OPINION: The Demise of Mary Cobbs Under Conservatorship of Court Appointed Conservator Michelle Tiernan

By Michelle Snider

Mary Cobbs was conserved in the early Spring of 2015.  Mary developed the onset of early dementia leading to concern by her church family at Allen Temple Baptist Church.  An anonymous call was made to APS leading to a conservatorship without seeking relatives or additional family members who resided in the Bay Area.

A temporary conservator James C. Plummer was assigned, removed within six months, Michele Tiernan became conservator, and that’s when mismanagement of Mary Cobbs’ finances and her health/wellness began to decline.

The care Michele Tiernan set up for Mary was subpar and inadequate.

Mary’s nieces learned of her conservatorship and quickly became involved, visiting her at  “Heart & Soul care facility and immediately felt her finances should’ve afforded her better healthcare. Frank Cobbs, Mary’s ex-husband called a niece in 2018 with concerns about her tooth missing that the care facility couldn’t give an answer regarding what happened.  Her nieces noticed visible scars on her forehead upon their visit.  Once questioning began, Mary’s care changed, her health and wellbeing went downhill.  Cousin Carolyn Hewett asked care providers about her disheveled appearance, as Mary was very well kept, an elegant lady. To see her dressed in oversized, soil clothing and too large shoes was shockingly disturbing.  A call to the owner of the care facility went nowhere, blank stares, and no answers.

Mary had an unexpected fall and broke her hip in the Spring of 2019, never recovered, and passed away shortly thereafter.  The conservator did not allow the family to properly memorialize Mary and noted in her documents to the courts that “Mary’s friends were not available.”

Cousin Carolyn disputes Tiernan’s documentation. “I called Tiernan and asked if a memorial service could be held and Tiernan told me “no.”

Mary was a member of Allen Temple for more than 50 years and served for her would have been appropriate.  The family learned of her burial by calling the cemetery, where she’d been placed two days prior to their inquiry.  The family contacted Tiernan making her aware of their concerns. She ignored them.

Mary had enough assets to afford better care and attention she received under Tiernan.  Her million-dollar estate was mismanaged by Tiernan.  She inflated all costs for service, while Mary’s care was unjust and totally disturbing.  Tiernan must be stripped of her duties for not looking out for the wellbeing of Mary, and the Cobbs family demands an investigation into her practices.

Mary’s niece Donna Pinkard has filed a court motion regarding Mary’s estate and distribution of assets. The final accounting is problematic, as lots of charges and fees that should have been questioned, were not.

Mary was a devout Christian who lived and worked in Oakland for most of her life.  She worked hard for everything she had and for a stranger to step in with what appears to be financial gain is not acceptable to family and should not be to the courts.  To take out loans, divert money, inflate service costs, cash-out money outlined in the will for designated beneficiaries is blatant fraud.

Michele, Tiernan has taken advantage of a vulnerable client and must answer and be held accountable for her actions.

Editor’s Note: Attorney Michele Tiernan was contacted by Post writer Tanya Dennis by email and phone to respond to this op-ed article, as was the management of Heart and Soul, who were contacted by phone.  Both parties failed to respond.

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OPINION: The Demise of Mary Cobbs Under Conservatorship of Court Appointed Conservator Michelle Tiernan

Forced Assistance

by Rachel M. Cohen

In the summer of 2018, then-84-year-old Genyte Dirse was removed from her home — a motel she had owned and lived in for decades — and placed in an assisted living facility in St. Petersburg, Florida. This followed a relatively fast and bewildering legal fight between Dirse and a local real estate agent who argued that she wasn’t in her right mind to live independently. Ever since then, her closest living relative in the U.S., her great-nephew Gedi Pakalnis, had fought a losing legal battle to bring her back home.

Pakalnis’s fight to bring Dirse home ramped up this spring, as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the globe. In the United States, residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been particularly vulnerable, with more than 51,000 deaths reported nationally from those institutions so far. In Florida, like elsewhere in the country, the number of Covid-19 deaths at senior living facilities has grown at a much faster rate than the broader population and, by early May, accounted for more than a third of the state’s pandemic fatalities.

In late April, the virus struck Patrick Manor, where Dirse lived. For weeks prior, Pakalnis had been trying to reach his great-aunt’s legal guardian to get information about her health, raising concerns about the fast-spreading disease. After weeks of no news, Pakalnis finally learned that Dirse had been hospitalized with Covid-19 symptoms. Dirse’s guardian told Pakalnis that he could potentially visit her once the pandemic calmed down.

He never got the opportunity. On May 5, Dirse died of Covid-19, alone at St. Anthony’s Hospital. She was not the first Patrick Manor resident to be hospitalized with the coronavirus, and by mid-May, 11 Patrick Manor residents and two staff had tested positive with the disease.

The frequent deaths of elderly people in nursing homes and assisted living facilities has become a horrifying reality throughout the pandemic. But something was also different about Dirse’s death; according to her great-nephew and others who were involved in the guardianship process, she was confined against her will to Patrick Manor, where she faced a greater likelihood of getting sick — despite having family willing and able to take care of her.

For decades, adult guardianship has been a legally thorny issue, with independent watchdogs and journalists repeatedly finding that senior citizens are stripped of their rights and often financially exploited — with little government oversight. The cases often involve complex family drama and disagreements among siblings, but sometimes, as in Dirse’s case, it’s an outsider who gets involved, over the objections of the elderly person’s relatives. A court’s decision to appoint a guardian is usually final, as appeals are costly and complex, and appellate courts are highly deferential to the lower court’s initial findings.

The issue has taken on new relevance amid the pandemic. In a Covid-19 resource compiled by the National Guardianship Association, the American Bar Association, and the National Center for State Courts, advocates acknowledge the pandemic “will make it more difficult” for seniors to exercise the remaining rights they do have.

“In this pandemic we’re going to see abusive guardianships started over Zoom, with the virus facilitating the racket that’s already in place,” warned Dr. Sam Sugar, founder of Americans Against Abusive Probate Guardianship, a national advocacy group. “The difference with Covid-19 is we’re going to see wards dying in nursing homes faster, in weeks, rather than months, and a further decrease of any monitoring.”

Like many legal guardianship cases, the story of how Dirse ended up at Patrick Manor is fraught with allegations of ulterior motives and complex family dynamics. It all started after a local real estate agent accused Pakalnis of exploiting his great-aunt.

Pakalnis, who is 37, is the great-great grandson of Dirse’s maternal grandmother. In the early 1990s, Dirse visited her relatives in Lithuania, where Pakalnis was being raised by his dad. Dirse invited him to come live with her in the U.S. He took her up on the offer in 2003, living with Dirse throughout high school, college, and graduate school. “My aunt has always been like my mother,” he said. “We were a happy family for 15 years, lived together, and loved each other.”

For several decades, Dirse managed her small motel business, Dirse Apartments and Motel. In 2017, in front of witnesses and a notary, she sold one of her three properties to Pakalnis for $50,000. Diana Sames, a local real estate agent who visited Dirse annually to pass out calendars and broach selling her property, was aghast at the transaction, which was for well below market-value.

Sames petitioned a court to appoint a guardian for Dirse, citing the property sale as evidence that she was not in her right mind. Though Sames denied doing so out of self-interest, she did tell local reporters that she “would have no problem” taking a commission from the sale of Dirse’s property if it were listed on the market. As the guardianship case proceeded, tenants said in sworn affidavits they repeatedly heard Dirse tell Sames that she had no intention of listing and had long planned to sell one building to her family. One recalled Dirse mentioning that she was “well prepared for retirement” and would “have more than enough for herself,” even with one less property. Pakalnis meanwhile scrambled to hire attorneys to provide evidence to the court and file complaints with local institutions.

But a few months later, a judge and a panel of professionals declared Dirse “incapacitated” and appointed an adult legal guardian to take over her affairs. The guardian, Traci Samuel, had no prior relationship with Dirse and was proposed to the court by Sames, the petitioner.

Samuel quickly filed a lawsuit to reverse the sale of Dirse’s property and moved Dirse against her will to an assisted living facility, Inspired Living in St. Petersburg. At first, Pakalnis was able to visit her there. After a visit on November 10, 2018, he filed an affidavit with the court saying that his great-aunt looked weaker, less healthy, had complained of untreated leg pain, and told him she wanted to go home. The guardian then barred Pakalnis from seeing Dirse again, claiming that Dirse didn’t want to hear from her great-nephew anymore.

Romualdas Pakalnis, Genyte Dirse, Gedi, and Gedi’s brother Tom Pakalanis in December 2016. Romualdas and Tom were visiting Florida from Lithuania for Christmas.

Photo: Courtesy of Gediminas Pakalnis

Samuel, who later changed her name to Traci Hudson, was soon engulfed in scandal. In November 2019, she was charged with felony exploitation by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and accused of stealing more than $500,000 from a 92-year-old man who she was also caring for. Investigators found that she had transferred nearly all his money to her bank accounts and used the funds to buy NFL tickets, new clothes and jewelry, and even a new house. She did not return requests for comment.

The court appointed a new legal guardian for Dirse in late November: Jean Farnan. In March, at the outset of the pandemic, Pakalnis contacted Farnan through a court filing, requesting information about his aunt’s well-being and said he was concerned “since nursing homes and assisted living facilities are vulnerable to fast-spreading Coronavirus.”

But he got no response. A month later, he learned via Farnan’s attorney, Hamden Baskin, that Dirse had been taken to the hospital. Farnan and Baskin declined to comment for this article.

Pakalnis filed another court petition on April 29 asking for more information about Dirse’s whereabouts and lamented to Farnan that he could have been caring for his great-aunt at home. “My aunt has educated family who never committed any crime and we have healthy environment and people who love her and can take care of her at any time at no cost,” he wrote in a court filing. He begged for his great-aunt to at least receive video and phone calls, stressing that she needed the emotional support.

The next day, Farnan wrote back claiming that she hadn’t received his earlier court correspondence. Attaching a photo of Dirse from January, Farnan wrote that Dirse is a “very pleasant lady” and said, “I am sure she is not feeling that well, and being in the hospital is always stressful.” Farnan ended her email by saying when the Covid-19 situation is under control, she’d like to allow Dirse to see whoever she wants.

Pakalnis wrote back on May 1, urging again for the opportunity to talk with his great-aunt on the phone and reiterating that Dirse could stay with him. “[P]lease remember that she has her home near the beach in ecological environment with her family that misses her,” he wrote. “[Not] being able to hear and see her for many months is unhealthy for both of us.”

Four days later, Baskin filed a brief asking the court to deny Pakalnis’s emergency petitions and prohibit any further communication from him. Dirse died later that day. Diana Sames, the realtor who started this whole process, defended her decision to petition for guardianship for Dirse. “She’s in heaven now. Why is there so much drama around this poor lady?” she asked The Intercept. “I don’t need to make money; I own my car, own my home, I have my own conscience.”

Adult legal guardianship is a process that has existed in the United States since colonial times, imported from a 14th century English legal principle known as parens patriae. The idea entails giving full rights and obligations to the state if an adult is deemed too vulnerable or “incapacitated” to care for themselves. A judge can appoint a guardian — often it’s a family member, sometimes it’s a third-party professional like Traci Hudson or Jean Farnan — and they have full legal authority to manage the individual’s health care decisions, their financial assets, or both. Many people can petition a court for guardianship if they believe an elderly person needs it: relatives, hospitals, government agencies, and even acquaintances like the realtor Diana Sames.

Adult legal guardianship varies by state, even sometimes county by county. However, in most places anyone 18 or older can nominate themselves to be a guardian, and few states require any sort of registration or licensing for the role. No good data even exists on how many seniors are currently living under guardianship. The National Center for State Courts estimated that based on the average of active pending cases in four states in 2008, there were 1.3 million cases nationwide, in control of roughly $50 billion in assets. This could be a low estimate, and as baby boomers get older, experts anticipate the numbers to rise considerably.

Though guardianship can at times be beneficial for the elderly, particularly if they really are at risk of being swindled or do need assistance, a growing movement over the last few decades has raised staggering examples of how mentally sound seniors lose their rights through this process, becoming totally isolated and forced to live in ways wholly contrary to how they want. In the worst cases, it’s the guardians themselves who exploit the senior, draining their assets, cutting off contact with friends and family, and confining them to expensive facilities when they just want to remain in their homes. Seniors have described the experience as living a “civil death” or being a “legal ghost.”

Patrick Manor, the assisted living facility where Genyte Dirse resided, sits in St. Petersburg, Fla., on June 6, 2020.

Photo: Tailyr Irvine for The Intercept

How widespread guardian abuse is remains unclear, but following a yearlong investigation, the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging said in a 2018 report that they “identified persistent and widespread challenges that require a nationwide focus” to ensure  that guardianship “works on behalf of the individuals it is intended to protect.” The committee acknowledged that in some cases, “more rights than necessary” may be taken from an individual and that with such minimal oversight “once a guardianship is imposed, there are few safeguards in place to protect against individuals who choose to abuse the system.”

Issues around guardianship have existed for decades, and efforts at reform really took off in 1987, following a six-part Associated Press exposé. The investigative series prompted a flurry of new state legislation and the formation of the National Guardianship Association to establish new standards.

Yet despite modest improvements, lasting and widespread change remains elusive, and media reports detailing guardian abuse have continued to emerge. The U.S. Government Accountability Office looked at guardianship in 2004, 2010, 2011, and 2016, each time identifying major issues and a lack of clear information to guide policy. In its 2010 report, the GAO “identified hundreds of allegations of physical abuse, neglect and financial exploitation by guardians in 45 states and the District of Columbia” since 1990.  (Click to Continue)

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Forced Assistance

See Also:
Hotel owner placed in guardianship by St. Pete Beach realtor dies from COVID-19

Realtor seeks court-ordered guardianship to take away rights of elderly beach hotel owner

Court Upholds Guardianship After Long Contest

by Joseph Klein

 

On March 18, 2020, the New York Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the decision upholding the proposed guardian selected by Korsinsky and Klein, LLP in a highly contested guardianship proceeding brought on behalf of its client. In addition, the appellate court affirmed the decision by the lower court that revoked the health care proxy and power of attorney of a sibling. In the Matter of Rachel Z., the Court found that the appointment of a guardian was necessary and found that the agent under the previously signed Health Care Proxy and Power of Attorney “was not a sufficient and reliable available resources to protect Rachel’s interests,” and that the appellant was not acting in Rachel’s best interest. You can read a copy of the decisions on our website by visiting https://www.kklawfirm.com/press/contested-guardianship-appeal/. 

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Court Upholds Guardianship After Long Contest

Alabama judge charged with theft, ethics violation resigns

ATHENS, Ala. - A north Alabama judge accused of misusing court funds and stealing money from clients has resigned from his post.

Former Limestone County District Judge Doug Patterson announced he would be stepping down effective July 3, according to a letter to the Alabama Supreme Court filed Tuesday.

“The unescapable reality is that I cannot financially, mentally, or emotionally continue to fight the full weight, power and resources of the State of Alabama in two different theaters,” Patterson wrote in the letter, saying the move should not be viewed as an admission of guilt.

The former judge was suspended after being indicted on felony charges of use of official position for personal gain, financial exploitation of the elderly and theft of property in December 2019. He has pleaded not guilty to the counts, news outlets reported.

The Alabama attorney general’s office accused Patterson of using $47,000 intended for juvenile court programs on personal expenses. The former judge also was accused of improperly withdrawing about $47,800 from the account of a nursing home resident for whom he had served as a conservator, as well as between $499 and $1,500 from the estate of another client.

The case was scheduled for trial in June but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, news outlets reported. Jury trials in Alabama remained paused until September. Patterson was set to face a separate trial at the Alabama Court of the Judiciary on the ethics charge this week, but that trial was also postponed.

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Alabama judge charged with theft, ethics violation resigns

2 women accused of defrauding, exploiting elderly Weston woman

By Shereen Siewert

Two Wisconsin women are accused of defrauding an elderly Weston woman out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, money allegedly spent on haircuts, designer handbags, Walt Disney stocks, a “Mousemingle” dating membership, timeshares, appliances and other miscellaneous purchases, according to court documents.

Ramona Bartell, 64, of Cedarburg; and Melissa R. Stark, 42, of Grafton, are both being summoned into Marathon County Circuit Court, where they face charges filed May 22 of theft in a business setting over $10,000 and theft of movable property with special facts. The “special facts” reference means that the property was allegedly taken from a vulnerable adult – in this instance, a woman who was declared incompetent by two physicians.

Stark is also named in court documents as Melissa Bublitz, who changed her name from Bublitz to Stark in 2019.

Police say Stark was power of attorney for the alleged victim, an elderly woman who died in February. Bartell is a friend of the alleged victim’s late daughter.

The alleged victim is from Saukville, but was living at a Weston assisted living facility from January 2016 until the time of her death.

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2 women accused of defrauding, exploiting elderly Weston woman

87-year-old great-grandmother graduates with a nursing degree

“Today I won what I dreamed of,” said 87-year-old great-grandmother Sultana Gesiou, holding her nursing assistant certificate, Thetoc reported.

Sultana Gesiou graduated from Εσπερινό Επαγγελματικό Λύκειο Κοζάνης.

Despite being 87-years-old, she wanted to fulfil her childhood dream, lost in the difficult years of the war and the ensuing civil war. She dreamt of completing secondary education, which she succeeded.

“Today I won what I dreamed of,” Sultana confidently stated, while smiling and holding the certificate in her hands.

She recalled her difficult childhood years, where the need to survival outweighed dreams and hopes. “In the village we all had to work to make a living, we are six children in the family, we worked in the tobacco industry and in animal husbandry. This was our job.”

“I always liked books, whatever fell into my hands I always read with interest,” she continued.

Today, Sultana has four children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. But her love of books and desire to finish school has not faded over time.

With the encouragement of her daughter, she enrolled and recently graduated. Sultana was the school’s oldest student, but that didn’t stop her from making friends with her peers or caring for them.

She also did not hesitate to share life advice to the younger generation. “I wish all the children who did not finish school to do it quickly, get a high school diploma and get a job immediately to support their families.”

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87-year-old great-grandmother graduates with a nursing degree

Lanny Davis, Attorney to Bradford Lund, Grandson of Walt Disney, Joins Arizona Litigation Against Lund's Former Attorney, Jeffrey Shumway Who Is Alleged To Have Charged Lund Over One Million Dollars Only To Secretly Betray Him

PHOENIX, July 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In July 2016, after a seven year battle with his estranged relatives fighting against him, Bradford Lund, the grandson of Walt Disney, was finally vindicated and found fully competent by the Maricopa County Superior Court, resulting in the dismissal of a guardianship/conservatorship action. It took two more years before the estranged relatives would finally give up and accept this ruling after all their appeals were denied by the higher courts. It was a brutal battle to say the least, but Lund prevailed. While it's not uncommon and even expected to be fighting against one's known adversaries, rarely does a person have to withstand such a battle while fighting against his own attorney who has secretly betrayed him. That's what is alleged to have happened in this case, and that's what drew the nationally known lawyer, Lanny Davis, to announce his entrance today as another member of the team in yet another battle against Lund's former lawyer, Jeffrey Shumway. 

Specifically, Shumway advocated for Lund's freedom in the Arizona probate court and aggressively filed pleading after pleading asserting that Lund was competent. Meanwhile, Lund alleges, Shumway began conspiring against his client and incredibly secretly drafted proposed documents which, if the scheme had been successful, would have resulted in the guardian ad litem ("GAL") becoming a special conservator for Lund and Shumway himself becoming the court-appointed lawyer.

Davis, a former Special Counsel to President Bill Clinton and appointee to intelligence oversight panel for President George W. Bush, has signed on to associate as counsel in this battle.

Davis's entrance into the case comes after Shumway sued Lund for past legal fees related to his services, fees for which he charged while allegedly secretly conspiring against his own client. Lund responded by counterclaiming, alleging that Shumway, to the contrary, should pay both Lund's legal fees as well as general, special, and punitive damages in an amount to be proven at trial, for his alleged betrayal of Lund. As the counterclaim reads in pertinent part:

"Shumway did not inform Bradford Lund of these secret meetings, nor did Shumway Defendant ever receive consent or authorization from Bradford Lund to have these meetings. Not only was Shumway meeting with the GAL, and the GAL's attorney, Shumway drafted documents against his own client, Bradford Lund, and gave them to the GAL, and the GAL's attorney…During these conspiracies against Bradford Lund, Shumway continued to bill Bradford Lund for services as his attorney." – Defendant's Answer, Counterclaim, and Third-Party Complaint, Page 6.

Davis pointed out that on July 16, 2016, after a 10 day trial during which Lund took the witness stand, Arizona Superior Court Judge Robert Oberbillig rejected a petition for a guardian and conservator and found that Lund had demonstrated by "clear and convincing evidence" that "the appointment of a guardian [and conservator] is not necessary." He also found that Lund had the ability to "manage effectively his medical care, estate, and other affairs…[and] consistently demonstrated that he makes mature appropriate financial decisions." 

Davis concluded: "In my 40+ years as a litigator, if these allegations are true, this is the most shocking example I have ever seen of a lawyer betraying his own client – and then billing him for it! I am here to help Mr. Lund fight back against a lawyer whom he alleges acted behind his back contrary to his client's interests. He wants justice – and I am proud to be a member of the legal team to help him get it."

Contact: Lincoln Zweig
Lzweig@tridentdmg.com 
(202) 906-0292

SOURCE Lanny Davis

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Lanny Davis, Attorney to Bradford Lund, Grandson of Walt Disney, Joins Arizona Litigation Against Lund's Former Attorney, Jeffrey Shumway Who Is Alleged To Have Charged Lund Over One Million Dollars Only To Secretly Betray Him

Bakersfield attorney disbarred, ordered to pay back more than $370,000

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — An attorney in Bakersfield has been disbarred after the State Bar found her culpable of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Barbara McDaniel Harris, who also goes by the middle name of “Lynn,” is barred from practicing law in the state, records show. In ordering her disbarment, the California Supreme Court ruled she must pay restitution of more than $370,000 to a man and woman whose funds she allegedly misappropriated.

The allegations against Harris have their beginnings in 2004 when a Kern County couple entered into divorce proceedings in which Harris, who practiced family law, represented the wife. During the course of the proceedings, according to State Bar Court filings, it was ordered the family house be sold and the proceeds of the sale be placed in Harris’ client trust account for stipulated disbursements.

In July 2016, the couple filed a complaint with the State Bar after Harris failed to comply with court orders to produce an accounting of the money, according to the filings.

The Office of Chief Trial Counsel of the State Bar held a trial July 2, 2019, and found Harris culpable of multiple allegations, including failing to maintain records of client property and moral turpitude by intentionally misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars, the filings said.

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Bakersfield attorney disbarred, ordered to pay back more than $370,000

Manager of Senior Apartment Complex Janice Kay Schultz Sentenced

Manager of Senior Apartment Complex Janice Kay Schultz Sentenced for Using Power of Attorney to Steal from Elderly and Disabled Widow

(STL.News) – The manager of a Dubuque senior apartment complex, who used a power of attorney to defraud an elderly and disabled nursing home resident was sentenced July 7, 2020, to five years’ probation.  Janice Kay Schultz, age 59, from Dubuque, Iowa, received the prison term after a February 3, 2020 guilty plea to one count of wire fraud.

In a plea agreement, Schultz admitted that she met her victim at the senior apartment complex in Dubuque that Schultz managed.  The victim lived alone and had no family.  In December 2010, the victim was admitted to a Dubuque nursing home after suffering a stroke and a fall.  Afterwards, her physical and cognitive abilities abruptly declined such that she could no longer live at the apartment complex.  In April 2011, the victim signed a power of attorney form that purported to give Schultz full authority to manage the victim’s financial affairs.  However, the power of attorney expressly stated that defendant was not permitted to make any gifts to herself.

From April 2011 through January 2015, Schultz used the power of attorney to steal nearly $60,000 from the victim.  Schultz used this money to buy Green Bay Packer football tickets and pay for other personal expenses.  Schultz purchased $24,000 in gift certificates, which she then used for a major home improvement project.  At one point, the victim no longer had the necessary funds to support her stay in the nursing home.  The Iowa Medicaid program began paying for the victim’s care at the nursing home.  Schultz told Iowa Medicaid that the victim had not sold or given away anything of value in the months preceding her application for benefits.

Schultz was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Schultz was sentenced to five years’ probation and fined $2,000.  She was ordered to make $59,963 in restitution to the victim’s estate and to repay $5,000 in court-appointed attorney fees.

The prosecution of Schultz is part of the Department of Justice’s Elder Abuse Initiative.  In March 2016, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa was selected as one of ten districts nationwide to launch regional Elder Justice Task Forces. The Elder Justice Task Forces reflect the department’s larger strategy and commitment to protecting our nation’s seniors, spearheaded by the department’s Elder Justice Initiative.  The Elder Justice Initiative coordinates and supports the Department’s law enforcement efforts and policy activities on elder justice issues.  It plays an integral role in the department’s investigative and enforcement efforts against nursing homes and other long-term care entities that deliver grossly substandard care to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.  The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa has rededicated its efforts and resources to investigate and hold accountable those who have been involved in activities incompatible with ensuring that the state’s more vulnerable citizens are treated with dignity and respect.

The charges also were brought in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.  The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices, and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud.  Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets; and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations.  Since fiscal year 2009, the Justice Department has filed over 18,000 financial fraud cases against more than 25,000 defendants.

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Manager of Senior Apartment Complex Janice Kay Schultz Sentenced

Judge blocks auction of so-called Hawaiian princess' things

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER

HONOLULU — An auction of a 94-year-old Native Hawaiian heiress' belongings can't go forward until a conservator is named to handle her finances, a judge ruled Monday.

Abigail Kawananakoa's foundation, which has been working to ensure her fortune goes to benefiting Native Hawaiian causes, asked a judge to stop the auction until at least a conservator is named. The auction was scheduled to close next week, while a hearing on her conservator isn't scheduled until July 21. On Monday, the the auction website said it is now scheduled to end on Aug. 2.

Kawananakoa's wife and others can't proceed with the auction or sell any of her belongings until there's a ruling on the foundation's petition and a permanent conservator is named, Judge R. Mark Browning ruled.

Her $215-million fortune has been tied up in a legal battle since 2017, when her longtime lawyer, Jim Wright, argued a stroke left her impaired. Kawananakoa said she's fine and fired Wright. She then married her partner of 20 years, Veronica Gail Worth, who later took her last name.

A judge ruled in March that she needs a conservator because she's unable to manage her property and business affairs. Another judge ruled month last month her conservatorship should be unlimited and set a hearing for July 21 to determine who that will be.

Some consider Kawananakoa a princess because she's related to the family that ruled the islands before the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893.

She inherited her wealth as the great-granddaughter of James Campbell, an Irish businessman who made his fortune as a sugar plantation owner and one of Hawaii's largest landowners.

"Ms. Abigail and her spouse, Veronica, have no issue with postponing the sale of Ms. Kawananakoa's personal effects located in her North Shore cottage," Michael Rudy, an attorney representing Kawananakoa's wife, said in a statement on behalf of the couple.

"The Kawānanakoa Foundation is grateful that the auction has been stopped for now," the foundation said in a statement. "We look forward to the appointment of a Conservator who can best determine what should happen to Ms. Kawānanakoa's property, consistent with what is in her best interests."

Foundation directors said in their petition they are concerned that some of the auction items appear culturally significant.

Kawananakoa "will carefully re-examine the sale items to ensure that no significant cultural or historical items are publicly sold" and plans to donate those items to Iolani Palace, Rudy said.

"Ms. Abigail and Veronica respect this ruling and all other prior rulings in this case," Rudy said. "They desperately wish, however, that the Court continues to protect and conserve all of Ms. Kawananakoa's other assets and financial resources that continue to be squandered by unnecessary and unreasonable attorneys' fees, trustee's fees and other costs (now totaling in the millions of dollars), that Ms. Kawananakoa is being involuntarily forced to incur and will continue to be incurred until such time as the Court puts a stop to it."

Full Article & Source:
Judge blocks auction of so-called Hawaiian princess' things

See Also:
Foundation fights auction by so-called Hawaiian princess

Judge mulls conservator for so-called Hawaiian princess

Dauphin County nursing home fires employee seen in video throwing drink on resident

By Steve Marroni

A Dauphin County nursing home employee has been fired after facility officials learned of a video showing the employee throwing what appears to be a hot drink in a resident’s face.

Officials at the Colonial Park Care Center in Lower Paxton Township confirmed in a statement released Saturday that the employee was fired after the clip went viral and garnered a lot of outrage on Facebook.

The short clip shows what appears to be an employee, wearing a face mask, standing next to an elderly person, who reacts with a scream when the employee splashes a mug of liquid in the resident’s face.

Officials at the center said in a statement posted on Facebook that the incident has been reported to both the Department of Health and to local law enforcement.

Here’s the statement:

“In reference to a video that was posted on Facebook by one of our now former employees, we as a facility and community of care would like to express that we are truly outraged by this juvenile act. Our employees are trained on how to treat all residents with dignity and respect, and this employee’s blatant rejection of that training and violation of our code of conduct warranted taking swift action. Consequently, upon being informed of the video’s existence, we immediately commenced an investigation and, shortly thereafter, terminated the employee in question. In addition, we have reported this ex-employee’s misconduct to the state Department of Health, and also to local law enforcement. This kind of behavior goes against everything we stand for as a skilled nursing facility and is in no way reflective of our values or culture. We always strive to provide our residents with the best care possible and there is absolutely no place in our facility for anything less than compassionate caregiving.”

The employees name has not been released.

The Colonial Park Care Center, 800 King Russ Road, is a 198-bed skilled nursing center. It offers a variety of services that include short-term and long-term skilled nursing care, rehabilitation and a memory-impaired unit.

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Dauphin County nursing home fires employee seen in video throwing drink on resident

OPINION: It’s Time to Defund Nursing Homes

By Charles Sabatino

Just as the defund the police movement underscores the institutional racism that cries out for fundamental change, the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging nursing home residents underscores a deep-seated ageism inherent in our institutional model of nursing home care. I believe it is time to defund the institutional model and replace it with a radically different model.

Today’s typical nursing home has never come close to meeting the public’s desire for humane and dignified long-term care. Warehousing large numbers of frail elders in hospital-like buildings with residents in double or triple rooms along with staff turnover as high as 100% unavoidably creates a high risk for resident safety and compromises quality of care.

Nursing Homes in the Pandemic

Even before the pandemic, 82% of all nursing homes had infection prevention and control deficiencies cited in one or more years from 2013-2017, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. And 48% had such a deficiency in multiple years.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a 9/11 moment for nursing home care.

Despite the $90 billion paid annually by Medicare and Medicaid to nursing homes, and exacting regulatory requirements addressing quality of care and quality of life for the nation’s 1.3 million nursing home residents, we as a society have failed to keep frail elders safe — let alone in an environment that older adults look forward to residing in.

Pandemic data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicate that, as of the end of May, over 32,000 nursing home residents had died in the 88% of nursing homes that reported data. Other analyses have reported nursing home resident and staff deaths represent 40% of the nation’s COVID-19 deaths and in some areas, as high as 75%.

As a result, multiple recommendations for change have gained attention. They include ensuring adequate personal protective equipment in nursing homes; disaster plans that facilitate quarantining; more and better trained staff and heightened monitoring and oversight of care.

But let’s be clear: These measures do little more than rearrange the deck chairs in a failing system.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a 9/11 moment for nursing home care and a test of our ability to reimagine nursing home care that puts the “home” into nursing homes.

The Green House Model

As the largest payor for nursing home care, Medicare and Medicaid hold the key. Now is the time to change facility requirements to gradually limit participation in the program only to facilities that provide the following:

• Small home-like facilities
• Single rooms and bathrooms
• A flattened, more flexible staff hierarchy with cross-trained staff
• A culture focused first on residents’ goals, interests and preferences

Fortunately, there is already a model for this kind of facility: the nonprofit Green House Project created by Next Avenue Influencer in Aging Dr. Bill Thomas in 2003. There are 300 Green House facilities nationally, each with 10 or 12 residents who have single rooms and private baths. Some call this “the household model.”

In The Green House, facilities are designed around a living room with a fireplace and an open kitchen where meals are prepared and shared. The cross-trained staff, backed by nurses and doctors, engage with residents, serving as nurse aides, cooks, cleaners and participants in meals and social activities. Not surprisingly, Green House staff turnover is far below that of traditional nursing homes.

Of most importance to policymakers, Green House Project homes have been proven to have high resident, family and worker satisfaction; better quality of care and quality of life than traditional nursing homes; costs comparable to traditional nursing homes and, in the midst of the pandemic, a much greater ability to prevent and contain illness.

Data collected in ongoing research has revealed only one resident death as of May 31 in a sample of 1,862 residents in 178 Green House homes providing skilled nursing.

As long as the nursing home industry can rely on the flow of federal money for the current model of care, it has no financial incentive to change, not even after the coronavirus catastrophe.

Change that flow, and a major cultural change in long-term care will follow.

The views contained in this article represent Charles Sabatino’s opinions and should not be construed to be those of either the American Bar Association or the Commission on Law and Aging unless adopted pursuant to the bylaws of the Association.

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OPINION: It’s Time to Defund Nursing Homes

Editorial: Who guards the guardians?

BY ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL EDITORIAL BOARD

Sunday, July 5th, 2020 at 12:02am

Much has changed for the better since the Journal published an investigative series in November and December of 2017 titled “Who Guards the Guardians.”

Those stories by reporter Diane Dimond detailed complaints about a secretive system. Critics, most often family members of incapacitated people, complained about having little recourse to abuses that ranged from overspending and mishandling of assets to virtual carte blanche authority by court-appointed guardians and conservators to ignore and override the wishes of families when it came to concerns for their loved ones.

Despite heated denials by many within the system that anything was wrong, Journal Investigative Reporter Colleen Heild continued to probe complaints of abuse and misconduct. Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court took notice and along with other reforms established a process that has led to more transparency and created an avenue in which family members and others can petition the courts to address their grievances.

Justices Charles Daniels, who passed away in 2019 after retiring from the court, and Judith Nakamura were instrumental in advancing reforms. So were retired District Judge Wendy York of Albuqueque, who headed a Supreme Court-appointed commission to study the issue, and District Judge Shannon Bacon of Albuquerque, who is now a Supreme Court justice.

So it was fitting that Bacon announced last week that the New Mexico State Auditor’s Office will now have a permanent watchdog function over the nearly 6,000 cases in which state district courts have appointed guardians and conservators to manage the affairs of those deemed incapacitated.

The announcement followed a one-year pilot project undertaken by State Auditor Brian Colón, whose auditors found 194 “risk factors” in annual reports filed among more than 300 conservator cases sampled. The factors included lack of supporting documentation, conflicting information, and the fact that assets of the protected person being were understated or unaccounted for. Auditors also found instances of checks written directly to conservators. Or conservators charging large fees for services or reimbursements of expenses. The auditors sent more than 40 letters to judges in the cases laying out the concerns.

This kind of outside oversight is unprecedented.

With a green light from the judiciary, Colón’s office will now have oversight and involvement in what had traditionally been a closed system that sometimes excluded even family members of the incapacitated person. Colón appeared with Bacon on a Zoom video conference to make the announcement.

“We have an opportunity to step up oversight …” Colón said. “We’ve got to fill in the cracks (in the system) so we know those most vulnerable don’t fall through.”

Bacon said the courts and Legislature have already added more transparency to the system and enhanced reporting requirements. Now, she said, the courts plan to implement measures “to give auditors open access to guardianship and conservatorship cases.” Bacon said the auditors have been granted special access to online reports that typically aren’t public.

On the issue of reporting, though, Colón’s auditors recommended guardians and conservators provide supporting documentation instead of simply listing the amounts of assets and expenditures on standardized forms filed with the district courts.

The Supreme Court can make that happen by adopting a rule requiring it.

The auditor’s report also recommended “increased focus on review of financial affairs of protected persons with substantial assets.” That makes sense.

The state auditor also said the recent criminal sentences of two of four defendants in the now-defunct Ayudando Guardians Inc. underscored the need for more oversight in New Mexico. The company’s top officials stole millions of dollars from clients to finance a lavish lifestyle in a nearly decade-long scheme.

In contrast with a closed system that appeared to stonewall complaints, Bacon and Colón urged people with concerns to fill out a grievance form found on the state Supreme Court website. The forms are to be submitted to the district court where the case is filed. Colón said a copy also can be sent to his office.

In another major step forward, Bacon said the judiciary wants Colón’s office to be able to do random audits and go to banking institutions to review records, if needed. The details are still to be worked out with the courts.

“This ongoing process and partnership,” Bacon said, “is how we increase the sunshine and avoid the abuses of the past.”

The judiciary, lawmakers and the auditor all deserve credit for the work they’ve done. Now is the time to push ahead on the rest of the reform items to prevent the exploitation of incapacitated New Mexicans and give a voice to their loved ones.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.

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Editorial: Who guards the guardians?

Quadriplegic man’s death from covid-19 spotlights questions of disability, race and family

A Texas hospital deemed further treatments for Michael Hickson to be futile — a decision his wife opposed but others signed off on

Michael Hickson, 46, surrounded by his children at the nursing home where he had lived. Hickson died June 11 of complications from covid-19. (Family photo)

By Ariana Eunjung Cha

Michael Hickson, a 46-year-old father of five from Texas, was sick with covid-19 when doctors reached a crossroads in his treatment. He had pneumonia in both lungs, a urinary tract infection and sepsis — a dangerous immune response leading to multi-system organ failure.

He needed a ventilator to help him continue breathing, but the hospital felt further intervention for the disabled man was futile. A doctor explained to the family that there was little hope Hickson would survive or regain “quality of life.”

Hickson’s sister, a physician, agreed. So did the agency acting as his legal guardian. But his wife, Melissa Hickson, was horrified. She worried doctors were placing less value on her husband’s life because he was a black man who was disabled. After going into cardiac arrest in 2017 and suffering complications, he had been left quadriplegic and brain-damaged.

The disagreements over Michael Hickson’s care — amplified by an audio recording, widely shared on social media, of his wife pleading with a doctor to continue treatment — provide a rare window into fraught end-of-life decisions that are being made across the country as the novel coronavirus continues its rampage. The case puts a spotlight on issues of race, disability and family, including the different ways individuals, even within the same family, assess what makes a life worth living.

In the days after Hickson’s June 11 death, the audio recording shared by his wife has created a furor among disability rights activists across the United States who have rallied around his wife. Their outrage has been echoed by Catholic organizations and antiabortion groups, which have argued that stopping treatment was tantamount to failing to recognize the inherent value of a human life.

DeVry Anderson, chief medical officer at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center, where Hickson was treated, described his case as a “very sad and complex situation.” He said the decision to withdraw care was not a matter of hospital capacity, Hickson’s disabilities or cognitive abilities, or his race.

“This was a man who was very, very ill,” Anderson said in a written statement.

“Some people want the public to believe that we took the position that Mr. Hickson’s life wasn’t worth being saved, and that is absolutely wrong,” he added. “It wasn’t medically possible to save him.”

Hickson’s sister, Renee Hickson, a fellow at George Washington University Hospital in the District, said doctors worked very hard to save her brother’s life, but his decline was precipitous. She does not believe any of their decisions were based on his disabilities or his race.

“There is only so much medically that we can do,” she said. “And they did that for all of those days, and there was nothing more to do.”

In the recording between Melissa Hickson and the doctor in charge of her husband’s case, she expresses confusion as to how the decision to stop treatment was made and tries to change his mind. Under Texas law, such recordings are allowed as long as one party consents.

“So as of right now, his quality of life — he doesn’t have much of one,” the doctor explains.

“What do you mean?” she asks. “Because he’s paralyzed with a brain injury, he doesn’t have quality of life?”

“Correct,” the doctor responds. The hospital declined an interview on behalf of the doctor, who is not identified in the recording.

The debate over Hickson’s care has hit a nerve as crisis protocols activated by health officials in some jurisdictions would allow hospitals to ration treatments in certain circumstances, as coronavirus cases surge. Disability rights activists, among others, express alarm that disadvantaged groups — the disabled, members of minority groups, the poor — might get lower priority.

“I’ve been stewing on this for a few days as I try to come up with the right words to explain to you how much of an underlying fear this scenario is for much of the disabled community,” tweeted Steven Spohn, a popular gamer who has spinal muscular atrophy. “We live our entire lives in fear that one day a doctor will decide we just aren’t worth it.”

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights responded to such concerns this spring by probing some of the plans, issuing guidance affirming the need for nondiscrimination protections and threatening action against violators.

Devan Stahl, a bioethics expert at Baylor University, said research shows that people with disabilities often have a higher assessment of their quality of life than others do, including some doctors. That can adversely affect their medical care, Stahl said, and this bias has long been a source of controversy when it comes to medical futility laws in some states, such as Texas, that allow hospitals to override a patient or family’s wishes if they feel a treatment is not of benefit.

Stahl added that Hickson’s doctors may have been correct that he would not benefit from additional life-sustaining interventions, but it is “unfortunate that the physician stressed the quality-of-life judgment the way he did.”

“These are difficult things to say, and I want to be empathetic to physicians making hard choices,” Stahl said. “But I don’t think many are trained well enough to have these really sensitive conversations.”

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Quadriplegic man’s death from covid-19 spotlights questions of disability, race and family

Nursing-home inspections became shorter when pandemic hit, and found almost no infection-control issues

Before the coronavirus pandemic, 41% percent of Kentucky's nursing homes were cited for infection-control deficiencies.

• Kentucky Health News

State inspections of Kentucky nursing homes since the coronavirus pandemic began found almost no deficiencies in infection control, though nursing-home residents have accounted for more than 60 percent of the state’s 524 deaths from COVID-19, John Cheves of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.

“Covid-19 has reached at least 57 percent of Kentucky’s 285 nursing homes,” Cheves reports. But from March 10 through June 16, “The Kentucky Health and Family Services Cabinet identified deficiencies in only 3 percent of the 202 inspection reports it had released.”

“How could it be that everyone is doing such an excellent job that we can’t find deficiencies, and yet all of these residents are getting covid and dying?” asked Toby Edelman, senior policy attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy in Washington, a lobby for care of the elderly and disabled.

One big reason appears to be that inspections became cursory when the pandemic hit, under orders from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It ordered states to inspect all nursing homes at least once by July 31 or risk losing part of their coronavirus-relief funds, Cheves notes.

And rather than the usual multi-day tours by inspectors, he writes, “CMS has limited covid inspections to one or two people filling in boxes on a “streamlined review checklist” of questions, such as: Do employees wear masks properly? Do they wash their hands and have easy access to disinfectant? Has the facility ended communal dining and other group activities?”

And, to reduce the time spent in nursing homes, which are closed to visitors to prevent infection, inspectors are encouraged to follow up with phone interviews with managers” rather than have “face-to-face conversations throughout the facility,” Cheves reports.

Infection control is the main problem in nursing homes, and Kentucky’s numbers are near the national average, patient advocate Edelman told Cheves. He reports, “Her group published a study last week finding that only 2.83 percent of infection-control surveys of nursing homes nationwide have identified deficiencies during the pandemic.”

Before the pandemic hit, Cheves reports, 41% percent of Kentucky’s nursing homes were cited for infection-control deficiencies.

The object example of Cheves’s story is Ridgewood Terrace Nursing Home in Madisonville, where 24 of the 100 residents have died of COVID-19 in the last three months.

“Like nearly one-fourth of Kentucky nursing homes, Ridgewood Terrace entered the pandemic rated ‘much below average’ in its quality of care” by CMS, Cheves reports. “State inspectors cited it over the last three years for poor infection control, resident abuse, failure to report abuse and inadequate staffing. It paid nearly $75,000 in civil fines in 2018. But on April 7, following an infection-control survey, the Office of the Inspector General at the health cabinet published a short, tersely worded report finding ‘no deficient practice identified’ at Ridgewood Terrace.”

The cabinet replied, “Facilities with a large number of deaths or a large number of positive cases cannot be cited on the grounds of an outbreak.” Cheves writes that he agency “refused to comply with an Open Records Act request by the Herald-Leader to provide copies of all deficiencies issued since March 1.”

Cabinet spokeswoman Susan Dunlap provided Kentucky Health News a copy of her overall reply to Cheves, which said, “Information on enforcement cases is not available through Open Records until the process is closed. For the eight facilities identified as having immediate-jeopardy deficiencies, the findings are pending CMS review and processing. Once this has been completed, they will be posted.”

More generally, Dunlap said the state “has been aggressive in its protection of residents and staff of these facilities. Visitation was ceased earlier than was the case in other states.” Also, “We have formed strike teams to provide immense ongoing resources to several facilities. (The Department for) Behavioral Health has provided resources to employees, in this time that has tested resilience.” … Purposeful action has been taken, and will continue to be taken, to help prevent the amplification of covid-19 in Kentucky’s long-term care facilities.”

Dunlap said “residents, family members, caregivers or others may file a complaint by phone or by email” with the Office of the Inspector General. “Even if the OIG is aware of who is bringing a complaint forward, the information is not shared with the facility.”

In other COVID-19 news:

• Gov. Andy Beshear reported 117 new coronavirus cases and two more covid-19 deaths Sunday, raising the totals to 13,750 and 526. The fatalities were a 73-year-old man from Butler County and a 61-year-old man from Fayette County. Beshear had not reported numbers on recent Sundays, when numbers are low partly because of limited reporting by labs, but resumed after federal officials asked for reports seven day a week. The new-case number was significantly higher than the two previous Sundays, when 85 and 70 cases were reported, but less than the 214 reported June 1, during a period when the state saw a surge of cases.
• President Trump’s aides said he was joking in Tulsa Saturday night when he told them to “slow the testing down, please” because it increases the number of reported cases. The federal government has little if any control over testing, a function supervised by the states.
• Kentucky has allowed restaurants to resume using tablecloths “as long as they are laundered between uses,” the Courier Journal reports. The revised requirements still urge restaurants to use disposable versions of products “to the greatest extent practicable.”
• U.S. Senate candidates in Kentucky are taking different approaches to seeking votes as the June 23 end of the primary election nears, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.
• National Geographic answers the question, “How do I keep my kids safe as things reopen?” 

(Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.)

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Nursing-home inspections became shorter when pandemic hit, and found almost no infection-control issues