Flames Rip Through Chester County Senior Living Community Displacing 150 Residents and Staff, Hospitalizing 27

Some people remain unaccounted more than a day after an intense fire destroyed a wing of a Chester County, Pennsylvania senior living community, a high level source tells NBC10.

The late Thursday blaze forced 150 residents and staff into the frigid night and sent 27 residents to the hospital — 17 of whom are still under the care of doctors, officials said.

Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) are expected to enter the smoldering rubble sometime Saturday, the first time since the fire began that they will search inside.

The five-alarm fire broke out in the personal care section of the Barclay Friends community on the 700 block of North Franklin Street in West Chester. Staff evacuated vulnerable residents on foot, in wheelchairs and even in beds, wrapped in blankets.

Residents were triaged on a neighborhood street, then transported to a number of different shelters on ambulances and school buses.

 

Seniors Flee Inferno at Chester Co. Senior Living Community

Authorities poured over residents lists to check that everyone is accounted for, but at a 3 p.m. news conference Friday they would not answer that question.

"Our first priority is to track down and determine that we can account for everyone," ATF Special-Agent-in-Charge Don Robinson said.

Still, a high level source involved in the investigation told NBC10 that some people are missing, but cautioned that it's unclear if they left shelters with family or friends.

It was around 10:45 p.m. Thursday when smoke and flames first appeared in the personal care area of the facility. Employees rushed into residents' rooms and began ushering them to safety.
 

People at the scene described a frightening rescue from the inferno with some neighbors rushing over to help.

"I'm just envisioning the elderly people burning in their beds because it was so massive... before any rescue came," neighbor Scott Baker said.

With tears in her eyes, staffer Nellie Mingey said she was worried about the residents that she had come to know over three years working at Barclay Friends.

"It's sad," Mingey said. "This is their home. A lot of them don't have anywhere to go."

Parts of the community continued to burn Friday afternoon preventing investigators from searching the complex or determining how the fire started, officials said.

The fire burned so intensely that one firefighter reported feeling his helmet begin to melt, officials said.

Fire Sweeps Through Pa Senior Living Home

Seniors were evacuated into 40-degree weather and some were sent to local hospitals when a 5-alarm fire erupted at a senior living home in West Chester, Pa. Thursday. NBC10 News' Katy Zachry and Dray Clark report.

Unhurt residents were reunited with friends and family at nearby shelters, including one at West Chester University. The American Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania had moved everyone from the West Chester shelter to specialized health care facilities and closed the shelter by late morning.

"They're cold, they're scared, they're anxious, they wanted to get out of here, so we're glad to have gotten them out," registered nurse Noreen Cibley said.

Neighbors rushed to the scene as well to help comfort evacuees. One woman who lives within a mile of the scene said she called a first responder friend as soon as she saw the flames, then rushed over with donations from Wawa of coffee and water for the overwhelmed evacuees.

"Everyone seems OK, but they are tired," the neighbor said. "They look really, really exhausted. They've had a long night."

A look at the smoldering senior-living community Friday morning.
Photo credit: SkyForce10  

Barclay Friends, a Kendal Affiliate, is a senior living community that provides professional nursing staff 24 hours a day, meals and other services, according to its website. 

The nursing home section of Barclay Friends was put on a "provisional license" last November by the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) because of the citations, and fined $9,750 in April, the state said.

Firefighters warned people in the area to expect traffic troubles in the area of Franklin Street and Goshen Road as roads in the area remained closed Friday as more than two dozen ATF agents led the investigation into the blaze.

A team of national ATF investigators plan to enter the burned out complex on Saturday with the hope of collecting evidence.

Full Article & Source:
Flames Rip Through Chester County Senior Living Community Displacing 150 Residents and Staff, Hospitalizing 27

Video released of staff laughing at WWII veteran as he dies, screams in pain

Screenshot from video below

A World War II veteran confined to a nursing home died while his calls for help went unanswered- and the whole thing was caught on hidden camera.

The incident took place at a Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation in 2014 , but the footage has only recently been made public by the family as part of a lawsuit.

89-year-old James Dempsey -who served his country during World War II- called for help six times, saying he couldn’t breathe.

When he finally became unresponsive, former nursing supervisor Wanda Nuckles approached the scene after being notified by another nurse.

Nuckles claimed she was began CPR and continued to do so until paramedics arrived- however, the camera tells a different tale.

“Sir, that was an honest mistake,” Nuckles when confronted with video footage during the deposition. “I was just basing everything on what I normally do.”
Not only did she lie about the chest compressions, the staff did not call 911 until an hour later.

When nurses had difficulty getting Dempsey’s oxygen machine operational during attempts to fix the issue, you can hear Nuckles and others laughing.

“In 43 years in nursing, I have never seen such disregard for human life in a healthcare setting, is what I witnessed,” said Elaine Harris, a retired nursing professor.

She criticized the nurses, claiming that the nurses failed to respond, assess and act- not to mention the failure to continuously perform CPR.

“That is absolutely inappropriate. You never stop compressions,” said Harris.

According to 11Alive, the family has reached a settlement agreement with home operators Sava Senior Care, who fired the nurses ten months after the video was brought to their attention.

Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation continued to have a history of problems after Dempsey’s death due to health and safety violations, earning a one-star rating from Medicare and over $813,113 in fines since 2015.



Full Article & Source:
Video released of staff laughing at WWII veteran as he dies, screams in pain

The U.S. Postal Service is taking on Alzheimer’s with a new stamp

For the 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease, help can seem far away. Scientists don’t fully understand the disease. The progressive dementia it brings can be scary and disorienting. And social isolation and loneliness are often part of the equation, further affecting brain function.

Starting Nov. 30, a new stamp will lend a helping hand.

The first-class stamp, which shows someone placing a hand on the shoulder of an elderly woman, hints at the hope and companionship that caregivers, researchers and an aware public can bring.

It’s the work of California stamp artist Matt Mahurin.

The stamp won’t just stick on letters; it will also fuel research as part of the U.S. Postal Service’s semipostal stamp program, which permits the sale of first-class stamps above the usual cost. Each 60-cent stamp will raise funds for the National Institutes of Health, which spearheads research into Alzheimer’s disease. It will also expand awareness of the disease, which is now the sixth-leading cause of death for American adults.

The stamp will be dedicated at a ceremony at the Memory & Alzheimer’s Treatment Center at Johns Hopkins’s Bayview campus in Baltimore on Nov. 30. Kathy Siggins, who submitted the idea for the stamp after her husband died of the disease, will attend, along with U.S. Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan. The event is open to the public, though advance registration is required.

Ready to stamp out Alzheimer’s disease? Look for the stamp starting Nov. 30.

Full Article & Source:
The U.S. Postal Service is taking on Alzheimer’s with a new stamp

Nursing Home Crisis in Minnesota as 25,000 People Say They Were Sexually or Physically Abused

Minnesota’s largest pro-life organization is calling on public officials to take immediate action to stem the abuse crisis raging at care facilities. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) urges Gov. Mark Dayton, state lawmakers, the Minnesota Department of Health, law enforcement officials and others to treat dangerous nursing home conditions exposed by recent Star Tribune reports as a public health crisis.

“The magnitude of the abuse of vulnerable adults, and the sorely inadequate response from those charged to protect them, represent a monumental crisis,” said MCCL Executive Director Scott Fischbach. “We are failing our fellow citizens at the time of their greatest need. They deserve respect and protection, not abuse and neglect.”

More than 25,000 complaints of sexual and physical abuse, theft and neglect at the state’s 1,800 nursing homes and assisted-living facilities were reported to the Department of Health last year. The number of complaints has nearly doubled in the last six years; for every 10 residents of these facilities, there are now three reported complaints. Tragically, the state’s response has been too little, too late.

For years MCCL has expressed concerns to state leaders over the backlog of abuse and neglect complaints, but little has been done. Nearly 97 percent of these cases are never investigated. The vast majority of the 85,000 residents are left without legal protection or recourse.

“Enough is enough. The deficit of care for the elderly needs to be addressed immediately and state leaders must set a clear, transparent road forward,” Fischbach said. “Our elderly citizens should never have to fear being abused or even killed in a care facility!”

The state must prioritize the health and well-being of all its citizens, Fischbach added, with special protections for the most vulnerable. To date, the government has failed to do so.

Minnesota demographics indicate that the demand for care facilities will increase dramatically in coming years.

“Our elderly citizens must be treated with dignity and respect,” Fischbach said. “This systemic abuse in care facilities has to be stopped now.”

LifeNews.com Note: Bill Poehler is the communications director for Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.

Full Article & Source:
Nursing Home Crisis in Minnesota as 25,000 People Say They Were Sexually or Physically Abused

Doctors Tell Randy Travis’ Wife to Pull Plug after Stroke. Instead, She Fights Harder

Country music legend Randy Travis has celebrated life’s highest mountaintops and endured the pits of despair. Now, the seven-time Grammy Award winner is climbing out of the pit and finding his song again.

It was 2013 when severe cardiomyopathy left Randy in a coma, fighting for his life. He suffered a stroke so extreme, doctors predicted the famed singer wouldn’t make it.

Travis’ wife, Mary Davis Travis, had to decide whether or not to pull the plug. She was determined not to let Randy go without a fight, slim as his chances were.

“At this point, the one to two percent chance is 100 percent chance over zero,” Mary told USA Today in Feb. “I prayed hard, ‘God, please let me have him back, any way, shape or form.’”

Randy managed to pull through, and he and his wife dove headfirst into hour upon grueling hour of slow, frustrating rehab. It has now been four years, and Randy is finally returning to the public eye, admittedly a changed man.

While the stroke took away Randy’s ability to hold a conversation, the memory of music remains seemingly hardwired into his brain. Longtime friend and musician Dave Alexander started holding music therapy sessions in Randy’s living room, wondering if his friend would register those nostalgic tunes.

“I’ll be honest with ya, I didn’t know if he was gettin’ it,” Alexander told WFAA-TV, recalling those first few sessions with Randy. “And I couldn’t get any response to know if he was gettin’ it.”

But then, Randy did begin to react, displaying the ever-critical ear of a musician, completely dialed in and pointing out Alexander’s musical mistakes. Laughing, Alexander realized that yes, his friend definitely was getting it.

“He’s using his mind to connect pitch, rhythm, and the emphasis of the songs,” said Alexander. It wasn’t long before Randy was chiming in at the end of a tune with his all-familiar, rich-toned “Amen.”

Hearing that single word from Randy’s 2000 hit single “Forever And Ever, Amen,” perfectly describes the Randy’s family’s new life. “We’ve used that [word] a lot in these four and a half years,” Mary expressed.

While Randy is rediscovering his voice, his wife knows her husband is still frustrated. But she continues to encourage him, knowing he — and his longtime slew of fans — will benefit.

“There is a perfectionist in him that knows he’s not singing exactly like he used to that keeps him from enjoying it like I wish he would,” Mary explained. “I know the world, when they hear him, they can tell it’s Randy Travis, and the more he does it, the better it’s going to get.”

Alexander and Randy have big plans together, mainly focused on raising money for the Randy Travis Foundation. In addition to providing support for victims of strokes and cardiovascular diseases, the foundation aims at providing arts and music education to at-risk children.

On Nov. 18, the duo will perform the “Celebrating Randy Travis” concert in Gainesville, Texas. Randy, who has made several other public appearances this year, will be on stage backing up Alexander, flashing that all-too-familiar smile.

“I think it was one of the Oak Ridge Boys who said God’s not ready for you and the devil don’t want you,” Mary told Fox 4 News. “Fortunate to still be here and still fighting — hope we can give other people hope.”

The couple plans to “remain hopeful” and accept whatever God sends them in the coming years.
Mary believes her husband still has more to give.

“We can still serve a purpose,” she declared. “We just sing a new and different song now.”

Full Article & Source:
Doctors Tell Randy Travis’ Wife to Pull Plug after Stroke. Instead, She Fights Harder

Lauderdale woman charged with elder exploitation

Tammy Marona

FLORENCE — Authorities said a Lauderdale County woman has been arrested on a grand jury indictment that accuses her of exploiting an elderly person in her care.

Reports indicate Tammy Marie Marona, who also goes by the name of Tammy Byars Brown Marona, 45, 810 Lauderdale 125, Rogersville, has been arrested on the charge of financial exploitation of the elderly.

Brad Bolton, an investigator with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office, said Marona is accused of using the money without permission of a 76-year-old elderly relative in her care.

“She was his guardian, but she was using the man’s money for her personal expenses,” he said.

Full Article & Source:
Lauderdale woman charged with elder exploitation

Tonight on Whistleblowers with Marti Oakley: Creeping Genocide in the US

5:00 pm PST … 6:00 pm MST … 7:00 pm CST … 8:00 pm EST

Whistleblower's is brought to you in coordination with Marcel Reid and the Annual Whistleblower's Summit each July, in Washington DC

Our guest is Thomas Raney: We will be discussing the creeping genocide in America, brought to you courtesy of the UN Agenda 21 (now Agenda 2030) . The intent is to reduce fertility, IQ, and to cause life time illnesses for which no cures can be "found". Vaccines? How many have to be permanently injured or die from these toxic injections before you understand you are being INTENTIONALLY infected with mutated viruses, bacterium, molds, fungi, and heavy metals along with the DNAf non-related species before you realize what is actually being done to you?

Medical murder: It is now standard practice to withdraw nutrition and hydration from living human beings and to drug them into a stupor so they don't disturb the staff at the facility they have been warehoused in? Why can the state, and now medical practitioners, murder people they have deemed "disposable" while you would be in prison for doing the same thing?

Medical euthanizing of human beings is taking place every day across the country. Where are those Bible banging churches? Where is the outrage from this supposed Christian nation?

<a href="https://ppjg.me/2017/11/16/whistleblowers-creeping-genocide/">LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later</a>

Bill Gates Gives $100 Million To Alzheimer's Research. Move Called Game Changer By Advocates.

“Beating Alzheimer’s is going to be a team sport. We now have our new quarterback.” Referencing billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ announcement today to join the fight to cure Alzheimer’s, George Vradenburg, chairman, president and co-founder of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s - a movement bent on stopping Alzheimer's disease by 2020 - said Gates’ decision is a “game changer.”

Bill Gates, billionaire and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday, April 17, 2017. The U.K., which announced a doubling of its commitment to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation this month, is entering an uncertain period after deciding to leave the European Union. Photographer: Michele Limina/Bloomberg

“I think Gates getting into this game and highlighting its importance to the world is going to be a game changer,” Vradenburg said. “I think he will follow with additional investments and lay out a much more consistent strategy. I think this is just the first step.”

 

 (Photo courtesy of Patricia Lakes)

Vradenburg, chairman, president and founding board member of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Network

Vradenburg isn’t the only one who’s singing Gates’ praises today. Tim Armour, president and CEO of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund said funding has always been the biggest obstacle to eradicating the disease. “We know that Alzheimer’s disease is having a devastating impact not only here in the U.S. but around the world.  Funding of research for Alzheimer’s disease lags far behind the other top 10 illnesses.  Bill Gates and his contributions to research of Alzheimer’s disease through private venture funding will help to elevate awareness of the disease and will make a true difference,” Armour said.

“In statements and interviews, Bill Gates has reinforced the importance of the kind of fundamental research done by Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, which enables the investments he is making to bring promising therapies to market. Dr. Rudy Tanzi, Chair of our Research Consortium, has stated many times that curing Alzheimer’s is not a science issue; it is now a funding issue.  We believe this to be the case and welcome Gates’ additional investments to hasten this process.”

 

 (Photo courtesy of Cure Alzheimer's Fund)

Tim Armour, president and CEO of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund

Cure Alzheimer’s Fund - a non-profit founded in 2004 to fund the most promising research to prevent, slow or reverse Alzheimer’s disease - has contributed over $55 million to research, and its funded initiatives have been responsible for several key breakthroughs – including the groundbreaking “Alzheimer’s in a Dish” study at Harvard University. In that study, stem cell scientists successfully converted skin cells from patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s into the types of neurons that are affected by the disease, making it possible for the first time to study Alzheimer’s in living human cells. “With 100 percent of funds raised going directly to research, Cure Alzheimer’s Fund has been able to support some of the best scientific minds in the field of Alzheimer’s research,” Armour said.

Now one of the richest men in the world is joining the fight with his personal wallet in tow. By investing $100 Million in Alzheimer's research, Gates has effectively joined the fight that really began on an international scale with President Ronald Reagan’s death from the disease and has gained steam by researchers and philanthropists all around the globe.  (Click to Continue)

Full Article & Source:
Bill Gates Gives $100 Million To Alzheimer's Research. Move Called Game Changer By Advocates.

Man accused of posing as sheriff to swindle elderly man

Jerry Dewayne Long

An Athens man is facing felony charges after claiming to be Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely in order to con a 74-year-old man out of about $9,000.

Jerry DeWayne Long, 39, of 17265 Blackburn Road, has been arrested on charges of first-degree financial exploitation of an elderly person and criminal impersonation of a peace officer. Narcotics charges are also pending, said Deputy Stephen Young, public information officer for the Sheriff's Office.

Long remained in the Limestone County Jail Monday night with bail set at $7,500.

Deputies took a report Sunday from the victim, who said he received a telephone call from a man identifying himself as Blakely. The man asked the victim to go to an address and leave $220 in the grill on the porch, claiming it was part of a drug sting. He told the victim he would get his money back after an arrest was made.

Investigators Chad Harbin and Caleb Durden identified Long as the suspect because the address given for the money drop was Long's. Long had also used his own phone to call the victim.

One of Long’s associates helped investigators find Long at Athens Pharmacy, where he was allegedly attempting to obtain narcotics. Investigators found probable cause to arrest Long after he admitted impersonating the sheriff. Investigators also discovered Long had fraudulently obtained about $9,000 previously from the victim and had been using the money for drugs. Investigators found on Long cocaine, syringes and an assortment of prescription pills. Those charges are pending.

Prior charge

Long had been arrested in June in connection with another possible swindle.

In that case, Long was charged with first-degree theft by deception for swindling an elderly victim out of more than $100,000 between 2015 and May. An investigation determined Long had promised an 81-year-old victim he had a large sum of money coming to him and he would sign it over to the victim. Young said Long continued to receive money from the victim between 2015 and 2017 that totaled more than $100,000, claiming he had cancer and needed medical treatment in Birmingham and couldn’t get the money for the treatment.

Full Article & Source:
Man accused of posing as sheriff to swindle elderly man

AARP Foundation Sues Nursing Home To Stop Illegal Evictions

Gloria Single and her husband Bill Single in the dining hall of the skilled nursing floor at Pioneer House nursing home in Sacramento. AARP Foundation attorneys say California needs to more tightly enforce laws that prohibit evictions of the sort that separated the Singles, and sped up her physical decline. Aubrey Jones 

 

A California judge could decide Tuesday if Gloria Single will be reunited with her husband, Bill. She's 83 years old. He's 93. The two have been married for 30 years. They lived in the same nursing home until last March, when Gloria Single was evicted without warning.

Her situation isn't unique. Nationwide, eviction is the leading complaint about nursing homes. In California last year, more than 1,500 nursing home residents complained that they were discharged involuntarily. That's an increase of 73 percent since 2011.

Gloria Single has a number of ailments. One of them is Alzheimer's disease. So when her son Aubrey Jones comes to visit her in her new nursing home, he brings old photos to show her. She can still recognize faces from long ago — one picture shows her three sons when they were just little kids.

Jones says the photograph makes him and his brothers look like real troublemakers. "You are troublemakers," his mom teases.

Jones also shows his mother a more recent photo. It was taken at Pioneer House, the nursing home where Gloria Single and her husband Bill lived together before her eviction. They're gazing into each other's eyes and smiling.

When Jones tells her he loves that photo, Gloria Single slyly replies that's "because [Bill's] got his hand on my knee."

In court documents, Pioneer House paints a more troubling picture of Gloria Single. They say that she became aggressive with staff and threw some plastic tableware. So Pioneer House called an ambulance and sent her to a hospital for a psychological evaluation. The hospital found nothing wrong with her, but the nursing home wouldn't take her back. They said they couldn't care for someone with her needs.

Jones protested his mother's eviction to the California Department of Health Care Services. The department held a hearing. Jones won.

"I expected action — definitely expected action," says Jones.

Instead, he got an email explaining that the department that holds the hearings has no authority to enforce its own rulings. Enforcement is handled by a different state agency. He could start over with them.

This Catch-22 situation attracted the interest of the legal wing of the AARP Foundation. Last year, attorneys there asked the federal government to open a civil rights investigation into the way California deals with nursing home evictions. Now, they're suing Pioneer House and its parent company on Gloria Single's behalf. It's the first time the AARP has taken a legal case dealing with nursing home eviction.

"We certainly hope we can get Mrs. Single some relief," says William Alvarado Rivera, the foundation's senior vice president for litigation. "But we also hope that there is a lesson to be learned by facilities — that there will be accountability for their failure to respect the due process rights of their residents."

Nursing home residents have a lot of rights guaranteed in state and federal law. For example, they have to be given 30 days' notice before they're moved involuntarily. And the nursing home has to hold their bed for a week if they're in the hospital.

Rivera says Gloria Single didn't get any of that. As a result, she was stuck in the hospital for four and a half months before being accepted by another facility. During that time Single received none of the services and activities she would have had in a nursing home. She lost her ability to walk and now relies on a wheelchair.

Rivera says that "in the absence of state enforcement, it will depend on individuals like Mrs. Single having to advocate for themselves to get their rights respected and enforced."

Fourteen years of public records obtained by NPR show that nursing homes rarely pay a price for illegally evicting residents. Just 7 percent of nursing homes that were found to have violated the law in California were fined by the state. With just a couple of exceptions, the highest fines assessed were $2,000. The majority were $1,000 or less — and most fines were never paid in full.

Diana Dooley, California's secretary of health and human services, declined NPR's request for an interview, citing pending litigation against the state on a similar issue.

Frustration with the lack of state enforcement led the California Long-Term Care Ombudsman Association to join the Single lawsuit as a co-plaintiff. The organization represents long-term-care ombudsmen. Those are the public officials who track complaints about nursing homes and advocate for residents. But Leza Coleman, the group's executive director, says the spike in complaints about evictions is so overwhelming, that it's "impacting our ability to handle other complaints."

Coleman believes another reason that eviction complaints are going up, is that the number of nursing homes is going down. State records show there are about 2,300 fewer beds in California than there were six years ago.

"Those residents that are more challenging — those that have to be repositioned often, those that don't want to sit quietly and watch television — ... they're more expensive," she says. "They can be very taxing on the staff of a facility, and if a facility has one bed and two people looking at it, they're going to take the person that's easier to care for."

But eviction complaints need to be seen in a different context, says Jim Gomez, CEO of the California Association of Health Facilities. "We have a very low rate of complaints regarding discharge," he says, adding that roughly 1,500 complaints is "less than a half of 1 percent of some 300,000 discharges" a year.

And when residents are involuntarily discharged, Gomez says, "it's for the safety of staff and other residents.

"We've had many attacks on residents and staff," he says. "Are you going to allow that person back to the facility?"

Pioneer House and its parent corporation, the Retirement Housing Foundation, declined to be interviewed for this story. They sent a written statement which says, in part, "We intend to vigorously defend the allegation set forth in the lawsuit."

Meanwhile, Aubrey Jones says the lawsuit is not just about his mother any more.

"If anything," he says, "I want the dial to be turned a little bit so this thing doesn't happen again —[so] it's less likely to happen to someone else."

Most of all, Jones says, he wants to see his mother and stepfather reunited, so they can be together for the little bit of time they have left.

Full Article & Source:
AARP Foundation Sues Nursing Home To Stop Illegal Evictions

Parents of disabled woman in conservatorship case may be subpoenaed

WSMV News 4
NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - The parents of a disabled woman may be subpoenaed to tell the court where their daughter is, and if she is safe.

Alicia Waters, a 43-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, is the subject of a mysterious conservatorship case in Rutherford County.

Court officials said the last time they saw Alicia was two years ago, before she and her parents left Murfreesboro suddenly.

The parents left an address in a suburb of Atlanta as their forwarding address. A reporter with News 4’s Atlanta affiliate talked to Alicia’s father Charles Waters in October, but received conflicting answers about Alicia.

Charles Waters: “Well, the last I’ve heard, she’s OK. My wife is OK, she’s doing fine.”

Reporter Jonathan Carlson: “So where is your daughter? She’s not in your care?”

Waters: “No, she’s in my wife’s care.”

Carlson: “She’s in your wife’s care?”

Waters: “That’s correct.”

Carlson: “And your wife lives here?”

Waters: “Tennessee.”

Carlson: “Your wife lives in Tennessee?”

Waters: “We all lived in Tennessee.”

Carlson: “OK, but can I tell the authorities where your daughter is?”

Waters: At this moment, I’ll have to find out. Then I’ll let you know.”

Alicia has profound disabilities. She’s got a $1 million bank account set up for her care; it was a settlement from a malpractice suit. That $1 million is under the control of the Rutherford County court system.

David LaRoche is Alicia's conservator. He’s in charge of making sure the money is used for her care. LaRoche said he could be paying Alicia $9,000 a month, but he can't find her.

"We can't think of a valid reason why Alicia's family would ignore all these resources that could be used to care for Alicia. So we're very concerned about her safety," LaRoche told News 4.

After News 4 aired the interview with Alicia’s father, LaRoche filed a motion asking a judge  to expand his investigative powers. He wants to subpoena Alicia's parents, Charles and Florence Waters.

LaRoche also wants to subpoena documents including, the Waters’ bank and phone records.

Alicia's parent have not only walked away from $1 million trust, LaRoche said he learned they have not collected Alicia's Social Security disability check since 2006.

LaRoche says Social Security officials told him they stopped Alicia's checks because her mother wouldn't answer questions they had about how the money was being used.

LaRoche said this new revelation deepens the mystery about how Alicia is being financially supported, and where she is.

A Facebook page has been established to help find Alicia Waters. Click here for more information.

Full Article & Source:
Parents of disabled woman in conservatorship case may be subpoenaed

Judges sleeping through evidence not cause for new trial, Illinois appeals court says

Judge Jeffrey O'Connor

If a judge falls asleep during a murder trial, should the defendant automatically get a new trial?

A divided Illinois Appellate Court panel recently said no; so long as the judge was not dozing through crucial evidence or motions, an inadvertent nap is harmless. “We find that a judge falling asleep during a trial does not constitute … reversible error,” Judge Daniel Schmidt wrote in the majority opinion.

The decision builds on more than a century of Illinois bench nap law dating to a five-minute judicial snooze in 1899. But some critics say the latest ruling should come as a wake-up call for the standard to change.

“Of course it should be automatic reversal if the judge falls asleep,” said longtime criminal defense attorney Steve Greenberg. “It sends an awful message to the jurors that whatever is going on is just not important.”

The appellate decision is tied to the case of spree killer Nicholas Sheley, who was on trial for four murders in Judge Jeffrey O’Connor’s western Illinois courtroom in 2014 when the lights were dimmed so the jury could watch security camera footage on a monitor. When the presentation ended, an assistant attorney general asked that the lights be turned back on, according to the ruling. The judge didn’t reply.

“Judge?” the defense attorney asked, according to a transcript cited in the ruling. “Judge O’Connor?”

“Judge could we get the lights back on?” the assistant attorney general asked, approaching the bench.

“Hmm,” O’Connor replied, according to a transcript. A clerk allegedly poked him awake. When it was suggested now was a good time to break for lunch, the judge agreed. “Excellent time,” he said.

A Whiteside County, Ill., jury later convicted Sheley of the slayings, part of a 2008 rampage in Illinois and Missouri that took the lives of eight people. Sheley, now serving a life sentence, had sought a new trial based on the judge’s nap. In fact, the defense team said the judge repeatedly fell asleep during the murder trial.

But at the time the judge, O’Connor, denied both the request for a new trial as well as allegations that he had fallen asleep multiple times, saying only one instance had been documented and that even then he had heard the evidence.

“If I was not looking at the video, that does not mean that I was not listening and hearing everything that was being said,” said O’Connor, who called the motion “disgusting,” according to a transcript cited in the appellate ruling.

“The test on that is whether the judge ever lost control of the courtroom in these proceedings, and the answer to that is absolutely not.”

In its latest ruling, the state’s appeals court agreed, saying it had no effect on the trial, noting that the evidence against Sheley was overwhelming.

But in a sharply worded dissent, Judge Mary O’Brien disagreed, citing the 1996 conviction of Israel Vargas that was thrown out after a Cook County judge left the bench during a murder trial to take a phone call from another judge.

“A judge cannot be actively present on the bench when he is asleep,” O’Brien wrote.

O’Connor did not return messages seeking comment.

Experienced trial attorneys say judicial napping is rare but sometimes happens during jury trials, when the judge serves more as referee than fact finder. While juries render their own verdicts, at bench trials a judge solely decides the case. Both Sheley and Vargas were convicted by juries and, while the cases had different outcomes on appeal, Illinois courts ultimately decided that so long as a judge was actually in the courtroom, those verdicts stand.

And it can be difficult to tell if a jurist is sleeping or just closing his or her eyes in profound contemplation. A Michigan judge told jurors who thought he’d fallen asleep during a sexual assault trial that he was just leaning back in his chair, according to a 1988 appellate court ruling.

“I want to assure all of you … I never fell asleep,” said the judge, who is not named in the ruling that affirmed the jury’s guilty verdict. “I never go to sleep … I did lean back and do try to stay in low profile.”

“I am not so different than other judges. Judges have been wont to fall asleep. That is not my concern. I didn’t.”

Illinois case law on somnolent judges dates back more than a century. In that 1899 case — which involved a Loop collision at Clark and Harrison streets between a train and a horse-drawn wagon loaded with 4 tons of hay — the Illinois Supreme Court found that the Chicago judge’s five-minute nap during the trial was harmless because lawyers had failed to stop testimony or rouse the sleeping jurist “in a voice sufficiently loud to awake him.”

Judges have dozed off or slept outright during the O.J. Simpson trial, during U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments and even during war crime trials at the International Criminal Court at The Hague, where a snoring judge reportedly slept for half an hour. Former Australian judge Ian Dodd was such an inveterate napper he was dubbed “Judge Nodd” and eventually resigned in disgrace. Criminal defendants and civil litigants from California to New York have complained about judges sleeping during their trials, but for the most part higher courts have upheld convictions unless defendants could show the judges were actually asleep and that their slumber hurt the defendant’s fair-trial rights.

An exception came earlier this year when a Kansas court ordered a new trial for a gun crimes defendant after the judge presiding over the case admitted he had “nodded off” — an error the appellate court found as profound as denying a defendant the right to a public trial.

“How can a sleeping judge supervise anything other than his or her dreams?” the Kansas appellate panel wrote.

Jurors are more likely to fall asleep. An Illinois appeals court ordered a new trial for a burglary defendant in 2006 after the trial judge noted that a juror “was half-asleep during almost the entire proceeding.” The higher court has ruled that brief juror dozing is acceptable but “a juror who is inattentive for a substantial portion of a trial has been found to be unqualified to serve on the jury.”

Even trial attorneys have been caught sleeping on the job. In 2001, a Texas appellate court halted the execution of a man whose attorney slept through much of his client’s 1984 murder trial. The higher court said Calvin J. Burdine had been denied a fair trial because of the “consistent unconsciousness of his counsel.”

“Unconscious counsel equates to no counsel at all,” Judge Fortunato P. Benavides wrote for the majority, which awarded Burdine a new trial. Ironically, the courtroom naps may have saved his client's life. Burdine later pleaded guilty to murder, avoiding the death penalty in exchange for three life sentences in prison.

Full Article & Source:
Judges sleeping through evidence not cause for new trial, Illinois appeals court says

Woman charged with financially exploiting elderly Gaylord couple

Sibley County Courthouse

GAYLORD — A woman is accused of stealing more than $100,000 from an elderly Gaylord couple.

Michelle Lee Mintz, 49, of Rockford, was charged Tuesday in Sibley County District Court with five felony counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

The director of Oak Terrace Assisted Living in Gaylord reported last month that Mintz had financial power of attorney for two residents of the nursing home and hadn't been paying their rent. The director reported the residents also weren't receiving needed medications because their pharmacy was refusing service due to unpaid bills.

A Gaylord police officer reviewed the residents' banking records and found more than $100,000 in withdrawals between 2015 and 2017 that did not appear to have benefited the couple, according to the criminal complaint.

Mitz allegedly then admitted to the officer she was using the couple's money to pay her own bills and buy items for family members.

Full Article & Source:
Woman charged with financially exploiting elderly Gaylord couple

The Perfect Crime

Hundreds of millions of dollars legally stolen from wealthy Las Vegas retirees and disabled residents!

All Complaints Against Jared Shafer Dropped
No Further Charges Pending - LVMPD

"Your case was concluded and closed last week with no criminal findings." - Sgt. Troyce Krumme,10/31/2017
 
"This case has already been processed in criminal court." - Sgt. Jerome Milton,11/7/2017

INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
November 13, 2017

LAS VEGAS - "Its completely legal in Nevada." Those were the words of CBS Sixty Minutes senior producer Bob Anderson in September 2014, after spending the entire summer filming a comprehensive Sixty Minutes segment on guardianship fraud in Las Vegas.

Anderson came to Sin City in response to my November 13, 2013 AmericanMafia INSIDE VEGAS column "The Grave Robbers," the story of the bilking of the estate of the late Leann Peccole: http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/11-18-13_Inside_Vegas.html

Sixty Minutes reportedly followed private guardian Jared E. Shafer around town, took statements from several of his victims, and interviewed Shafer's former assistant Patience Bristol in the Nevada State Prison. In the meantime, a cadre of CBS attorneys were researching NRS Chapter 159, the Guardianship Laws of Nevada, many authored or sponsored by Jared Shafer - https://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-159.html - laws designed with no teeth or criminal penalties.

Several weeks prior to the October 2014 scheduled airing of Bob Anderson's Sixty Minutes segment, I received a call from him with the shocking news that the segment had been canceled. Anderson told me that his network's attorneys determined that everything Shafer does to his wards of the court is completely legal in Nevada as long as its approved by a Clark County Family Court Judge, and to the best of their knowledge, no Nevada laws were broken, so there was nothing to report.

I responded that that was the main story, for over thirty years Jared Shafer has participated in the drafting and passing of laws that decriminalized almost every immoral action a private guardian could imagine doing to his or her ward in order to enrich himself and his attorneys. I explained that Shafer, through his political advertising company, Signs of Nevada, Inc, and his fiduciary business PFSN, Inc., was very instrumental in picking and choosing what lawmakers and judges would win or lose local and state elections, and faithfully do his bidding after they won election or re-election with the help of his portable signs. Nonetheless, Anderson apologized, and I have scarcely heard from him since.
Shafer's political advertising signs

The CBS attorneys may have missed something.

According to a legal scholar consulted by INSIDE VEGAS, "The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has a war chest of criminal statutes they can charge the subject perpetrator(s) with, including, but not limited to: Nevada Revised Statutes 207.400 (Racketeering); 205.380 (Obtaining Money Under False Pretences); 200.5092, 200.5099 (Exploitation of Older/Vulnerable Person); 205.060 (Burglary); 205.0832 and 205.0835 (Theft). In addition, it can be argued that many more sections of NRS chapters 199, 200 and 205 are applicable to the perpetrator conduct currently masquerading as legal guardianship in Nevada."

"LVMPD, Nevada Attorney General, and the Clark County District Attorney have had these statutes and others at their disposal for decades. Together, they form a virtual arsenal of applicable criminal statutes, found in three separate chapters of the NRS, appropriately referred to as Crimes Against Public Justice, Crimes Against the Person, and Crimes Against Property."


During the years following Anderson's scuttled report, numbers of citizens have taken their complaints against Shafer to the local office of the FBI, the Nevada Attorney General, or to the Las Vegas Metro Police Abuse and Neglect Detail - to no avail. Recently, several of those who filed complaints against Shafer with LVMPD received the disappointing news that their complaints had been dropped with no Requests for Prosecution filed with the Clark County District Attorney or Nevada Attorney General. However, this may be a blessing in disguise because the lack of local criminal investigation and prosecution opens the door for the FBI and other federal agencies to step in, something federal law enforcement avoids doing unless called upon by local authorities while active local investigations are going on.

Though the LVMPD does deserve praise for requesting prosecution of the "low hanging fruit," specifically private guardians Patience Bristol, April Parks, and attorney Noel Simpson (Shafer's proteges), the police refused taking action against the mastermind who for over thirty years enabled the bilking of hundreds of millions of dollars from wealthy local seniors and disabled persons who had the misfortune of falling prey to the Clark County Family Court system and their cartel of ultra greedy for-hire court appointed "guardians" and their lawyers. Notice I mentioned "wealthy," because poor people are not afforded the luxury of court sanctioned guardianship. Some believe the arrests of Patience Bristol, April Parks, and Noel Simpson indicated they were used as fall guys to distract attention from their mentor, Shafer, and make it look as though Metro was doing their job during their three year long cursory "investigation" of the guardianship racket.
The Last Time The Feds Intervened
Interestingly, this is not the first time I have predicted federal intervention in a politically charged local scam. In the early 2000's, an adult night club was busy paying off local politicians to turn their backs and allow the continuing beating and robbing of club patrons. The club, the Crazy Horse Too, was caught paying $5,000 per month to then-LV City Councilman Michael McDonald, and throwing lavish political fund raisers for then-Clark County District Attorney candidate, David Roger. The payoffs became so blatant that the Las Vegas Weekly, a subsidiary of the Las Vegas Sun, wrote this about our then-DA:


https://lasvegasweekly.com/news/archive/2007/may/14/the-rise-and-fall-of-crazy-horse-too/
In October 2002, one week after I broke the story of the crippling of Kansas tourist Kirk Henry over a disputed $80 Crazy Horse Too bar tab, I received a call from LV Metro Police Lt. John Alamshaw. He told me that Metro had completed thorough investigations of fifteen Crazy Horse Too employees, and filed five Requests for Prosecution with outgoing DA Stewart Bell. He said it would now be up to Bell, or his successor David Roger, to prosecute the thugs who beat and robbed Henry and so many other hapless Crazy Horse Too victims. I looked forward to the long awaited justice, and the closure of the strip club before anyone else could be harmed.


David Roger, now a partner in the law firm that once represented
the Crazy Horse Too, and once employed Family Court
Guardianship Commissioner Jon Norheim
In December 2002, I interviewed outgoing DA Stewart Bell and asked him about the five LVMPD Requests for Prosecution. He told me that he found probable cause to prosecute all the Crazy Horse Too employees named in the police complaints, but since he was leaving office to become a Clark County District Court Judge, his elected successor David Roger (above) would be the one to act on the police Requests for Prosecution with Bell's full recommendation that Roger proceed with the prosecutions.

On January 6, 2003, David Roger was sworn in as Clark County District Attorney. On January 7, the new DA discarded all five Requests for Prosecution of Crazy Horse Too employees which infuriated the dedicated street cops who conducted the investigation.

During that time, Kirk Henry was in the hospital trying to recover from the beating that left him a quadriplegic, and in 2017 took his life. When I reported that Roger had dropped all the Requests for Prosecution, I received a call from Mr. Henry. He asked for my suggestion as to how to proceed legally against the Crazy Horse Too. I recommended he hire recently retired U.S. Federal Prosecutors Stan Hunterton and Donald Campbell who had opened law offices in Las Vegas. I told Henry that I believed the two attorneys still had connections with the U.S. Dept of Justice, and might be able to inspire FBI investigations and federal criminal prosecution.
Three years after DA David Roger dropped all complaints, the FBI had succeeded in getting fifteen Crazy Horse Too employees and the club's owner convicted of federal felony crimes.

Skip forward to the present day. In the case of the botched LVMPD investigations of Jared Shafer, certain police officers, not the DA, are the weak link in the chain of justice. For over three years, these officers have ignored all mention of Shafer and kept the feds at bay, possibly on purpose. Current Clark Co. DA Steve Wolfson has said he would "enthusiastically" prosecute any private guardian brought to him for prosecution by the police, but no such requests were forthcoming while certain detectives bided their time.

Even with overwhelming evidence of guardianship fraud having occurred and state Racketeering charges appropriate, it appears to many observers that a favor has been done to keep Jared Shafer out of the headlines. A favor that only a few detectives in the LVMPD Abuse and Neglect Detail could have rendered. However, if my suspicions are correct, that favor may be about to backfire!

As was the case with the Crazy Horse Too and a compromised DA dropping all Requests for Prosecution, today its not the DA or state AG who may be compromised in the case of Jared Shafer, its the police officers who the DA and AG rely upon to do their job who may have dropped the ball, and possibly stalled justice for at least three years. You see, the DA or AG cannot do the work of police and initiate investigations. Both prosecutorial agencies must rely upon local police to bring Requests for Prosecution documents before they can act.

We have one of the finest police departments in the nation, and it is out of character for me to criticize the service provided by our dedicated police officers, but in the case of Jared Shafer being brought to justice, I have no other choice.

I believe that some Metro Abuse and Neglect officers are obliged to Shafer. My suspicions are based on the comments and possible actions of at least one Abuse and Neglect Detail detective. She reportedly criticized one of Shafer's victims for firing a Legal Aid Society pro-bono attorney who had refused to sue Shafer and his cronies, and again reportedly criticized the victim for hiring a new private attorney who filed the needed lawsuits. The same detective also reportedly criticized myself and Becky Schultz, daughter of Shafer's victim Guadalupe Olvera, falsely saying we were motivated by personal grudges against Shafer. The detective reportedly claimed that I was a life long friend of Shafer, and that we had a recent falling out, therefore I was trying to settle a score by writing about him. But the best evidence I have to date that the Abuse and Neglect Detail has been compromised is that confidential information only they possess was provided to Shafer's attorney. The attorney filed court papers in October 2017 identifying LVMPD as the source of private information about a plaintiff in a lawsuit against his client Jared Shafer, and the attorney had the information entered onto the record (against the wishes of the plaintiff's attorney).

Based on the above, I have reluctantly stopped recommending that victims of guardianship abuse and exploitation file complaints with this LVMPD detail, and that victims wait for a federal investigation to begin before providing additional information. I believe information given LVMPD Abuse and Neglect detectives in complaints against Shafer has been shared with him or his lawyers thereby further damaging exploited wards and their loved ones.

That said (painfully), I am looking forward to a new chapter in this ad nauseam story, a chapter where uncompromised federal criminal investigators take over from local authorities as they did in 2003, and bring about long awaited justice.

The coast is finally clear to go after the mastermind in a federal venue. A strong legal example can now be set.


MORE INFORMATION: http://www.stevemiller4lasvegas.com/ShaferFinancialRecords2.html

Full Article & Source:
The Perfect Crime

Broker Bilked Elderly, Blind Widow

A Northport, N.Y., broker has been fined by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for bilking a blind, elderly client out of her retirement money by charging her excessive fees, FINRA announced Monday.

Hank Mark Werner sold his client an unsuitable variable annuity and then churned the account by frequently buying and selling assets to generate excessive fees for himself and losing her investment money, the FINRA complaint says.

FINRA ordered Werner to pay more than $155,000 in restitution to the widow, fined him $80,000 and ordered disgorgement of more than $10,000 representing commissions received for recommending the purchase of an unsuitable variable annuity. He also was barred from the financial industry.

Werner had been broker for the elderly widow and her husband, who also was blind, since 1994. The husband died in 2012 and that same year Werner began “plundering” her account by engaging “in such an active trading strategy that, when the high commissions he charged were taken into account, it was impossible for her to make money.”

FINRA found Werner frequently bought and sold a security within a week or two, and charged exorbitant commissions even though the blind widow’s financial circumstances required that Werner invest her assets with a minimum amount of risk. She was 77 and in ill health when Werner began churning her accounts. Werner engaged in more than 700 trades from October 2012 to December 2015, generating approximately $210,000 in commissions while the customer lost more than $175,000 as a result of his reckless trading.

Werner worked for Legend Securities Inc., which was also named in the complaint for failing to respond to FINRA and for failing to properly supervise him. Legend was censured and fined $200,000. Legend voluntarily paid $20,000 in partial restitution to the customer.

Full Article & Source:
Broker Bilked Elderly, Blind Widow

Would involuntary commitment for addiction save lives?

As the opioid crisis continues to grow, the possibility of involuntary commitment for overdose patients is gaining more attention from advocates who see it as a necessary tool in the battle to save lives. However, many experts also acknowledge that there are significant legal and practical issues that still need to be addressed before the controversial strategy could be fully effective.

Involuntary commitment for patients with mental health concerns is a well-established practice in many states across the country, but using similar laws to force people with addiction disorders—who are outside the criminal court system—into substance use treatment is a much newer concept.

Many, like Charlotte Wethington, see the such a move as a powerful option to help patients who have either overdosed, so they might get the help they need to survive. Wethington, who lost her son Casey to an overdose in 2002, helped create Casey’s Law in Kentucky in 2004. The law gives parents, friends or relatives a pathway to intervene and get a patient into involuntary treatment for substance use disorders for a period of up to 360 days.

“The bottom line is you have to be alive to recover,” she says. “So, if recovery is our ultimate goal, then we need to use all the tools that we have in our toolbox to make that happen...or at least to facilitate that happening.”

An increasing number of state officials, parents and law enforcement officers have expressed interest in creating similar laws in other states.

“It’s certainly an area of great interest,” says Sherry L. Green, chief executive officer of the National Alliance for Model State Drug Law.  “We’ve received a number of requests, including from some governors and drug policy directors, to look into the possibility of drafting language for an effective civil involuntary commitment law.”

According to Green, more than half of all states that have some process written into existing laws that would allow for civil commitment; however, in some states, healthcare professionals, parents and loved ones are not aware such laws exist.

Green says this lack of knowledge is a sign that many of the laws are not being used consistently.

“A lot of states started with involuntary commitment under mental health, and that’s fairly well fleshed out at the state levels. Those mental health commitment laws tend to be used extensively, and then when they were broadened to include substance use disorders, that’s less consistent and less used,” she says.

Getting help to those in need

Residents in the state of Florida have access to the Hal S. Marchman Alcohol and Other Drug Services Act of 1993 (Marchman Act). Under this law, someone with direct knowledge of another person’s substance misuse is able to petition the court to intervene in a two-step process.

Mark Astor, JD, founder of Drug and Alcohol Attorneys in Boca Raton, Fla., says the first step is petitioning the court to have the individual involuntarily assessed for treatment. This can be done on an ex-parte basis, meaning the subject of the filing doesn’t have to be aware of the proceedings. If the assessment is granted, the sheriff’s department collects the individual and brings him or her in for assessment on a five-day hold at a treatment facility of the petitioner’s choosing.

After that, a second petition is filed to secure involuntary treatment for the individual for a period of up to 90 days, although Astor says the treatment can be extended twice if necessary. There is also a hearing, he says, adding that the individual is entitled to contest the filing and have their own counsel.
Astor sees the law as a benefit in Florida, particularly because of the large number of people who come from out-of-state for treatment, often leaving family and friends many miles away.

“The Marchman Act at least enables the family to run to the courthouse and say, ‘Judge, my kid walked out of treatment,’ and can initiate something,” he says. “I think it’s a safety net for families.”

But while Astor notes the law’s advantages, he says it is not utilized nearly enough in Florida. There continues to be a lack of knowledge among treatment centers, parents and even emergency medical personnel about the law and its potential to initiate people into what could be life-saving treatment.

Legal and practical challenges

The involuntary commitment laws face logistical hurdles as well. Jessica Hulsey Nickel, president and chief executive officer of the Addiction Policy Forum, says communities that institute such laws need to ensure they have enough providers to serve patient needs.

“How well this works really does depend on having treatment capacity available,” she says.

Many state officials, Green says, are already struggling to find enough beds for those patients who actively want help for their addiction and are ready for treatment.

“They feel like they can’t really prioritize reserving treatment beds for people who don’t really want to be there in the first place,” she says.

There’s not only a need to increase the number of treatment centers overall, but many of those facilities would also need to be secured to ensure the safety and treatment efficacy of involuntary commitment patients.

“If you are committing someone to an unsecured facility, and because it’s involuntary and you don’t have any means of actually keeping them there, they can just walk out,” Green says.

Massachusetts, which allows for civil commitment under what’s known as section 35, solved this problem by creating several locked commitment facilities.

Full Article & Source:
Would involuntary commitment for addiction save lives?

Tonight on T. S. Radio with Marti Oakley: Abolishing Probate #6, Update on Anastasia Adams, and Ann Blake Tracey- SSRI Drugs

5:00 pm PST … 6:00 pm MST …7:00 pm CST … 7:00 pm EST

Hosted by Marti Oakley with Luanne Fleming & Robin Austin of FACEUS.org and The Hidden Truth Radio Show.

Update on Anastasia Adams: Law firm has stated its intentions to continue with their plan to medically murder Anastasia. Yolanda Bell will report on the current status of Anastasia.

Ann Blake Tracey: Ann Blake Tracy, expert on SSRI Drugs causing induced-violence and how Pharmaceuticals lead to unprecedented levels in celebrity deaths, suicides and public shootings. Approximately 200,000 die every year from prescription drug reactions, another 80,000 die from medical malpractice. Giving these drugs to children and the elderly is unconscionable for many reasons. Ann Blake Tracy, is the executive director of the International Coalition for Drug Awareness and author of Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? – Our Serotonin Nightmare, is an expert consultant in cases like Columbine in which antidepressants are involved. Ann Blake Tracy has specialized for 22 years in adverse reactions to serotonergic medications Antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Effexor, Celexa, Lexapro and newer Atypical Anti-psychotic medications Zyprexa, Abilify, Risperdal, Seroquel, etc. and has testified before the FDA, congressional subcommittee members on Prozac and other SSRI related court cases around the world. Some high- profile cases include Andrea Yates the Texas mother who drowned her 5 children, Princess Di’s death and more.

Pharmaceuticals and even food additives have directly led to unprecedented levels of public shootings, parents murdering their children, celebrity deaths, and more. Ann Blake Tracy explains how RE sleep behavioral disorders are induced by adverse reactions and withdrawals from psychotropic drugs and why some judges discourage the defense of involuntary intoxication for those whose violence was clearly caused by Big Pharma.

LISTEN live or listen to the archive later

The government failure allowing nursing home nightmares to happen

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS 12) — CBS12 Investigates uncovered reports of true horror stories happening at nursing homes across the country that by law should have been reported to law enforcement.

These cases include life threatening falls, starvation, even sexual assaults that were not reported.

An early alert from the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows 1-in-4 abuse cases in nursing facilities across the nation and are going unreported.

The OIG called the procedures currently in place, “inadequate”.

Their review, which is still ongoing, found 134 cases of potential abuse at nursing homes that was not reported to police.

80 percent of those cases involved alleged or suspected rape or sexual abuse.

Six cases are now being investigated in Florida.

"We found that CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services didn't have adequate controls in place to detect these potential instances of abuse or neglect," said Curtis Roy, Assistant Regional Inspector General for Audit Services, OIG.

Roy said the federal agency is required to identify cases of neglect - and they didn't.

"CMS acknowledged that that they are not doing the data match to identify cases of neglect,” added Roy. “They also acknowledged that they have not identified any instances of nursing home staff not reporting cases as required."

The audit found 38 cases that were so bad, by law the nursing homes were required to contact local law enforcement. But, they didn't do it.

"They need to have accountability, or they won't be responsible at all," said Roy.

Because of the results of this review, now the OIG is forcing their hand.

CMS must initiate protocols to adhere to a long-standing federal statute that requires nursing homes to report abuse cases to police and other state agencies immediately or risk fines of up to $300,000.

$1.77 MILLION LAWSUIT

"They don't care about those fines,” explained attorney Joe Landy. “It is business as usual. It is cheaper to pay those fines to keep these facilities understaffed with people that are not properly trained while they make record setting profits."

Landy represented Patricia Dahmer who lost her husband, George after his stay at nursing home.

"I cried every night that I walked out of that place," explained Dahmer.

"Within 60 days, he couldn't walk,” explained Dahmer. “He couldn't talk. He couldn't feed himself. In the matter of 60 days, he was lifeless."

Dahmer took him to the hospital, but said it was too late.

"They were going to put a feeding tube in so he could eat, and they undid his feet, and we found out he was stage 4 decubitus ulcers,” said Dahmer. “This was all uncalled for. They kept it all a secret."

In 2010, Dahmer won a $1.77 Million civil lawsuit against the nursing home.

Her attorney, Joe Landy said the facility valued making money over their patients’ care.

"It exposed what is a long-standing problem in Florida,” said Landy. “It exposed a nursing home that was making a huge amount of money with no accountability whatsoever."

Full Article & Source:
The government failure allowing nursing home nightmares to happen