues, obviously, that are documented in the file, that the Nashville police department has not investigated.”

Terry's decomposing body was brought from her apartment on May 25 to the state medical examiner's office, which would eventually concur in the suicide finding. In September, MNPD received a bloodstain analysis from the crime lab, which concluded that the evidence did not suggest “anyone else was present in close proximity of the victim when the shot was fired.”

Metro police officially ruled the death a suicide and closed the case on Oct. 31.

Full Article & Source:
Questions Surround Trip Taken by Judge, Lawyers, Women

Judge, attorney face questions about woman's suicide

WSMV Channel 4 NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -

A well-known Nashville judge and attorney were interviewed in connection with the suicide of a young woman who had recently returned from an out-of-state trip with them last year.

A recently released investigative file compiled by Metro Nashville Police Department detectives shows that police initially considered the death of Leigh Terry suspicious, in part, because several eyewitnesses told police that while on the trip, Terry had made statements threatening to expose the judge and attorney.

Friends of Terry said she had it all. She was beautiful, smart, classy: the daughter of a Belle Meade surgeon.

But there was a dark side, her friends said. Terry drank and mixed alcohol with prescription drugs.
A series of drunk-driving charges landed her in the court system.

Her interactions during a trip to Mobile, AL, in late April 2016 with Davidson County General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland and his friend, attorney Bryan Lewis, became part of a police investigation into her death.

Terry’s body was discovered May 25, 2016, by a maintenance man at the Stahlman Building in downtown Nashville. He called 911 after residents complained of a foul smell.

"I'm pretty sure someone passed away,” the maintenance man told the 911 dispatcher.

Terry was found on her bed with a Smith and Wesson handgun at her temple. Police traced the gun to its owner, Bryan Lewis.

Police later established Terry had been dead about three weeks.

Metro police conducted an investigation that would take months. They eventually concluded it was a suicide.

During the investigation, witnesses whose statements were recorded by Metro police detectives recounted threats that they said Terry had made to expose an affair between herself and Lewis.

Police would later learn Lewis and Terry’s names were on the Stahlman apartment lease, and that she had listed him as her boyfriend on the emergency contact sheet. Both of them had keys.

Lewis would confirm in a June 27 interview recorded by police at Central Precinct that he and Terry had a sexual relationship.

"It would be classified a friend and a friend with benefits. Had I had sex with her on occasions? Yes," Lewis said during the recorded interview with a detective.

The relationship began, he had said in the earlier interview, after Terry became his client.

"I'll give you the whole history. Met Leigh about three years ago, when I first represented her for free on a DUI case. She was in with a whole group of friends,” Lewis said in the recorded interview.

Paperwork on file at the court clerk's office shows that Lewis represented Terry on a 2013 drunk driving arrest; it was a charge of DUI second offense.

The charge was reduced to reckless driving in General Sessions court. She received a sentence of six months’ probation. Court records show Judge Casey Moreland’s stamp on a document that appears to terminate Terry’s probation a few months early. Moreland is the same judge who had been on the Alabama trip just days before Terry's suicide.

It was trip that witnesses said turned awkward, ending with Lewis sending Terry home early.
"She was just mad that whole day and was just abusive toward everybody," Lewis said on the police recording.

Terry's friend Natalie Amos was also on that trip. She told police investigators that Terry was arguing with Lewis.

"Very heated. She and Bryan are yelling at each other," Amos told the detective interviewing her.

In the June 27 interview, Lewis’ second with police, he was asked by a detective about text messages the detective said Terry sent Lewis that night. Detectives said the texts threatened to reveal intimate relationships between he and Terry, and between Amos and Judge Moreland, who is also married.

“’Cause she said in there that she was going to expose Casey and Natalie's relationship on the text. And that she was going to talk about, to your wife, did she do any of those things?" the detective asked.

"No, she did not," Lewis replied.

"I took it as an idle-type threat from her, something that was made in the heat of the moment. And that she wouldn't follow through with," Lewis told the detective.

But Amos thought there was more to the threat than just jeopardizing marriages.

Terry had been working at Lewis' law office. Amos says during the trip, Terry threatened to reveal something she recently discovered that she said could ruin Lewis personally and professionally.

"She said, ‘OK, I hope you're ready. I will ruin you.’ She said, ‘I know things, you all both know what I'm talking about,’" Amos told the detective.

"She was adamant she knew she had information that could really blow up his life," Amos added.
Two months after Terry's body was discovered, detectives interviewed Judge Moreland at his office in the courthouse. Police confirm the judge's interview was not recorded.

The detectives' notes indicate Moreland was asked about Terry's threats.

Moreland said he thought "she would calm down and come to her senses,” and that he “felt sadness about her death.”

The detective's investigation concluded that Terry did in fact commit suicide, and closed the case. The TBI confirms that they were not asked to investigate further.

As our Channel I-Team investigation continues, you'll hear our exclusive interview with Natalie Amos,   Terry's friend and former roommate.

"She's gone. Yeah. I'm scared. And I was quiet for almost a year," Amos told the I-Team.

Amos had DUI charges of her own. As our investigation continues, we’ll look into whether court procedures were circumvented, and hear how Amos said it was Leigh Terry who first suggested the judge could help her.

"And she says, 'Well, I can call Casey.' And I was like, ‘Casey?' She says, 'Judge Moreland,'" Amos said.

And you'll hear what she said Terry told her about her own interactions with Judge Moreland.

"She was like, ‘Natalie, I was out of options. It was that, or I was looking at serious jail time,’" Amos told the I-Team.

The I-Team has made a number of attempts to do an on-camera interview with Judge Moreland; so far he has declined. So has Lewis, who told the I-Team’s Nancy Amons she would hear from his attorney.

Full Article & Source:
Judge, attorney face questions about woman's suicide

Moreland, Lewis made headlines in David Chase case

Judge Casey Moreland and his longtime friend, attorney Bryan Lewis, made headlines in a case that dominated Nashville news for months. (1-31-17)

View news report:
Moreland, Lewis made headlines in David Chase case

Minn. victims of nursing home abuse challenge arbitration clauses

Joan Maurer thought she had a strong legal case when she sued a local senior home over the sudden death of her 89-year-old father.

In her possession, Maurer had a stack of documents showing that the assisted living facility, Lighthouse of Columbia Heights, had failed to respond promptly when her father, Gerald Seeger, repeatedly vomited and screamed for help while pointing to his badly swollen stomach. After hours of suffering, Seeger died of complications related to a common hernia. State investigators later cited the facility for failing to provide timely medical care.

But Maurer is still fighting for a chance to hold Lighthouse accountable in court. Attorneys for the facility claim that she forfeited that right when she signed a densely worded contract that forced the family into private arbitration if a dispute arose, even one involving a wrongful death claim.

“I never believed they would arbitrate my father’s life like he’s a piece of paper, and not a living, breathing human being,” said Maurer, 59, a retired loan officer and wedding planner from Woodbury.

Over mounting objections from consumer groups and regulators, arbitration agreements like the one Maurer signed are proliferating in the senior care industry. Hundreds of Minnesota nursing homes and assisted-living centers now request that elderly people sign arbitration clauses on admission. The clauses require them to forfeit their right to a court hearing and, instead, lock elderly residents into a more secretive process for resolving claims. Even in cases of extreme neglect and death, nursing homes use the clauses to block residents and their families from pursuing lawsuits.

But a breakthrough federal rule has emboldened growing numbers of elderly residents and their relatives to challenge these clauses. Late last year, federal regulators barred the 15,000 long-term care facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds from requiring that residents enter into arbitration before a dispute arises, known as “pre-dispute” arbitration. The rule has been blocked in court, but the government’s case is now being cited as evidence that many such clauses are invalid and that victims of maltreatment have a right to a day in court.

“More and more people are waking up to the essential unfairness and lack of transparency of these clauses,” said Eric Carlson, directing attorney of Justice in Aging, a legal advocacy group in Washington, D.C.

A spokesman for Lighthouse’s Eden Prairie-based parent company, New Perspective Senior Living, declined to discuss Maurer’s case but noted that arbitration agreements are widely used across all types of businesses, including senior care. “Arbitration benefits both parties in dispute resolution by avoiding costly and lengthy court cases,” said Doug Anderson, the firm’s vice president of marketing.

No 911 call

It was a crisp September afternoon in 2014 when Maurer arrived at her father’s room at Lighthouse. She was shocked by what she found. Her father, a florist who just a week earlier had been laughing and stomping his foot to old-time music, had turned ashen and was vomiting in plastic cups, she said. Photographs from that day show that his stomach had swollen like a balloon. “I knelt by his side, grabbed his hand and said, ‘Dad, I’ll get you to a hospital,’ ” Maurer said. “But I knew in my heart that he was dying.”

Despite Seeger’s visible suffering, the staff had not called for emergency help. Maurer called 911, and on the ambulance ride to the hospital, Seeger rated his pain as a “10 out of 10” on the pain scale, state records show.

“I was horrified,” Maurer said. “I never want to see another human being in that much pain for as long as I live.”

Investigators from the state Department of Health later found multiple lapses in Seeger’s care. Despite a history of hernia problems, staff at the senior home failed to follow a physician’s instructions and notify medical professionals immediately if he had any pain or tenderness in the groin area, state records show. On the evening and overnight shift before he died, Seeger complained of stomach pain and vomited; but such symptoms were not promptly reported to a nurse, state investigators found.

“The cumulative effect of these omissions represent a system failure,” the state concluded.

No slam-dunk case

But when Maurer sought advice on how to pursue what she thought would be a “slam dunk” legal case, she learned of two conflicting arbitration provisions tucked inside the facility’s 36-page residency agreement. Maurer had signed the document in 2010, but alleges that no one explained the clauses in the rush to admit her father. When Maurer asked for time to review the agreement with an attorney, she was told that the family would “lose the apartment,” she said. “It was take it or leave it.”

This week, at an Anoka County court hearing, Maurer’s attorney argued that a contract signed “under duress” is not enforceable. “Lighthouse had all the bargaining power when they said, ‘You must sign and you must sign now,’ ” said the attorney, Suzanne Scheller. “This agreement should be invalidated.”

An attorney for New Perspective pointed to the terms of the arbitration clause, which explicitly covered “any dispute arising out of the services, treatment or care” of the resident. The provision applied to a broad range of possible disputes, including eviction, personal injury and wrongful death. The attorney denied that Maurer had been under duress, saying the family was free to pursue other options. “There was no immediacy here,” she said. “The arguments on duress are thin at best.”

‘I needed answers’

In Minnesota and nationally, more attorneys are seeking to throw out arbitration clauses, particularly in cases where there is evidence that elderly residents were coerced into signing the contracts. In a recent case, the Kentucky Supreme Court refused to enforce arbitration agreements in three wrongful-death cases, ruling that legal representatives of nursing-home residents lack the authority to waive another’s “God-given right” to a jury trial.

Angela Menk of Nicollet, Minn., is among those seeking to challenge an arbitration provision. Last September, Menk’s mother, Sharon Sperl, who was 71, requested that an on-duty nurse at the Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Winthrop call 911 because she was short of breath and unable to breathe.

Instead, the nurse gave Sperl a nebulizer and sent her to bed without checking her vitals or periodically monitoring her, police records show. A few hours later, Sperl died before an ambulance could arrive, the police found. Sperl’s death was all the more surprising because she was only scheduled to be at the Winthrop nursing home for 30 days for rehabilitation from toe surgery, and was scheduled to return home.

“They kept telling me that she ‘died peacefully,’ ” Menk said. “But I needed answers and wasn’t getting any.”

When Menk reviewed the medical records, she was surprised to discover that her mother had signed an arbitration clause. Menk and her attorney, Joel Smith of Plymouth, said they plan to contest the provision because it was never adequately explained. She also wants the opportunity to expose any maltreatment by the facility in a public forum — as opposed to arbitrating the case before a private arbitrator in a closed setting.

“Arbitration would sweep my mother’s death under the rug, so no one would ever find out about it,” Menk said.

“I’m not going to let that happen.”

Full Article & Source:
Minn. victims of nursing home abuse challenge arbitration clauses

Family Not Pleased With Outcome Of Elderly Exploitation Case

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) – The family of a couple involved in an elderly exploitation case says the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss the case.

“It has affected a huge amount of people. There’s no justice for us at all,” said LaVinia Reneau, the daughter of Frank and Lavinia Reno.

Family members started contacting Lafayette police and Adult Protective Services in the spring of 2016. They were concerned that Julie Steenhoek had moved into the home with nefarious intentions.

Julie Steenhoek (credit: Jefferson County)

“She weaseled her way in very slowly, very methodically. It was over about two or three years. I started finding out she was taking over her finances, their health decisions, things like that,” Reneau said.

Frank Reno has Alzheimer’s disease and hasn’t been able to help investigators. An emergency injunction was issued during the summer of 2016 to stop the sale of the Reno’s home.

(credit: CBS)

“She was about ready to sell the house take all the money from the house and move my mom and dad down to Arizona,” Reneau said.

Steenhoek was charged with a felony count of at-risk exploitation. At the end of December, the case was dismissed by the district attorney’s office. The dismissal form states, “The victim is deceased, and the defendant has renounced any right to inherit under the terms of the victim’s trusts and/or estate. In these circumstances, the People felt that it is in the interests of justice to dismiss the case without prejudice.”

(credit: CBS)

Reneau says there are more victim’s than just her mother.

“My dad is still alive he needs to be cared for. There was theft. She sold a ton of stuff of my parents, my parents’ personal belongings, and I believe she had a hand in the death of my mom,” Reneau said.

Reneau says she has not been told by prosecutors why the case was dropped.

(credit: CBS)

Numerous requests by CBS4 for an interview with the lead prosecutor were denied.

“I think it just sends the message that, ‘Hey, if you want to take advantage of elderly and weak people that are desperate and in need, you go ahead and do it.’” Reneau said.

Full Article & Source:
Family Not Pleased With Outcome Of Elderly Exploitation Case

Carbon monoxide incident hits Wayne care center

WAYNE — A few patients of CareOne at Wayne complained of headaches that may have been related to elevated carbon monoxide readings Monday afternoon at the care center on Black Oak Ridge Road, police said.

Wayne police Capt. Laurence W. Martin said the patients were treated at the scene and refused to be taken to the hospital.

The carbon monoxide problem was quickly resolved without the need for evacuations, but the township stood ready with its evacuation bus, Wayne First Aid Squad and Fire Department, said Martin.

The carbon monoxide alarm first went off at 3 p.m., Martin said, at which time the Fire Department responded and registered elevated readings in the basement. Some patients were moved and the problem area was isolated. Ventilating the basement helped to restore safe levels, and “we had it all wrapped up by 4:30 p.m.,” he said.

According to the captain, a fire inspection revealed that the carbon monoxide may have come from a truck running next to the facility.

An administrator for CareOne at Wayne, a skilled sub-acute rehabilitation and long-term care center, could not be reached for comment.

Full Article & Source:
Carbon monoxide incident hits Wayne care center

The Artist Loft Welcomes Catherine Falk (The Peter Falk Bill) As Our Guest

ARE YOU BEING DENIED THE RIGHT TO VISIT YOUR LOVED ONES WHO SUFFER FROM DEMENTIA AND ALZHEIMER'S?

Join us on The Artist Loft, from 7-8:30 PM EST and 6PM CST to chat with, and obtain important information you should know about.

Welcome to the Artist Loft with radio host/producer Gigi Adams-Evans and Co-host ( Recording artist manager and web developer), PJ Sampson.

Catherine Falk

We are involved in the movement and continued support for Dementia and Alzheimers and invite you to engage in dialog with us and our very special guest, Catherine Falk, the daughter of the late Peter Falk,to discuss guardianship laws and her bill, "The Peter Falk Bill."

Ms. Falk is an advocate for Alzheimer's and Dementia and she strongly believes that guardianship laws which keep loved ones away from their parents and other loved ones who suffer with Dementia and Alzheimer's should not be supported by judicial laws. 

Myself and PJ Sampson (A Caregiver) support Ms Falk' and "The Peter Falk Bill."

The Artist Loft Welcomes Catherine Falk - The Peter Falk Bill - as our Guest

Caregiver in assault video arrested in N. Houston

HOUSTON – Houston Police have arrested a caregiver they say was caught on video hitting the elderly woman she was supposed to be caring for.

Earlier this week Memorial Village Police said Brenda Floyd was wanted for assault with bodily injury on the elderly/disabled. The disturbing video, recorded earlier this month, showed Floyd repeatedly hitting a 94-year-old Alzheimer's patient.

Police confirm Floyd was booked Friday morning after her arrest in the 7200 block of Fulton in north Houston, not far from Crosstimbers and I-45. A nearby resident recognized Floyd from media reports, and her location was tipped off to police.

The victim, Dorothy Bratten, can't speak for herself, so family members concerned about bruises on her body set up a webcam in her living room. The alleged abuse was caught on video the very next day, police say.

Brenda Floyd mugshot (Photo: HPD)

Police say Floyd was supposed to be helping Bratten at her west side home, but Floyd became upset after seeing the victim feeding her dog "people food."

"Why you feed that dog human food!" she yells in the video.

Floyd can then be seen striking the victim numerous times on her side as well as to the back of her head.

After releasing the disturbing video in an effort to track down the suspect, police say they received dozens of tips and calls.


"We have had people calling from across the state who know Ms. Floyd and have had contact with her," said Memorial Villages Assistant Police Chief Ray Schultz. "The story has obviously gone viral. We have received inquiries from as far away as the United Kingdom."

If convicted, Floyd could face anywhere from two to 20 years in prison.

Full Article & Source:
Caregiver in assault video arrested in N. Houston

See Also:
Caregiver attacked 94-year-old woman for feeding dog ‘people food'

On Thursday a press conference was held to announce the need for Montgomery Adult Guardianship Services (MAGS), a Volunteer Guardianship Program serving Montgomery County’s at-risk elderly and other incapacitated adults.

“This program is available to assist any mentally incapacitated adult in Montgomery County regardless of income who is in need of a guardian to act on their behalf, and who has no family or friends to step in and offer assistance.” said the Honorable Heather Barajas of Montgomery Superior Court 1. Judge Barajas also added that since MAGS is a no-fee service the program can save Montgomery County taxpayers the cost of a competency assessment for an alleged mentally incapacitated individual, these assessments can cost the county upwards of $5,000 per individual involved.

Erica Costello of the Indiana Adult Guardianship Office explained how Indiana is one of the few states that do not have a state supported public system of providing adult guardianship services for the indigent. There is an increasing need in Indiana communities to expand adult guardianship services for vulnerable at-risk adults who have nowhere else to turn. In 2013, the Indiana General Assembly provided funding to establish the Adult Guardianship Office under the Indiana Supreme Court’s Division of State Court Administration. The VASIA (Volunteer Advocates for Seniors or Incapacitated Adults) Fund was created. VASIA administers the grant funding to increase the number of volunteer-based guardianship programs throughout the state. In 2016 grant funding was awarded to Wabash Center, Inc. to provide a volunteer-based guardianship program for Montgomery County. Matching funds to support MAGS have been provided by Montgomery County and Wabash Center, Inc.

The MAGS (Montgomery Adult Guardianship Services) program is an innovative volunteer guardian initiative designed to address the critical health care, social service and legal representation needs of the growing population of the vulnerable, ill and at-risk incapacitated adults in Montgomery County by using trained volunteers to serve as court appointed Guardians.

The program recruits, trains and supports volunteers to serve as limited guardians appointed by Montgomery County Superior Court 1’s Honorable Heather Barajas. MAGS Volunteers undergo criminal history and social service background checks, personal interviews, provide references and complete a comprehensive training program that covers the National Guardianship Associations Adult Guardianship Standards, The National Guardianship Association’s Code of Ethics, decision making, communication skills, and other tools to provide volunteers with a strong advocacy skill set. They are sworn-in as officers of the Court, and as Montgomery Adult Guardianship Volunteers. Volunteers are supported by a professional staff member who is a Nationally Certified Guardian certified by the National Guardianship Association.

What do these volunteers do? MAGS Volunteers are guardians appointed for vulnerable at risk adults in need of protection who have no family or friends willing, able or suitable to take on this role in the protected person’s life. The Volunteer Guardian Advocate will typically spend 2-4 hours per week visiting with their assigned client, just checking in on their welfare, and needs. They are responsible for making decisions about the care of protected person for example; health care decisions or determining an appropriate place to live.

Wabash Center, Inc. applied for the VASIA Grant for Montgomery County so they can provide a pool of trained, Volunteer Guardian Advocates to draw from when area vulnerable at-risk adults have nowhere else to turn. “Without volunteers there is no MAGS, we can’t do the work we do without the volunteers, they are the very backbone of VASIA adult guardianship programs across the state of Indiana. MAGS Volunteer Guardians have the opportunity to make a real impact on the incapacitated person’s life; they have the opportunity to provide safety, security, stability and dignity to an individual who otherwise would not have any of these.” MAGS Program Coordinator Sharon White said on Thursday.

Volunteer applications are now being taken by Montgomery Adult Guardianship Services. Funding for this program is provided by the Indiana Supreme Court VASIA Fund, Wabash Center, and Montgomery County. Please contact Sharon White, MAGS Program Coordinator at 765-423-5531 ext. 423 for more information.

Full Article & Source:

At-risk adults get aid

Wife and son 'dumped American man with dementia in UK car park'

An American man with dementia was flown from his Los Angeles home to Britain and allegedly left in a car park by his wife and son, according to court documents in the US seen by the BBC.
Roger Curry, 76, was allegedly abandoned without identification in the car park of Hereford bus station on 7 November 2015.

In court papers filed in Los Angeles by the LA public guardian’s office, and seen by the BBC’s Panorama programme, it is claimed: “In late 2015 Mr Curry was taken surreptitiously to England by his wife Mary Curry and his son Kevin Curry and abandoned there.”

Curry was found at the bus station in the company of two men who flagged down a passing ambulance. As paramedics assessed him, one of the men, described as having an American accent, left the scene.

Curry appeared to have been well looked after and was wearing new clothing from Tesco. He was taken into the care of a nursing home, and police and social services spent months trying to confirm his identity.

Though he gave the name Roger Curry to staff caring for him, police did not know whether it was his real name. He told doctors and care home staff he was not from the area and had been “training” nearby, leading police to contact veterans’ organisations in case he was a former serviceman.

An international appeal was launched and in March last year West Mercia police said they were anxious to trace the man with the American accent who vanished after a member of the public stepped in to help.

Following that appeal, a viewer came forward after having found a old photograph on the internet showing what looked like a younger version of the man now in care. The photo came from a 1958 yearbook for Edmonds high school in Washington state and showed an 18-year-old student called Roger Curry.

BBC investigators linked the Roger Curry of the yearbook to a burnt-out house in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles. Neighbours identified Curry as a former nurse who was married with two children, and told BBC investigators how the family home had burned down in the middle of the night.

At one point, it seems, Curry and his wife, who was said to be ill, were camping out in the yard of their burnt-out home, Panorama reported. Three months later, Roger Curry was found in Hereford, the programme claimed.

Eight months after that, Curry was flown back to the US where he is now under the care of authorities in Los Angeles.

Curry’s son Kevin told Panorama he had nothing to do with the apparent abandonment of his father.

He told the programme that his father became ill when they were visiting England on holiday and he asked a friend to take him to hospital. The programme said he did not explain why he had left his father in England for eight months.

As part of the investigation, a 50-year-old man from Taunton, Somerset, was arrested on suspicion of kidnap and was bailed. He has not been charged.

Because of the high cost of care in the US, elderly people are sometimes abandoned at hospitals in a practice called granny-dumping.

The Panorama investigation airs on BBC One at 8.30pm on Monday.

Full Article & Source:
Wife and son 'dumped American man with dementia in UK car park'

Tonight on T.S. Radio: The Return of Danny Tate

Danny Tate’s autobiography of his life under conservatorship is available through Amazon. An autobiography focusing on the years the author has been subjected to conservatorship abuse. The reader will be shocked that this is happening in America today. Without a crime, Danny Tate was forced to live on the lam as a fugitive.

(the following written by) by Brantley Hargrove:
"Danny Tate wasn’t in court in early December to plead for the return of his constitutional rights. He couldn’t be — not unless he wanted to be handcuffed and thrown into a lockdown psychiatric ward at Vanderbilt University Medical Center a third time, or shipped to some out-of-state in-patient rehab. 

So instead of appearing in court as his fate was hashed out by opposing attorneys — both of whom, in a bizarre legal quirk, were clocking hours on his dime — Tate was at the Adventure Science Center with his little girl. It had been a little more than two years since Tate’s brother had petitioned the court for a conservatorship over him. 

This legal arrangement — in which the court declares someone incapacitated and a ward of the court after being presented with “clear and convincing evidence” — is akin to civil death. 

The ward loses control of his finances, his property, even his ability to enter into legally binding contracts. The conservatorship allowed David to seize control of every aspect of his brother’s life, from the royalty money he earns from album cuts, to the equipment at the studio where he composes talk show jingles, down to his cell phone, his car and his email account. Legally, Tate became a ghost."
Tonight at 8:00 Eastern

LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later

Fugitive From Injustice is available at Amazon

Guardianship advocacy project may receive funding boost from Nevada Legislature

Attorney General Adam Laxalt

By WESLEY JUHL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

The Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada’s guardianship advocacy project may receive additional funding from the state Legislature.

The program started early in 2016 with a grant to hire a single attorney to work on guardianship issues, but it really sparked to life in July after the Interim Finance Committee approved a pitch from Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s office to give the center $400,000 from a settlement fund.

Since then the advocacy project has taken on 56 civil guardianship cases in addition to dozens of cases the center already had.

“This is a great example of a bipartisan solution to a major problem in our state,” Laxalt said Friday.

A Nevada Supreme Court committee on guardianship issues will ask the Legislature to further fund the legal aid center program, possibly by instituting a new $2 court fee.

Current staffing for the advocacy program — two staff attorneys, a paralegal and a legal assistant — is not enough to keep up with the current rate of case referrals, legal aid center director Barbara Buckley said. Although there is no right to an attorney for civil cases, court officials frequently refer cases to the center because the stakes are so high in guardianship cases.

Without an independent advocate to look out for vulnerable parties in guardianships, there is a risk that they could lose their rights and savings, Buckley said.

Laxalt, a Republican, partnered with Buckley, a former Democratic assemblywoman, to tackle the issue on two fronts. Laxalt formed a financial fraud unit that has taken on three criminal prosecutions for abuse of the guardianship system since the unit was funded in June.

The attorney general’s office also joined a guardianship task force with Las Vegas police and the Clark County district attorney’s office. Laxalt said the attorney general’s office is not seeking more funding for the financial fraud unit and is still hiring investigators.

“The unit will continue to ramp up through the whole year,” he said. “I’m proud of my team.”

Ultimately Laxalt and Buckley want to send a message that those who take advantage of the guardianship system for people who are elderly or disabled will face consequences in either civil or criminal court.

“They’ll be put on notice that you can’t steal from these individuals anymore,” Buckley said.

Full Article & Source:
Guardianship advocacy project may receive funding boost from Nevada Legislature

Gaslighting: Know It and Identify It to Protect Yourself

Gaslighting is a tactic of behavior in which a person or entity, in order to gain more power, makes a victim question their reality. It works a lot better than you may think. Anyone is susceptible to gaslighting. It is a common technique of abusers, dictators, narcissists, and cult leaders. It is done slowly, so the victim doesn't realize how much they've been brainwashed. In the movie Gaslight (1944), a man manipulates his wife to the point where she thinks she is losing her mind.

People that gaslight use the following techniques:

1. They tell you blatant lies.
You know it's an outright lie. Yet they are telling you this lie with a straight face. Why are they so blatant? Because they're setting up a precedent. Once they tell you a huge lie, you're not sure if anything they say is true. Keeping you unsteady and off-kilter is the goal. 

2. They deny they ever said something, even though you have proof. 
You know they said they would do something...you know you heard it. But they out and out deny it. It makes you start questioning your reality—maybe they never said that thing. And the more they do this, the more you question your reality and start accepting theirs.

3. They use what is near and dear to you as ammunition. 
They know how important your kids are to you, they know how important your identity is to you. So that is one of the first things they attack. If you have kids, they tell you that you did a disservice by having those children. They will tell you that if only you weren't _____________, you'd be a worthy person. They attack the foundation of your being.

4. They wear you down over time.
This is one of the insidious things about gaslighting—it is done gradually, over time. A lie here, a lie there, a snide comment every so often...and then it starts ramping up. Even the brightest, most self-aware people can be sucked into gaslighting—it is that effective. It's the "frog in the frying pan" analogy: The heat is turned up slowly, so the frog never realizes what hit it.

5. Their actions do not match their words.
When dealing with a person or entity that gaslights, look at what they are doing rather than what they are saying. What they are saying means nothing. It is just talk. What they are doing is the issue.

6. They throw in positive reinforcement to confuse you. 
This person or entity that is cutting you down, telling you that you don't have value, is now praising you for something you did. This adds an additional sense of uneasiness. You think, "Well maybe they aren't so bad." Yes, they are. This is a calculated attempt to keep you off-kilter—and again, to question your reality. Also look at what you were praised for; it is probably something that served the gaslighter.

7. They know confusion weakens people. 
Gaslighters know that all people like having a sense of stability and normalcy. Their goal is to uproot this and make you constantly question everything. And humans' natural tendency is to look to the person or entity that will help you feel more stable—and that happens to be the gaslighter.

8. They project.
They are a drug user or a cheater, yet they are constantly accusing you of that. This is done so repetitively that you start trying to defend yourself, and are distracted from the gaslighter's own behavior.

9. They try to align people against you.
Gaslighters are masters at manipulating and finding the people they know will stand by them no matter what—and they use these people against you. They will make comments such as "____________ knows that you're not right," or "___________ knows you're useless too." Keep in mind it does not mean that these people actually said these things. The gaslighter is a constant liar.
When the gaslighter uses this tactic it makes you feel like you don't know who to trust or turn to—and that leads you right back to the gaslighter. And that's exactly what they want. Isolation gives them more control.  

10. They tell you or others that you are crazy.
This is one of the most effective tools of the gaslighter - because it's dismissive. The gaslighter knows if they question your sanity, people will not believe you when you tell them the gaslighter is abusive or out-of-control.  It's a master technique.

11. They tell you everyone else is a liar.
By telling you that everyone else (your family, the media) is a liar, it again makes you question your reality. You've never known someone with the audacity to do this, so they must be right, right? No. It's a manipulation technique. It makes people turn more to the gaslighter for the "correct" information—which isn't correct information at all.

The more you are aware of these techniques, the quicker you can identify them before you fall into the gaslighter's trap.

Full Article & Source:
Gaslighting: Know It and Identify It to Protect Yourself