SOUTHPORT - A former patient of a Southport convalescent home
is accused of sexually assaulting a 75-year-old woman also living at the
facility, police say.
Elias Saldana, 57, was arrested and is
facing multiple charges including second degree sexual assault, second
degree reckless endangerment, fourth degree sexual assault, and second
degree burglary.
Saldana is accused of sneaking into the
75-year-old non-verbal woman's room at Regal Care of Southport and
sexually assaulting her.
Police say staff members reported that Saldana was observed exiting the
woman's room. Upon further inspection of the patient, an employee
discovered the woman's adult diaper had been opened.
Police say family members of the woman reported multiple previous
incidents where Saldana had accessed the room specifically against the
family's wishes. Police say staff at the home had also put a safety plan
in place to prevent Saldana from entering the woman's room.
Police
say Saldana has a long criminal history, and numerous convictions out
of New York including felony DWI, criminal impersonation, criminal
trespass and more.
They say Saldana was a patient at the facility
since July 2017 and had a history of alcohol abuse. Saldana was
undergoing physical therapy after being hit by a car.
Police say Regal Care has a policy where male patients are not permitted to enter female patients' rooms.
However,
Saldana told detectives he would often go into the victim's room to
kiss her on the head and face but denied inappropriately touching her.
Regal Care of Southport declined to comment on the incident.
Saldana is being held on a $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on Tuesday.
It’s estimated that elder abuse goes
unreported in as many as 85 percent of cases, and financial exploitation
of elder adults may go unreported in as many as 95 percent of cases.
But state enforcement initiatives are bringing greater attention to the
problem.
Several
organized schemes target older adults in our state. Conmen will attend
funerals and glean information from obituaries to generate false reports
of debt. Corrupt financial advisers may routinely encourage the
purchase of specific annuities that generate considerable commissions
for the adviser, preying on only their elderly clientele. Charitable
giving, telemarketing and internet fraud schemes abound.
The
main perpetrators of financial abuse against the elderly are relatives
of the elderly person or someone they hold in their confidence. While
these cases are usually isolated to one victim, crimes perpetuated by
professionals may escalate into patterns of deceit and exploitation.
Predators
may gain a victim’s confidence by feigning family connections as
someone they can trust. They prey on older people who are lonely,
isolated, uninformed, disabled, trusting or grieving. A predator will
look for a victim who is unlikely to become aware of the crime, does not
have the health or resources to report the crime, or is someone they
can shame and control.
In the last year alone,
insurance agents, financial advisers, caretakers and health
professionals were all convicted in fraud schemes against their elderly
clients in our state. Several received felony convictions, owing
restitution to the victim. However, many more victims may have been left
uncompensated when they weren’t aware of the deceit.
As
recommended by the National Association of Attorneys General, Michigan
took direct steps over the last eight years to identify and prosecute
elder abuse.
In May 2018, Michigan Attorney General
Bill Schuette expanded the attorney general’s Criminal Division,
creating a separate division to investigate and prosecute financial
crimes.
Financial abuse of an elder adult is
currently prosecuted under the Michigan penal code and rises to the
level of a felony when it can be proven that more than $1,000 was
obtained fraudulently.
I have introduced Senate
Bill 56, which amends the racketeering statute. The bill will make
investigations of elder financial racketeering possible when a financial
scam against vulnerable adults is perpetrated by an organized group or
over a period of time.
SB 56 will help to further educate and prevent financial crimes against the elderly.
State Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, represents Michigan's 15th District.
At Sunrise Manor Nursing Home in Hodgenville, a frail woman spent a
night in 2015 sitting precariously on her bathroom toilet, shouting
uselessly for help, shivering with cold, because nobody remembered to
return and assist her to bed. The nurse’s aide for that unit later told
state inspectors that she had been overwhelmed trying to monitor 26
residents during the graveyard shift.
At Stonecreek Health and Rehabilitation in
Paducah that same year, harried nursing staff dealt with a resident
screaming about excruciating pain from a neglected urinary catheter — he
had an infection that soon would require emergency hospitalization — by
removing his speaking valve, a plastic prosthesis in his throat, to
render him mute.
At Woodcrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
in Elsemere this year, a resident told state inspectors that he was
ordered to empty his bowels in bed when nobody on staff was available to
take him to the bathroom. The resident cried and said this was
disgusting. A nurse’s aide who often cared for him confirmed this
practice to inspectors, adding that “the facility was short-staffed all
the time.”
These stories and many others taken from state
inspections of Kentucky nursing homes over the last three years show a
pattern — vulnerable people frequently are at risk because their
caregivers are stretched too thin to be effective.
It’s a big reason why 43 percent of Kentucky’s
284 nursing homes this year were rated as “below average” or “much below
average” by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
because of serious problems discovered with the quality of care they
provide their roughly 12,500 residents, according to a Herald-Leader
analysis of federal data.
That’s among the worst collective ratings for nursing homes in the country.
The state’s nursing home lobby, while complaining about what it called a “gotcha” regulatory system, told lawmakers at a 2015 committee hearing
that Kentucky’s facilities received six times as many “immediate
jeopardy” deficiencies from inspectors as the national average and fines
that were six times larger than the national average.
Fines are levied — and lawsuits are filed — over
bedsores, infections, bone-breaking falls, choking, medication errors,
untreated pain and neglect, as residents are left to lie in their own
feces and urine for hours, according to the newspaper’s review.
“I don’t think the public really understands
what goes on in some of these places. Reading the inspection reports,
seeing what the citations are for, it opens your eyes,” said Wanda
Delaplane, a nursing home reform advocate who has testified to
lawmakers.
Delaplane’s 84-year-old father suffered an
agonizing death at a Frankfort nursing home in 2002 from what she
described as a lack of medical attention for an impacted bowel. Staff
was nowhere to be found while he cried out for someone to help him, she
said. A jury awarded her family $20 million in damages.
However, lawmakers won’t touch the underlying
problem: There typically aren’t enough nurses and nurse’s aides on duty
at nursing homes to properly care for residents. Some inspection reports
describe a solitary direct-care employee rushing up and down hallways
to assist so many elderly and ailing residents that injuries, even
deaths, are almost inevitable.
“It’s the staffing,” said Sherry Culp, executive director of the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass
in Lexington. Culp’s nonprofit agency visits nursing homes in Central
Kentucky to monitor living conditions and inform residents of their
legal rights.
“A lot of the problems we work on, it all comes
down to the fact that either there isn’t sufficient staff on hand to
care for people or else they’re not being adequately trained, or both.
Over and over and over we see this,” Culp said. “If you’ve got one
nurse’s aide and 40 residents, there’s no ability to do any basic care,
much less to develop any sort of a relationship with people.”
Ombudsmen
Sue Landis, from left, Sherry Culp, and Denise Wells, all of Lexington,
visited with patients Tuesday at Brookdale Senior Living in Lexington.
Alex Slitz aslitz@herald-leader.com
The federal government recommends an “expected
staffing” level at nursing homes that would allow a resident every day
to get more than one hour of care from registered nurses and two hours
and 45 minutes of care from nurse’s aides.
Kentucky nursing homes, on average, fall short
of that goal, reporting 43 minutes of daily care from registered nurses
and two hours and 19 minutes from nurse’s aides, according to the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which collects staffing and
resident population data from the facilities.
The state’s many substandard nursing homes have
even worse numbers. At Hazard Health & Rehabilitation Center in
Perry County, for instance, with $45,861 in fines accumulated from
deficiencies over the last three years, residents can only count on 15
minutes daily with a registered nurse on average, CMS reports. (In a
recent interview, facility administrator Charlotte Thornsberry said she
disputed that figure, but she declined repeated requests to provide a
sum that she believes is more accurate.)
Melinda Henshaw, a nurse who has worked as a
unit manager in Western Kentucky nursing homes, said she quit because
the conditions she witnessed upset her.
“The nurses on the floor are stressed,” Henshaw
said. “They are missing so many of the changes in residents — and they
know it. It’s not unusual for one nurse to have 30 residents. She’s
gonna miss it when things start going bad. She does not have the time to
notice everything she needs to and answer the phones and fill out the
paperwork she’s supposed to. No one could do all that.”
Henshaw said her own mother was in a Kentucky
nursing home and went eight hours on the overnight shift without anyone
checking on her because the facility was short-staffed.
“People are going without baths. People are
going without following their care plans,” Henshaw said. “I had one
resident who was supposed to be up and about four hours a day so he
could regain his strength. That wasn’t happening because there wasn’t
enough staff to help him.” (Click to Continue)
Jeremia Hodge died April 1, 2018, just hours after arriving to the Mt.
Carmel ER and then being admitted to the ICU. (Courtesy: Hodge family)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Four adult sons
solemnly sat with their lawyer Monday afternoon, recounting their final
moments with their mother before they say a doctor gave her a lethal
dose of fentanyl just four hours after they took her to the emergency
room.
“We know about construction, not medicine,” the Hodge brothers said.
So
the men say when they were told their mother Sue Hodge was “brain dead”
after being admitted to the Intensive Care Unit on April 1st 2018, they
had a difficult decision to make. The family had just wrapped up a
family picnic at a park on Easter Sunday only to find themselves in the
middle of a nightmare.
“We thought she just had a cold and that
she was just, we thought she would be in the hospital for some time and
would come out of it,” said Jacob Hodge.
He said Dr. Husel recommended taking Sue off life support because “there was nothing else to be done for her.”
“We
all had a meeting together and decided to unplug her because that is,
he said, that is the best, the best for her. That she would be out of
pain and suffering if we just went ahead and did it,” Robert said.
Lawyer
David Shroyer said Sue Hodge was given 800 micrograms of Fentanyl and
another drug Versed. Shroyer said 100 micrograms would be a “comfort”
dose.
“You cannot take a position that I am going to administer
drugs that hastens death to put someone out of their pain. That is an
act of euthanasia, that is illegal in Ohio. That’s murder,” Shroyer
said.
The Hodges talked about how difficult it is coming forward
to speak out about the case. Robert Hodge said his mother was his best
friend. “I talked to my mom every day. I drove cross country talked to
her for hours. I am disappointed in the medical field. Really just upset
and angry.”
Steven Hodge said it’s rough on them as the
investigation continues. “It was like opening the wound all over again.
We gotta live with this again and share it with the public.”
“Why?
Why would you do this to people? You are supposed to be trusted,”
Steven said about Dr. Husel. “We trusted the doctor’s word. You are in
the hospital that is what you do. You trust your doctor. In this case,
it was wrong.”
Husel has been fired by Mt. Carmel and his medical
license has been yanked. Fourteen nurses and six pharmacists are on
administrative leave as the probe continues. “I can’t even comprehend
any of this would happen and why there is not situations to stop
something like this,” said Jacob Hodge.
“It isn’t the patients
who are bankrupting Medicare….its the service providers on all levels.
If the states and insurance companies need to “recapture” their
expenses…why not start with those who are gaming the system?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
According to the US Census Bureau, annual home ownership rates between 1982 and 2017
shows the population of those 65 or older represented just over 80% of
all homes owned. This statistic has made the elderly prime targets for
estate theft by predatory guardians and attorneys, and now under
Medicare Advantage, the state/insurance companies can attack the estate
because for some reason they have to be able to recapture the costs of
long term care that you financed to begin with.
Now, ask yourself why, after investing in Social Security and
Medicare over your lifetime, and….having to pay in most cases exorbitant
premiums each and every month once you retire, along with co-pays,
deductibles and a host of non-covered services, what you could possibly
owe to the state or the insurance company?
But under Medicare Advantage, the combining of Medicare and Medicaid,
after you having invested a portion of your earnings over your working
lifetime, paid premiums, co-pays, deductibles and paid taxes to support
these healthcare programs, these “stakeholders”, the [state/insurance
company] must recapture the costs associated with long term care you
might have needed, once you pass away.
Now think about this. You worked all your life and invested in Social
Security and Medicare. You paid income tax every year which helped pay
for medical care for the poor called Medicaid. You bought your home and
have been assessed property taxes every year just for doing so, and
continue to pay property taxes while you remain there, and long after
the mortgage has been paid off. If you hadn’t paid those property taxes
they would have already taken your property from you!
Currently, the bills in each state covering this “recapture”,
prohibit the state from seizing property if there is a surviving spouse
living in or on the property. But once the surviving spouse dies or are
themselves put into long term care, the state/insurance company can
attack the estate in order to recover those costs. Even if there is
joint tenancy or co-ownership of property by those who are not otherwise
responsible for, or legally bound to the deceased, the state/insurance
company has first rights to the assets. And this recapture takes place
before any inheritance can be received by the beneficiaries of the
estate. Of course there is no intention of anything to remain for heirs.
Medicare Advantage is a prime example of how to deal with a sector of
the public that government views as a waste population and desperately
desires to be rid of. The elderly. With the federal government now owing
Social Security an estimated 3 trillion dollars in stolen surplus funds
that they never had any intention of repaying, and the medical industry
overall defrauding Medicare of an estimated 30-60 billion dollars each
year (this by the government’s own estimates) Medicare Advantage is
poised to be the coup de gras. By attaching Medicaid to Medicare under
this ubiquitous plan, if you are in long term care or any facility like
hospice, the state has the right to attach your estate, take your home
and any other assets you might have in order to “recapture” those costs
once you die.
Of course these new “advantage” policies include vision, dental,
hearing and other items not normally covered by Medicare. But it seems
to me, if an effort to stop the massive fraud taking place by the
medical industry with regards to Medicare were to be addressed with as
much vigor as they apply to finding ways to cut benefits, limit services
and deny coverage, we could easily pay for any and all services for the
elderly with a few billion annually to spare.
The states routinely request bids from insurance companies to offer
these policies. The state does not of itself sell insurance. It
negotiates contracts with insurance companies. It is the insurance
company that sells the insurance the state is promoting. Several plans
offered by several insurance companies at varying rates of cost and
coverage are all sponsored by the state via corporate contracts. The
state is itself the top stakeholder in the negotiations and they are
negotiating to see who will benefit most from contracting against you,
the public, for profit.
The question you need to be asking is: Which “stakeholder” is
actually going to be entitled to recapture the costs?” Is it the state?
Or the insurance company? Or both?
If there is one term that has come to signify corruption, collusion,
and an all out assault on the public in any area of government, it is
has to be the term “stakeholder’s”. What this term signifies are those
entities, organizations, corporations and others who have a vested
financial interest in the issue at hand and who will enjoy increased
profits even at the cost of human rights, life or liberty. These
precious “stakeholders” write the bills, send swarms of lobbyists into
the halls of congress and contribute handsomely to the campaign coffers
of politicians who willingly sell their votes in lieu of those
contributions. And even when commenting is requested from the public,
unless the comments are in line with the proposed plan they are
summarily ignored and/or disposed of. They don’t care what you think or
want anyway. YOU are the commodity they are negotiating over.
The public is not a stakeholder…only a recipient and financier
Both state and federal legislators routinely vote to pass bills they
have neither read, nor understand and obviously do not care how
adversely it may affect the public at large. A reading of any bill
dealing with health, insurance, prescription drugs or other topics makes
it readily apparent that the sponsor or supposed author of the bill
could not have possibly written the bill themselves, or had any part in
it. They don’t have that kind of technical knowledge nor the interest in
acquiring it. The bills are written by the corporations who will
benefit from it. The bills are presented once the corporations have paid
the financing fees, also known as campaign contributions.
Medicare Fraud by Providers is Massive!
It isn’t the patients who are bankrupting Medicare….its the service
providers on all levels. If the states and insurance companies need to
“recapture” their expenses…why not start with those who are gaming the
system?
“Adding in the over-payments for standard Medicare programs, the
tally for last year approaches $60 billion — which is almost twice as
much as the National Institutes of Health spends on medical research each year.” (end quote)
“Luckily, there is another defense
against Medicare fraud: whistle-blower lawsuits. Under the federal
government’s false claims statute, any insider can sue a company that’s
providing fraudulent services, on the government’s behalf. If the
whistle-blower lawyers are successful, the plaintiffs collect 15 to 30
percent of the settlement as a bounty. In 2014 there were 469 of these
health care fraud settlements—many involving huge pharmaceutical
corporations and hospital networks—resulting in $2.2 billion in fines.”
(end quote)
There are a few common types of Medicare fraud that include:
Identity Theft: When a medical professional steals patient information to use to over-bill Medicare.
Equipment Substitution: An order for medical equipment may
be intercepted, with Medicare being billed for newer or more expensive
equipment and the patient being provided with cheap or used equipment.
Phantom Billing: A doctor’s office may bill for services never performed.
Upcoding: A medical provider may submit bills to Medicare for a more expensive service than the one actually performed.
Unnecessary Procedures: A doctor may perform procedures that are not medically necessary in order to bill Medicare for the cost.
Generic Drugs: Medicare is often billed for name brand medications when generic drugs were actually provided to the patient.
And why would an insurance company be entitled to your assets after
your death after selling you a policy guaranteeing medical coverage if
premiums were paid on your behalf by anyone, including the state? Isn’t
that the purpose of insurance? The pooling of resources to cover these
costs with a built in profit margin. This is fraud! And it is also the
legalized theft of property bought and paid for by those “stakeholders”
our politicians pander to.
CMS is giving unfair competitive advantage to private Medicare Advantage plans
What is really offensive is that they
are taking our tax dollars and giving them to the private insurers so
that they can increase benefits and reduce cost sharing for those
enrolled in the private plans while they are denying those same benefits
and reduced premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, and stop loss coverage
for those of us enrolled in the traditional Medicare program. That is
patently unfair. If they were honest about wanting true competition
between the private plans and the traditional public program they would
fund them at the same risk-adjusted level. Instead they are starving the
traditional program – a process that will accelerate – while they are
enriching the private insurers, though only temporarily until the
traditional program is wiped out (then premium support).
Ryan Schaffer, left, appeared in court in Ogden with his lawyer Paul Remy on Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. BENJAMIN ZACK/STANDARD-EXAMINER
OGDEN — A Roy-based attorney had his license to practice law
suspended by an Ogden judge in December after a number of complaints
were filed against him in past years, according to court records.
Paul Remy,
who was licensed to practice law in Utah and Idaho, was disbarred for
three years after a judge ruled that Remy had violated state rules for
lawyers multiple times since 2011. The findings in the case were entered
into court records on Dec. 19, 2018.
Court documents illustrate
six cases where Remy, who has been licensed with the Utah State Bar
since 2003, reportedly failed his clients. The complaint against Remy
outlines a number of rules he broke while being paid by his clients,
including failing to timely file court documents, failing to respond to
his clients’ concerns, and collecting fees for meets he did not attend,
among other complaints.
In
one case, Remy represented a woman in a guardianship matter in 2014 and
paid him as a retainer for his services. In January 2015, the court
notified Remy that the case would be dismissed unless he filed a
response. Remy filed a motion to extend the deadline, however, he did
not file any response to the original motion. The case was later
dismissed due to inactivity, and he failed to notify the woman that her
case was dismissed.
Remy later claimed that he was relying on a
paralegal to work on the woman’s case, but later learned the paralegal
had not done the work.
In another case named in the report, a
woman paid Remy to be on retainer for a bankruptcy matter in 2016. The
two met for an initial consultation, but she did not hear back from Remy
for over three months. She believed that Remy was still working on her
case, but she was unable to meet with him and Remy did not return her
phone calls in that time, the complaint says.
Remy’s assistant
told the woman to stop by his office to sign some forms and release
letters, and required that she pay hundreds for the office visit and
forms. No bankruptcy forms were filed, and no work was done to stop
creditor harassment, the woman said.
The office later charged her
for an office visit that was cancelled. She requested a full refund from
Remy’s office and only received part of the money back, the complaint
says. By the time she contacted the state bar’s Office of Professional
Conduct weeks later, Remy’s office had not sent the woman’s file back to
her.
Two
other cases would also culminate in complaints filed to the OPC. Those
complaints would cause the office to send Remy NOICs, or a Notice of
Informal Complaint, to which Remy was instructed to respond within a
certain amount of time. In both of those cases, Remy failed to respond
to the informal complaints, leading to a formal complaint being filed on
Jan. 17, 2018.
During a Nov. 13, 2018 hearing to decide what
Remy’s sanctions could be, he did not appear. Judge Mark DeCaria ruled
at the hearing that Remy’s license be suspended for three years. A
formal letter spelling out the details of Remy’s shortcomings as an
attorney and his suspension was filed on Dec. 19, 2018.
Remy was
also an accredited attorney in Idaho since 2001, but according to the
Idaho State Bar, his license is currently inactive. A public reprimand was filed against
Remy in 2017 by the Idaho State Bar, which reported that he took
several-month gaps to respond to a civil suit on behalf of his client.
The case was later dismissed due to inactivity. Remy told investigators
that he relied on a paralegal to do the work in the case, and discovered
after she was terminated that she had not done the work.
The
public reprimand did not limit Remy’s ability to practice in Idaho, but
as of January, his Idaho Bar status is listed as inactive.
MEDIA COURTHOUSE — A Springfield woman has been charged with stealing
more than $337,000 from her 78-year-old mother, according to the
Delaware County District Attorney’s Office.
Bernadette
Branson-Lawler, 52, of the first block of Meetinghouse Lane, allegedly
stole $337,715 from her mother over a period of nearly seven years.
The
defendant used the stolen money to pay for various personal expenses
such as her interior design business, gym membership, and cell phone, in
addition to writing herself personal checks, according to a prepared
release.
“Our
older residents deserve to fully enjoy their well-earned retirement
without the fear of being victimized,” District Attorney Katayoun M.
Copeland stated in the release. “In this case, Bernadette Branson-Lawler
stole that liberty from her own mother, who is not able to speak for
herself, betraying the trust of the entire family, and stealing her
mother’s life savings for her own leisure and selfish pursuits.”
Charges
filed against Branson-Lawler include theft by unlawful taking, theft by
deception and false impression, and receiving stolen property, all
second-degree felony offenses. Her arrest followed an investigation by
Detective Sergeant Anthony Ruggieri of the Delaware County District
Attorney’s Office Criminal Investigation Division Senior Exploitation
Unit.
According to Copeland, in September 2017, an investigation
was launched after information was received about the possible financial
exploitation of a 78-year woman residing at an assisted living facility
located in Delaware County where the victim lives in a secure unit for
individuals with dementia. She is non-verbal, and is predeceased by her
husband, who died in August of 2009.
Following the death of her
husband, the victim appointed her daughter, Bernadette Branson-Lawler,
as her power of attorney. Branson-Lawler remained as agent for the
victim until July 2013 when she petitioned the Orphan's Court of
Delaware County to become guardian for her mother due to her diminished
mental capacity and other health related issues. Branson-Lawler was
appointed plenary guardian by the court until she was removed by the
Orphan's Court in October 2017 and replaced by a court-appointed
attorney.
In January 2013, Brandon-Lawler sold her mother’s house
in Springfield for $269,000. After the sale of the victim’s home,
Branson-Lawler moved her mother to an assisted living facility. In July
2017, Branson-Lawler failed to file the annual guardian's inventory and
the annual reports of the person and the estate, as required by the
Delaware County Orphan’s Court. After failing to submit the required
guardian paperwork and not appearing for court, a court-appointed
attorney reviewed all of the victim’s financial records and discovered
suspicious withdrawals made by Brandon-Lawler. When questioned,
Branson-Lawler admitted that she withdrew money from her mother’s
accounts for personal expenses, such as her interior design business,
her electric and insurance bills and gym membership. She also indicated
she wrote herself checks, according to the release.
After
receiving this information, Branson-Lawler was removed by court order as
victim’s guardian and a criminal investigation into the fraud was
launched by Ruggieri. Through the course of the investigation and a
forensic analysis of financial records, it was determined that
Branson-Lawler stole a total of $337,715.61 from the victim, from
January 2011 to October 2017.
“We consider crimes against seniors
especially heinous and we will continue to prosecute those who commit
these terrible crimes to the fullest extent of the law,” Copeland
states. “I would like to CID Detective Sgt. Anthony Ruggieri for his
work on this complicated and disheartening case, and our Senior
Exploitation Unit in their efforts to diligently to protect our older
residents and bring justice for individuals and their families.”
Branson-Lawler was preliminarily arraigned by Magisterial District
Judge Wendy B. Roberts on Jan. 25. Bail was set at $10,000 unsecured.
Branson-Lawler faces a preliminary hearing on Feb. 5.
It was not immediately known if she had retained an attorney.
Assistant District Attorney and Chief of the Senior Exploitation Unit Erica Parham will be prosecuting the case.
If
you suspect a senior resident is being financially victimized, please
contact the Senior Exploitation Unit at 610-891-5249 or email seniorcrimes@co.delaware.pa.us.
Due to suspicions from his family, 89- year-old World War II veteran
James Dempsey’s room at a Georgia nursing home was fixed with a camera.
And it is only because of that camera that justice will now be done. You
see, as he lay dying and asking for help, his nurses ignored him and
laughed while failing to take critical measures that could have
prevented his death.1
Mable Turman, a certified nurse assistant, is facing charges of
“neglect to an elder person,” former licensed practical nurse (LPN)
Wanda Nuckles is facing a charge of “depriving an elder person of
essential services,” and former LPN Loyce Pickquet Agyeman is facing
charges of both neglect and felony murder.
“These charges come nearly four years after the 2014 incident in which
the nurses ignored Dempsey as he cried out for help, saying that he
couldn’t breathe. Eventually, he became unresponsive, at which point the
nurses failed to perform CPR immediately and didn’t call 911 until 57
minutes after he became unresponsive, according to 11Alive. In the
meantime, Nuckles even started laughing while trying to start up an
oxygen machine.” 2
It goes without saying that this type of behavior is utterly unacceptable and disgusting.
“The nursing home wasn’t made aware of the video that
captured these events until 2015, and the nurses weren’t fired until an
additional ten months after that. Finally, the video only became public
after 11Alive got approval from a judge to release it this past November
as part of a lawsuit filed by Dempsey’s family.
The lawsuit and the 11Alive investigation then prompted local
authorities to re-open the case, leading to the new indictments for the
three nurses. Arrest warrants have since been issued for all three as
well, although no trial date has yet been set.”3
We are grateful for the work of the 11Alive investigation as we are sure his family is as well.
Our hearts go out to them now and hope that they can finally have a
bit of closure. We will update this story once we have additional
information.
SOURCE:
Emmy-winning actor Tim Conway, who underwent brain surgery in
September, is bedridden and cannot speak, according to conclusions
reached by his doctor in court papers obtained Monday.
Dr. Maurice Zagha said he evaluated the 85-year-old Conway on Jan. 5.
His findings were outlined in court papers filed in Los Angeles
Superior Court by attorneys for Conway’s wife, Charlene. She opposes an
effort by her stepdaughter, Kelly, to be named Conway’s conservator.
Kelly Conway maintains her father has dementia.
Charlene Conway says her husband does not need to be placed under a
conservatorship, but that if a judge decides he needs such protection,
she should be the person selected as conservator.
According to Zagha, Conway understands what people are saying to him,
but is unable to reply. He said the verbal impediment makes it hard for
him to determine Conway’s overall mental capacity, but that over time
he has been able to read the actor’s facial expressions.
Zagha says Conway usually shows his emotions only when someone like his daughter visits.
In a separate report filed Jan. 22, Conway’s court-appointed
attorney, Michael Harris, says a hearing scheduled in December on the
conservatorship issue was delayed until Feb. 5 so that the two opposing
sides could try and agree on who would be the best conservator and how
to accommodate the person not selected.
Harris
said he believes Charlene Conway would be the best choice for a
conservator, but that if she is chosen, Kelly Conway should be notified
about important issues concerning her father, including when he is
uprooted from one facility to another.
Harris said Conway has been moved many times to different places for
his care. He said in a previous report filed in December that Conway has
been transferred seven times in 12 weeks between rehabilitation centers
and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
On Sept. 14, Judge Robert Wada rejected Kelly Conway’s petition for a
temporary conservatorship, finding that her concerns about her
stepmother’s medical decisions regarding her father were moot at the
time because he was hospitalized Sept. 3 and underwent brain surgery.
Conway was a cast member on the 1961-62 ABC variety series, “The
Steve Allen Show” before landing the role of Ensign Charles Beaumont
Parker on the 1962-66 ABC comedy “McHale’s Navy.” In the 1970s, he
became a cast member on “The Carol Burnett Show.”
Conway also starred as the title character in the “Dorf” comedy films
and voiced the character of Barnacle Boy in the animated series
“SpongeBob SquarePants.”
Another year, another report on how too
many elder-care facilities and oversight agencies in Pennsylvania are
failing in their legal and moral duty to care for the state’s most
vulnerable residents.
This month the failing grade comes from the state Inspector General’s office,
which, according to the Associated Press, found that county-level
agencies are doing a poor job of investigating elder-abuse complaints.
So
now we have yet another report -- the Inspector General’s -- followed
by more assurances of improvement, including from the Wolf
administration (which hasn’t released the Inspector General’s full
report).
Who believes that sustained improvement
will happen? Likely not a person who’s had a family member in a nursing
home and struggled with the maddeningly frustrating process of
addressing even simple issues of comfort and dignity.
Something
more concrete has been proposed, however. Admittedly it would be a baby
step, and one that will meet self-interested opposition. But it’s
valuable nonetheless.
It
seems only logical that they would, but currently nursing homes and
assisted living facilities contact coroners only for deaths from
suspected homicide, suicide or accidents, not those deemed to be the
result of natural disease processes.
The nursing
home industry points out that the state already requires licensed
medical personnel to conduct an examination when a resident dies.
Deferring to such “internal” judgment, however, provides a lot of gray
area for a negligent nursing home to protect itself from the bother of
independent review or the consequences of errors.
Under
Grim’s proposal, nursing homes and assisted living facilities would be
required to call their local coroner regardless of the cause of death.
The coroner would ask a series of questions, such as how the patient
died, their medical history and whether they experienced any trauma.
Further, the coroner could choose to examine the body, review medical
records and conduct a full investigation.
As part of the Q&A, a coroner should talk independently with family members also.
This still would leave too much control in the hands of not-disinterested facility managers but as we said it’s a baby step.
Grim’s proposal needs both the strong endorsement
of the Pennsylvania Coroners Association and tireless legislative
champions. This should not be a political risky proposal to get behind.
Many
nursing home residents, unless they have extremely knowledgeable,
persistent and available families, tend to be voiceless, with little
capacity or opportunity (and sometimes little perceived credibility) to
advocate for themselves.
Coroners, though, work
for the public, and reviewing and investigating nursing home deaths is
another important way for them to represent the public’s interests.
Who
could object? While not specifically opposing Grim’s proposal, Adam
Marles, president and CEO of Leading Age PA, which represents non-profit
nursing homes, told PennLive, “We focus on supporting that family
[whose loved one has died] and meeting their needs. Adding another layer
of review could increase trauma for families.”
But
what families of nursing home residents want most is to know that their
loved ones are getting appropriate care and are treated with respect
and compassion. And we suspect most would gladly trade a final layer of
red tape for the indisputable assurance that their loved one didn’t die
from lack of attention or in needless pain.
TUCSON, Arizona, January 28, 2019 (LifeSiteNews)
– Nutrition and hydration have been restored to a 32-year-old man in a
coma in an Arizona Catholic hospital after his mom posted heartbreaking
videos on social media last week saying that doctors were slowly
starving her son to death.
David Ruiz, a father of three, suffered a stroke and subsequent brain
injury that left him in a coma on December 31. Doctors declared David
brain dead about two weeks ago, despite him twitching, raising his toes,
and moving his fingers when his mother and other family members talked
to him.
His mother, Patricia “Tricia” Adames, 51, made an emotional appeal on Facebook last week to anyone who could help save her son.
“As you can see, his body is emaciating. His body is literally
deteriorating, it’s disappearing before us because he is being denied
nutrition. He is starving in a hospital,” she said in her Jan. 24 video
while panning to her son lying in a hospital bed hooked up to tubes and
monitors.
“I am coming to you...asking, ‘please help me get my son the
treatment that he needs, nutrition and hydration.' He’s being starved at
this very moment.”
Adames said that she believes that if the heart is beating, “there is life.”
“He’s starving in our country. How can that be okay? How is that
humanity? No one in this country should ever be denied food and water,”
she said.
Adames told LifeSiteNews that David had not been receiving nutrition
since January 9 and that her son was receiving a fraction of the
hydration he needed for survival.
Life Legal Defense Foundation heard of the case and organized a news
conference yesterday at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tucson where David is
being hospitalized.
"Nutrition and hydration are basic human rights. It is outrageous
that a hospital would deny these most basic provisions to a disabled
patient. Ms. Adames is not looking for the hospital to keep her son
indefinitely. She is only asking that they give David the nutrition and
hydration he needs in order to be transferred to a facility that can
provide appropriate care," stated Life Legal Defense Foundation’s
Alexandra Snyder, Esq.
“This is wrong to do to people. And we must not go down this road,” said Beck on his show.
It appears that the hospital caved today to outside pressure and restored David’s food and water.
“I am so happy. I am so grateful to God. Hallelujah for this
miracle,” said Adames to LifeSiteNews after news came that her son would
receive food and water.
“I choose to believe, and I am very very grateful. The hospital didn't have to keep him on.”
“So, I have to say I am so grateful to everyone who has helped and
prayed. Glory to God. It's a long road, but through prayer and learning
and understanding we can do it. Hopefully, they're going to keep their
end of the agreement and continue helping me get David to a place of
long-term care and get him stable so he can recover,” she said.
Right to life activist Bobby Schindler also confirmed to LifeSiteNews
that hydration and nourishment were being restored to David by the
hospital.
In a phone call, Bobby Schindler of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope
Network told LifeSiteNews that it’s critical for the hospital to treat
David.
“Right now, even if we were able to find a facility that would accept
him he has been without nourishment and little to no hydration for
almost three weeks now. He’s medically fragile and I don’t know if we’re
able to transfer him,” he said.
Schindler told LifeSiteNews that he cannot understand why “there was
such a rush to stop treatment,” adding that the family is now fighting
for time to “see if we can get this kid treated and to have the
opportunity to improve.”
Adames is seeking to raise funds
necessary for air transport to hospitals in other parts of the country
that can accept David as a patient. She calculated that the
transportation would cost at least $25,000. A GoFundMe page has been established to receive donations.
St. Joseph’s Hospital
is part of the Carondelet Health system and traces its origins to the
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, who came to Tucson in the 1870s. In
2015, the Texas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. assumed majority ownership
of the Carondelet Health Network. The Catholic hospital chain then went
from nonprofit to for-profit. Local media reported at the time
that the "joint venture will maintain Carondelet’s Roman Catholic
heritage and identity through an agreement with the Diocese of Tucson."
Regarding the provision of life support to patients, according to the National Catholic Bioethics Center,
“The Catholic Church teaches that life is an intrinsic good. Even when a
person is afflicted with illness, that value remains intact. In fact,
the sick and the elderly deserve our special care.” It goes on to say,
“The default position for the care of those who are suffering from
diminished consciousness and have not begun the death process, as well
as for those at the end of life, should be in favor of providing food
and water even by artificial means. If the provision of food and water
proves to be useless (if they are not being assimilated by the body) or
if it causes serious complications (such as aspiration pneumonia or
infections), it can be stopped.”
The bioethics center
notes that “unfortunately” the removal of nutrition and hydration from
incapacitated patients is “fairly common.” It says: “Whenever a
recommendation is made to withhold food and water, one should ask, ‘What
will be the cause of death?’ If the answer is dehydration or
starvation, and assisted nutrition and hydration can be easily supplied
and assimilated, then not supplying them is a form of euthanasia.
Unconsciousness is not a fatal disease. No one dies from
unconsciousness.”
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
“Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting
an end to the lives of handicapped, sick or dying persons. It is morally
unacceptable. Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention,
causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder
gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect
due to the living God, his Creator.”
Jan. 29, 2019 update:This report contains more information about current ownership of St. Joseph's Hospital.
A
Springfield, Delaware County, woman stole more than $337,000 from her
elderly mother and spent the money on her interior design business, a
gym membership, cell phone charges, and other personal expenses,
authorities said Monday.
Bernadette
Branson-Lawler, 52, of Meetinghouse Lane, was charged with theft and
related crimes, the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office said.
Over
seven years, she used her role as her mother’s power of attorney, and
later legal guardian, to steal from the 78-year-old, who lives in a
Delaware County assisted living facility, suffers from dementia, and is
nonverbal, authorities said.
“Our
older residents deserve to fully enjoy their well-earned retirement
without fear of being victimized,” District Attorney Katayoun M.
Copeland said in a statement. “In this case, Bernadette Branson-Lawler
stole that liberty from her own mother, who is not able to speak for
herself, betraying the trust of the entire family, and stealing her
mother’s life savings for her own leisure and selfish pursuits.”
Prosecutors began investigating Branson-Lawler in September 2017 after receiving a tip about possible financial exploitation.
Investigators
found that Branson-Lawler had been appointed her mother’s power of
attorney after her father’s death in 2009. A few years later, she sold
her mother’s Springfield home for $269,000 and moved her mom to the
assisted living facility.
In
July 2013, Branson-Lawler went to Delaware County Orphans' Court and
successfully petitioned to become her mother’s guardian because of
health issues, including worsening dementia. Four years later, she
failed to file required yearly paperwork and didn’t appear in court, so a
court-appointed attorney reviewed the financial records of
Branson-Lawler’s mother, authorities said. The attorney noticed
suspicious withdrawals, prompting Branson-Lawler to admit that she used
that money for her own expenses — including her electric and insurance
bills, her interior design business, and cell phone charges — and that
she would write herself checks, authorities said.
Branson-Lawler was then removed as her mother’s guardian and a criminal investigation began.
In
part through forensic analysis of financial records, investigators
determined she stole $337,715.61 between January 2011 and 2017.
Branson-Lawler could not be reached for comment Monday. No lawyer for her was listed on court documents.
She was released on $100,000 unsecured bail and awaits a preliminary hearing next Tuesday.
The
Delaware County District Attorney’s Office asks anyone who thinks an
elderly resident is being taken advantage of to contact the Senior
Exploitation Unit at 610-891-5249 or email
seniorcrimes@co.delaware.pa.us.
RICHMOND—Last week, the Virginia General Assembly took its first
steps toward the passage of legislation that will help communities fight
elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation of senior citizens and
incapacitated adults. Southwest Virginia legislators Senator Ben Chafin
and Delegate Todd Pillion sponsored the proposals, Senate Bill 1224 and House Bill 2560,
at the request of Wise County & City of Norton Commonwealth’s
Attorney Chuck Slemp. Both Mr Pillion and Mr Slemp are Lee County
natives.
On Friday, a senate subcommittee unanimously approved Chafin’s SB
1224 and Wednesday a house committee voted unanimously in favor of
Pillion’s HB 2560. With broad bipartisan support, these proposals are
expected to move forward with full consideration of the General
Assembly in the next few weeks.
The
legislation sets forth a framework for localities to establish
multidisciplinary team reviews of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation
cases. Multidisciplinary teams are groups of professionals from diverse
disciplines who come together frequently to discuss abuse cases at all
stages of investigation and prosecution, to address specific problems
with enforcement, and to increase communications between different
stakeholders.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Chuck Slemp, who testified before committees
in Richmond earlier this week, said, “Elder abuse is a growing
epidemic in our Commonwealth, but these cases are under-reported and
remain very difficult to prosecute for various reasons. Recognizing
these challenges, we started a ‘team approach’ to fighting elder abuse
in Wise last year and the effort has made a significant difference in
countless cases. I am so thankful for the leadership of Delegate
Pillion and Senator Chafin on this important issue and I know their
efforts will serve to further protect vulnerable adults across
Virginia.”
Senator Ben Chafin said, “Everyday,
the elderly are taken advantage of financially and abused and it is our
responsibility in the General Assembly to help protect the most
vulnerable of our citizens. Commonwealth Attorneys and law enforcement
need all of the tools available to effectively prosecute elder abuse and
financial exploitation. Multidisciplinary response teams will aide in
the prosecution of these crimes and will bring these criminals to
justice.”
Delegate Todd Pillion said, “Protecting our citizens and their rights
is the most important work of government. With an aging population,
particularly in rural areas, it’s critical that we form the systems and
processes needed to help safeguard folks who may find themselves in
abusive situations. We look forward to this legislation passing and hope
localities will join Wise County in using this opportunity to address
the complex challenges of elder abuse.”
January 27, 2019 at 7:22 AM EST - Updated January 28 at 12:47 PM
CHICAGO
(WBBM/CNN) - The family of a 41-year-old woman has hired an attorney to
investigate the possibility of neglect after they found her dead at her
nursing home.
Quinita
Bullock, 41, had been living at the Mayfield Health Center in Chicago
since having a stroke about a year ago that left her unable to walk and
with slurred speech.
Late
Monday morning, after multiple unanswered calls, Bullock’s aunt and son
went to check on her. They found her dead in her bed. Her body was
cold.
“Hate
that it had to happen to her like that,” said Blondina Hill, Bullock’s
cousin. “I just think that’s unbelievable that no one knew she was dead.
So, I wonder if my mom and her son didn’t go, how long would it have
been before they noticed?”
Quinita Bullock, 41, had been living at the Mayfield Health Center in
Chicago since having a stroke about a year ago. Her relatives found her
dead at the nursing home. (Source: WBBM/CNN)
Hill
and other family members went to the medical center and began asking
questions about what happened. They wanted to know if Bullock woke up
that morning and/or took her medication, but Hill says the staff told
them nothing.
The staff was supposed to check on Bullock every hour, according to Hill.
“We had filed complaints before about her being on the floor,” she said.
Police
filed a report in which they classified Bullock’s death as
non-criminal. Afterward, Hill says the nursing home sent Bullock’s body
to a funeral home without their consent and without notifying the
medical examiner.
Hill says the family wants to know their loved one’s cause of death.
“I really would like to know because she was fine,” Hill said.
Hill filed a complaint with the state Tuesday, and she believes there should be an investigation.
“It’s going to happen to somebody else,” she said.
Bullock’s
family says they’ve hired an attorney to get some answers about how she
died and to look into the possibility of any neglect. Plans for her
funeral have not been made.
Past
inspections at the nursing home noted certain requirements not met
regarding patient falls and safety, and ProPublica shows 36 deficiencies
since December 2015 but no fines.
HILL CITY, Minn. — A man with dementia died after being severely
beaten by caregivers at an assisted living facility in Minnesota,
according to state investigators.
The Star Tribune reported
that Chappy’s Golden Shores in Hill City recently closed after state
regulators suspended its license for “multiple and repeated serious
incidents affecting vulnerable persons.”
Steven G. Nelson, 58, was beaten shortly after being admitted to the
facility, according to a state investigation. Nelson had cognitive
disabilities and depended on a wheelchair.
One employee punched him in the face, another held him down and a third watched, according to the investigation.
Nelson died weeks later at St. Mary’s Medical Center after suffering internal brain bleeding.
Tricia Olson, who owns Chappy’s, said the assault never happened and
that the investigation is based on false statements from disgruntled
former employees.
Chappy’s has appealed the 90-day suspension of its license and the people living there has been moved to other locations.
The state substantiated 10 incidents of maltreatment at Chappy’s
including cases involving abuse, neglect and in one case, financial
exploitation, according to the paper.
One employee who had worked at the facility for more than a year was
also found to have been registered as a predatory offender, according to
state investigators.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Former Nashville Judge Casey Moreland received a 44-month prison sentence Friday.
Moreland pleaded guilty
to five counts of relating to obstruction of justice, witness
tampering, and stealing money from an organization receiving federal
funds in late May.
According to Acting Assistant Attorney General
John Cochran, the FBI began investigating back in Jan. 2017 whether or
not Moreland offered sexual favors for favorable treatment as a General
Sessions Judge.
Moreland later admitted that he actively took steps to obstruct the
investigation in Feb. 2017 by paying a witness to sign a false affidavit
to recant her previous statements. The Department of Justice also said
Moreland planted drugs in the witness's car so she would be arrested and
her credibility would be destroyed.
He used a burned phone
registered to Raul Rodriguez to carry out these plans, working with
someone who would become in an information for the FBI.
Back in
March, Moreland faced more charges of tampering with a witness, victim,
or informant and destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in
a Federal investigation.
Moreland resigned in March 2017 amid an FBI investigation charging him with public corruption.
****UPDATE**** We were alerted by a concerned reader that this article was fake news --- so we checked it out and it turned out to be fake news, just as we were told. We don't know the purpose of publishing this kind of fake news, but there must be a purpose. Beware!
Seven employees of a nursing home for elderly people were arrested
by the FBI this morning in Charlottesville, Virginia, for forcing the
elders under their care to fight each other.
According to investigators, the 124 residents of the Retirement
Village were forced to fight each other in order to obtain basic things
such as food and medical treatments.
The fights were filmed and relayed online on a specialized website,
where they often attracted several thousand viewers and astounding
amounts of money in bets.
FBI spokesman, Bill Donovan, says the most popular fights were the ones in which contenders were “armed” with canes or walkers.
“The older and more
handicapped the fighters were, the larger was the crowd the fight
attracted. Some were so weak they used mobility scooters to try and roll
on each other.”
Officer Donovan says the staff used several different methods to
force the residents to fight, either by through rewards or punishment.
“The nursing home’s staff forced
the elders to beat each other up very badly, offering ridiculous rewards
such as Jell-O or extra mashed potatoes. Some residents who refused to
fight had their dentures or glasses confiscated until they complied.”
According to the FBI, the organizers of this illegal combat ring may
have pocketed over $125 million over the 3 years it was in operation,
mostly from online bets.
The
FBI confirmed it has seized a lot of computer hardware in the
Retirement Village as well as several other pieces of evidence like
video cameras blood-covered walkers.
The two owners of the retirement home and five other employees were arrested for the role they played in the organization.
The five employees each face numerous criminal charges and could face
sentences going from 45 to 85 years in jail if found guilty on all
charges.
The owners of the retirement home, Terence and Michelle Aniston,
respectively face 37 and 31 accusations and could face over 300 years in
prison.
Their trial is expected to begin at the end of June and should draw a lot of media attention.