Opinion: A ‘debacle’ — AARP slams entire nursing home establishment

By Brett Arends 

 

There’s plenty of blame to go around

Nine months and 72,000 nursing home deaths later…cleaning crews enter the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., on March 12.

John Moore/Getty Images

They knew.

The people in power knew, nine months ago, in March, that COVID-19 was almost uniquely lethal to the elderly.

Yet here we are, nine months later, and the carnage among our parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, and elderly friends has been on a scale that’s hard to believe.

Just 0.4% of our fellow citizens live in nursing homes. But they have accounted for a staggering 26% of all Covid deaths. Total nursing home deaths involving Covid-19: At least 72,000, according to the federal government.

It’s one thing to fail to control a contagious virus in a general population. But failing to protect the elderly in institutions that are specifically designed to house and protect them is unconscionable.

And now the AARP, the interest group for Americans 50 and older, has weighed in — and has slammed almost the entire nursing home establishment for this year’s horrific carnage.

Federal bureaucrats, greedy managers, and stupid lawmakers all have to share the blame, the AARP says in devastating takedown.

Scandal No. 1? Probably the failure to roll out mandatory testing.

“The single greatest error of America’s response to the pandemic in nursing homes, most agree, was the failure to provide early and vast access to virus testing for residents and staff,” reports the AARP. “Without testing, nursing home staff focused on isolating residents who showed symptoms of the virus, while asymptomatic residents and staff continued to spread the virus throughout the facilities.”

Not until September did the federal government require nursing homes to test all residents for the disease. September. By then, a huge amount of damage had been done.

But the AARP reports that there is plenty of blame to go around.

For-profit nursing homes had much higher death rates than others, it points out, citing multiple studies. It notes that the government actually withdrew inspectors and ombudsmen from establishments, on the theory they might bring in the disease.

And it highlights the scandal of ignoring the risks from staff. Apparently it didn’t occur to anyone in charge that many nursing home staff were poorly paid aides and orderlies, often living in crowded conditions at home, traveling on public transportation, and working jobs in multiple homes to make ends meet.

Hmmm, what could possibly go wrong?

Then there are the absurd laws. “Under Medicaid law, states are required to pay for nursing home care for anyone who qualifies,” AARP notes. “States are not required to pay for the home- and community-based services that would help seniors stay in their homes.” The net result: Way too many people in nursing homes to begin with.

The AARP didn’t mention, though it should have, monumental blunders such as state governments instructing nursing homes to accept the sick and contagious.

There’s no real point blaming “greedy” investment managers, either. They’re going to do what they are allowed to. Publicly traded companies, and private equity companies, are paid to generate big returns for their stockholders – many of them public pension funds and state governments.

And the problem isn’t taxpayers. We’ve thrown $21 billion of public funds at nursing homes during this crisis, equal to about $17,000 per resident. But, as the AARP points out, most of it has been indiscriminate and ill thought out.

The real scandal is even broader than the AARP says.

As early as mid-March, the first official study of the Italian crisis reported on the risk to the elderly.

A staggering 90% of those who died when the disease swept Italy in late February and early March were over 70, the Italian health ministry reported back then. The median age was 81. All but a handful had certain pre-existing conditions. Most had two.

(The latest figures for New York City: Just 0.5% of the dead were under 65 and free of certain pre-existing conditions.)

So the people in power knew from the start that if they had to protect one group of people, it was sick, elderly people.

But this is what happened.

A lot of this, frankly, is about power. Very old people don’t have it. They are almost completely powerless, physically and otherwise. So there is little payback when they are neglected, abused or left to die. So even if people in the prime of life care, they may not care that much.

My question is this: Do people in the prime of life understand that one day they, too, will be old and vulnerable?

Full Article & Source:

Opinion: A ‘debacle’ — AARP slams entire nursing home establishment

Former Sarasota County Deputy re-sentenced for crimes against elderly woman

Former SCSO Deputy Frank Bybee.

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) -A former Sarasota County Deputy was re-sentenced Friday for his crimes against an elderly woman back in 2017.

Last year, a conviction of kidnapping was overturned in the case against Frank Bybee, which led to the re-sentencing. Originally, he received 15 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of kidnapping and exploitation of the elderly.

Under the new sentence, Bybee received 10 years in prison. He was given probation for the Fraudulent use of a credit card and computer crime to defraud. Once released he will have perform 500 hours of community service.

Bybee befriended an elderly woman in Sarasota who he took money from, accessed her personal emails and financial records, and played a role in having her temporarily committed by using the Baker Act. Bybee appeared in court in a wheelchair due to a stroke he suffered from brain surgeries to remove a tumor.

The elderly woman in this case died in 2019.

Full Article & Source: 

Former Sarasota County Deputy re-sentenced for crimes against elderly woman

Caretaker arrested for allegedly stealing $10,000 wedding ring from elderly OKC couple

by: Cassandra Sweetman

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A metro woman was arrested Tuesday night after she allegedly stole and pawned the wedding ring belonging to the wife of the elderly man she was tasked to care for.

Vinia Foster Duncan, AKA Vinia Monique Buckley, was arrested on complaint of financial exploitation by caretaker, fugitive from justice, grand larceny from a house and making a false declaration of ownership to a pawnbroker.

She was hired by the victim to care for her husband in October 2020 off of Care.com.

By December, the victim’s wedding ring of over 50 years, estimated to be worth $10,000, had vanished from her room.

“They confronted her, she denied having any role in the ring going missing,” said Oklahoma City Police MSgt. Gary Knight.

The ring’s owner was not convinced. She took matters into her own hands, becoming a detective of sorts, and found out that Duncan allegedly pawned the ring at a pawn shop in Northwest Oklahoma City.

Duncan is accused of receiving $250 for the ring.

According to police, the victim also learned that Duncan is wanted in Illinois for aggravated identity theft, something Care.com’s background check may have missed.

The website claims to complete a background check that includes a Social Security number trace, a multi-jurisdictional criminal database search and federal and county criminal records search.

A spokesperson for Care.com told KFOR in a statement, “Care.com learned of this troubling incident today and we deeply regret that this family was put through this experience. We are currently looking into this individual’s use of our platform. In the meantime, we are willing to assist law enforcement in any way we can if asked to do so. The safety of our community is and will remain a top priority.“

“There are many, many caretakers in this world that do a wonderful job for people who are fine upstanding human beings,” MSgt. Knight said, “but just like any line of work, there are some people who get into that line of work that shouldn’t be in it.”

Police said that in cases like this one, anyone with financial interest in the ring has some claim to it, so a judge will make a determination as to what will happen with it. In many similar cases, if convicted, the defendant will make a restitution to the pawn shop.

Full Article & Source:

Caretaker arrested for allegedly stealing $10,000 wedding ring from elderly OKC couple

Opinion: Courts should not be a vehicle for elder financial abuse

Counties should require attorneys to justify how their fees protect a person or their estate

 

By Gloria Duffy

Over the past two decades, elder abuse has not only been recognized as an ethical problem in our society, but as a clear danger for some of our seniors. In California, if an elder is experiencing physical, emotional or financial abuse, family members or others may go to court to protect the senior.

County probate courts establish conservatorships for individuals who cannot look after themselves, appointing a person to watch over and care for them. Unfortunately, this system creates further ethical dilemmas and opportunities for abuse of seniors through the court system itself. Current law permits the senior’s funds to be tapped to pay for the legal fees of anyone who questions or objects to the protections.  Without strong oversight from the courts, attorneys can profit from this by running up huge fees representing contrary family members and even financial abusers, depleting or exhausting the funds needed for the senior’s care.

In 2010, a sibling and I had to go to court, to obtain a conservatorship for my mom. There were serious issues with her health, medical care, hoarding, identity theft, tax payments and misappropriation of her funds. In 2013, the court appointed me as my mom’s Conservator.  I serve without compensation and not only care for her but also attempt to “conserve” her assets by protecting her from financial abuse.

But protecting her assets has proved almost impossible, under current court rules.  Over the past 10 years, 14 attorneys have exploited our need to go to court to protect my mom and comply with tax and other laws, running up large bills through specious legal activities. This “elder financial abuse by other means” is particularly serious in counties that do not require attorneys to justify, and courts to examine, how their fees protect a person or their estate.

When a senior has some assets, and attorneys know their bills won’t be examined, two or three attorneys from the same firm may jump in, unethically inflating their legal bills. They charge fees for talking to one another, and for having multiple attorneys review the same documents.

In our case, even a non-family vexatious litigant got into the act, scamming the court and our family by posing as a paralegal and requesting compensation through the court. As with all the other legal bills, the court granted his request, because no justification of the fees was required.

All those attorneys have also run up bills for the court-appointed attorney representing my mom and for my attorney, who must respond to the abundant, spurious, and always unsuccessful litigation they file. My mom, a completely disabled 97-year-old with around-the-clock care needs, is responsible for paying all these bills.

To counteract this, judges can dismiss attorneys, as has happened twice in my mom’s case. But the best protection is strict “local rules of court” that require attorneys to justify their fees as benefitting the protected person’s estate.

Santa Clara County recognized this problem, after some notable cases a decade ago. Since 2012, local rules of court in Santa Clara County require that “a petition for compensation of a guardian, conservator, trustee, and counsel, or for counsel for a conservatee or ward, must be accompanied by a complete statement of the services rendered, an explanation of the value or benefit of those services to the estate, and the total amount requested for such services, made under penalty of perjury and executed by the person rendering the services.”

Then the judge must examine whether the fees actually benefit the protected person and their estate.

No such stringent local rules of court exist in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco or San Mateo counties, or most other counties statewide. This must be corrected. To stop the kind of abuse that is occurring, County presiding judges, the statewide Judicial Council and the state Legislature must institute local rules of court that prevent financial exploitation through the courts, ideally creating a statewide standard.

From an ethical standpoint, one thing is clear. When they are called upon to protect vulnerable seniors, the courts should not be a vehicle for elder financial abuse.

Gloria Duffy is president and CEO of The Commonwealth Club. This op-ed is based on a presentation to the Silicon Valley Ethics Roundtable, whose input informed and improved it.

Full Article & Source: 

Opinion: Courts should not be a vehicle for elder financial abuse

28 Lawyers & Judges Publically Disciplined on January List

By Mary Flood

Disciplinary Actions — January 2021 State Bar lists (verbatim from the State Bar of Texas) General questions regarding attorney discipline should be directed to the Chief Disciplinary Counsel’s Office, toll-free (877) 953-5535 or (512) 453-5535. The Board of Disciplinary Appeals may be reached at (512) 475-1578. Information and copies of actual orders are available at www.txboda.org. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct may be contacted toll-free, (877) 228-5750 or (512) 463-5533. Please note that persons disciplined by the Commission on Judicial Conduct are not necessarily licensed attorneys.

Houston area

JUDICIAL ACTIONS
On October 28, 2020, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a public warning and order of additional education to Kelly Crow, justice of the peace, Precinct 3, Katy, Fort Bend County.

On October 28, 2020, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a public warning and order of additional education to Ursula Hall, judge of the 165th Civil District Court, Houston, Harris County. This sanction is currently on appeal before the Special Court of Review.

On October 28, 2020, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a public admonition and order of additional education to Robert Richter, municipal court judge, Missouri City, Fort Bend County.

SUSPENSIONS
On November 30, 2020, Morgan Anthony Bourque [#24062627], 41, of The Woodlands, accepted a one-year partially probated suspension effective December 1, 2020, with the first month actively suspended and the remainder probated. An evidentiary panel of the District 3 Grievance Committee found that Bourque paid and gave something of value to a person not licensed to practice law, for soliciting prospective clients for, or referring clients or prospective clients to Bourque for representation. Bourque violated Rule 7.03(b). He was ordered to pay $2,606 in attorneys’ fees and direct expenses.

On October 30, 2020, David Nathaniel Harvey [#24040049], 55, of Houston, accepted a 42-month fully probated suspension effective November 1, 2020. An investigatory panel of the District 4 Grievance Committee found that Harvey frequently failed to carry out completely his obligations to his client, failed to keep his client reasonably informed about the status of his case, and failed to promptly comply with his client’s reasonable requests for information. Additionally, Harvey failed to timely respond to the grievance. Harvey violated Rules 1.01(b)(2), 1.03(a), and 8.04(a)(8). He was ordered to pay $55,000 in restitution and $1,000 in attorneys’ fees and direct expenses.

Rest of the state

JUDICIAL ACTIONS
On November 12, 2020, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a public warning and order of additional education to William C. Bosworth Jr., judge of the 413th Judicial District Court, Cleburne, Johnson County.

On November 12, 2020, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a public admonition to Bill Metzger, former justice of the peace, Precinct 2, Place 2, Mesquite, Dallas County.

On November 12, 2020, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a public warning to Ken Molberg, former judge of the 95th Civil District Court, Dallas, Dallas County.

On October 28, 2020, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a public warning and order of additional education to Lisa R. Woodard, justice of the peace, Precinct 8, Fort Worth, Tarrant County.

On December 3, 2020, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a public warning (nunc pro tunc) to Ken Molberg, former judge of the 95th Civil District Court, Dallas, Dallas County.

BODA
On November 6, 2020, the Board of Disciplinary Appeals issued a judgment revoking probation and actively suspending respondent from the practice of law for Dallas attorney Ward Brackett Bennett Davison [#24066787], 40, from an agreed judgment of partially probated suspension by the evidentiary panel of the State Bar of Texas District 6 Grievance Committee. Respondent appeared pro se. BODA Cause No. 64755.

On October 27, 2020, the Board of Disciplinary Appeals signed a default judgment of disbarment against Nicholasville, Kentucky, attorney Cassidy Ann Teater [#24080044], 35. On or about January 27, 2020, an order of enforcement was issued in the Supreme Court of Tennessee in In Re: Cassidy Teater, An Attorney Licensed to Practice Law in Kentucky and Texas, Case No. M2020-00101-SC-BAR-BP, BOPR No. 2019-2987-0-AJ, disbarring Teater from the practice of law in the state of Tennessee. BODA Cause No. 64721.

On October 2, 2020, the Board of Disciplinary Appeals signed an agreed judgment of probated suspension against Frisco attorney Alex James Washington Jr. [#24107554], 50. On or about July 2, 2020, an attorney disciplinary proceeding opinion was entered by the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana in Case No. 2020-B-0577, suspending Washington from the practice of law for a period of one year and one day. BODA Cause No. 64776.

DISBARMENTS
On October 5, 2020, Cynthia Rachelle Wil Cole [#24035579], 47, of Forney, was disbarred, effective September 11, 2020. The District 1 Grievance Committee found that beginning in 2008, Cole was hired by the complainants for representation in civil and bankruptcy matters. Throughout Cole’s representation of the complainants, Cole neglected the legal matters entrusted to her, failed to keep the complainants reasonably informed, failed to promptly comply with reasonable requests for information, and failed to explain the matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the complainants to make informed decisions regarding the representation. Cole made multiple misrepresentations to the complainants about the status of their legal matters and engaged in repeated fraudulent conduct, including, fabricating and/or forging court orders, settlement agreements, travel expenses, and legal work performed. Cole unlawfully appropriated $326,953 from the complainants in violation of Texas Penal Code 31.03(e)(7). Due to Cole’s professional misconduct, sanctions were ordered against the complainants and the complainants paid a judgment in the amount of approximately $160,000. Cole failed to respond to the grievance. Cole violated Rules 1.01(b)(1), 1.03(a), 1.03(b), 8.04(a)(2), 8.04(a)(3), and 8.04(a)(8). She was ordered to pay $486,953 in restitution and $2,462 in attorneys’ fees and direct expenses.

On October 7, 2020, Kimberly Dian Smith [#24041944], 42, of Longview, was disbarred. An evidentiary panel of the District 1 Grievance Committee found that in June 2017, Smith was hired to represent the complainant’s daughter with regard to divorce and child custody matters. In representing the complainant’s daughter, Smith neglected the legal matter entrusted to her by failing to perform legal work on the case after the initial pleadings were filed. Smith failed to keep the complainant’s daughter reasonably informed about the status of her divorce and child custody matters and failed to promptly comply with reasonable requests for information from the complainant’s daughter about the cases. Additionally, Smith failed to respond to the grievance. Smith violated Rules 1.01(b)(1), 1.03(a), and 8.04(a)(8). She was ordered to pay $2,926.75 in attorneys’ fees and expenses.

RESIGNATIONS
On November 10, 2020, the Supreme Court of Texas accepted the resignation, in lieu of discipline, of Brigida Rodriguez [#24046743], 65, of Richardson. At the time of Rodriguez’s resignation there were two pending matters against her alleging professional misconduct. In the first matter, the complainant hired Rodriguez to start the adoption process to adopt her grandson on August 31, 2017. The complainant paid Rodriguez $4,000. Rodriguez neglected the legal matter, failed to communicate with the complainant, failed to return the unearned legal fee, and failed to respond to the notice of grievance. In the second matter, the complainant hired Rodriguez for representation in a family law matter on June 10, 2019. The complainant paid Rodriguez $2,000. Rodriguez frequently failed to carry out completely the obligations owed to the complainant and failed to explain the legal matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the complainant to make informed decisions regarding the representation. Rodriguez failed to return the unearned legal fee. Rodriguez violated Rules 1.01(b)(1), 1.01(b)(2), 1.03(a), 1.03(b), 1.15(d), and 8.04(a)(8).

On November 10, 2020, the Supreme Court of Texas accepted the resignation, in lieu of discipline, of Ilya Torchinsky [#24095196], 43, of West Palm Beach, Florida. At the time of Torchinsky’s resignation there were three pending matters against him alleging professional misconduct. On or about October 31, 2019, a judgment was entered by the Supreme Court of Florida in a matter styled In Re: Petition for Disciplinary Revocation of Ilya Torchinsky, Case No. SC19-1416, Lower Tribunal No(s): 2020-70,103(11F-MDR), which granted Torchinsky’s uncontested petition for disciplinary revocation with leave to seek readmission after five years. The judgment stated: “Disciplinary revocation is tantamount to disbarment.” In the petition for disciplinary revocation with leave to reapply for readmission, Torchinsky admitted that he knowingly and voluntarily submitted the petition with full knowledge of its effect. He further admitted that the following disciplinary charges were pending against him: TFB File No. 2019-70,573(11F); 2019-70,574(11F); 2019-70,701(11F); 2020-70(11F); 2020-70,095(11F), involved allegations of conversion of client trust funds by Torchinsky. The Florida Bar File No. 2019-70,500(11F) alleges that petitioner engaged in neglect and lack of communication. In all three pending matters, Torchinsky sent a demand letter and draft complaint from Legal Justice Advocates signed by Torchinsky and a licensed Florida attorney to the complainants stating that their website was in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act of 1988 because the website was not accessible to blind or visually disabled people. The letter demanded that the complainants make their websites readily accessible to and usable by blind and visually impaired individuals and made a demand for “damages, attorney’s fees and costs.” Torchinsky is not listed as one of the attorneys for Legal Justice Advocates despite the demand letter implying that he works for Legal Justice Advocates and represents Victims Awareness as local counsel. The letters and draft complaints identify Torchinsky as “Local Counsel for Plaintiff” but does not contain Torchinsky’s address. At the time the demand letter was sent, Torchinsky was not admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of Texas or the Western District of Texas. Torchinsky violated Rules 4.01(a), 8.04(a)(3), and 8.05(a).

SUSPENSIONS
On November 24, 2020, Paul Gomez [#24063778], 45, of Little Elm, agreed to an 18-month fully probated suspension effective November 15, 2020. The District 6 Grievance Committee found that in July 2019, the complainant hired Gomez for representation in a divorce matter and discovery requests were served on Gomez. Gomez did not timely respond to the requests and a hearing was held regarding Gomez’s late discovery responses. Gomez did not attend the hearing and the complainant was sanctioned. Gomez neglected the legal matter entrusted to him and failed to carry out completely the obligations Gomez owed to the complainant. By planning to not appear at the properly noticed hearing resulting in the complainant being sanctioned, Gomez failed to explain the discovery matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the complainant to make informed decisions regarding the representation. By not informing the court or opposing counsel that he did not plan to appear at the hearing, Gomez took a position that unreasonably increased the costs or other burdens of the case or that unreasonably delayed resolution of the matter. Gomez violated Rules 1.01(b)(1), 1.01(b)(2), 1.03(b), and 3.02. He was ordered to pay $500 in attorneys’ fees and direct expenses.

On October 27, 2020, Richard N. Jeffrey [#24036839], 45, of Harker Heights, received a five-year partially probated suspension (six months active and 54 months probated) related to two disciplinary cases effective December 1, 2020. An evidentiary panel of the District 8 Grievance Committee found that in the first case, Jeffrey was hired, on or about June 5, 2018, to represent a client in a suit to modify the parent child relationship. The client gave Jeffrey a check for $500 as an advanced fee. Rather than place the funds in an escrow or trust account, Jeffrey made the check payable to a third person. Thereafter, at Jeffrey’s request, the client paid Jeffrey another advanced fee of $500 in cash. Thereafter, Jeffrey represented to the client that he was having difficulty serving the opposing party with the petition; however, Jeffrey never filed any pleadings on behalf of the client. When the client discovered that no pleadings had been filed, the client terminated the representation and requested a refund. Jeffrey failed to respond to the client’s request and failed to refund any portion of the fees paid. In a second case, Jeffrey was paid an advanced fee of $1,500, on or about September 12, 2017, to represent a client with regard to a traffic citation and on a motion to revoke or adjudicate community supervision. Jeffrey failed to perform the work for which he was hired and failed to return any portion of the advanced fee paid. Jeffrey further failed to provide written responses to both disciplinary cases. Jeffrey violated Rules 1.01(b)(1), 1.03(a), 1.14(a), 1.15(d), and 8.04(a)(8) of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, Article X, Section 9, State Bar Rules. He was ordered to pay $2,500 in restitution and $1,315 in attorneys’ fees and expenses.

On October 30, 2020, Dennis R. Martin [#13059400], 71, of San Antonio, agreed to a three-year fully probated suspension effective October 15, 2020. An evidentiary panel of the District 10 Grievance Committee found that Martin neglected a client’s matter and failed to keep a client reasonably informed. Martin violated Rules 1.01(b)(1) and 1.03(a). He was ordered to pay $600 in attorneys’ fees and direct expenses.

On November 4, 2020, Omar Maynez-Grijalva [#24043807], 56, of El Paso, accepted a two-year fully probated suspension effective November 6, 2020. The 210th District Court of El Paso County found that Maynez-Grijalva violated Rules 1.08(a) and 1.08(g) [business transactions with client]; 1.14(b) [failing to promptly notify third party and deliver settlement funds]; 1.14(c) [failing to disburse to third parties]; 8.01(b) [knowingly fail to respond to a lawful demand for information]; 8.04(a)(3) [conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation]; and 8.04(a)(8) [failing to respond to a grievance in a timely fashion]. Maynez-Grijalva violated Rules 1.08(a), 1.08(g), 1.14(b), 1.14(c), 8.01(b), 8.04(a)(3), and 8.04(a)(8). He was ordered to pay $4,211.96 in attorneys’ fees and direct expenses.

On October 13, 2020, Stuart R. Oliphint [#00789526], 61, of Fort Worth, received a 36-month partially probated suspension effective November 1, 2020, with the first six months actively suspended and the remainder probated. An evidentiary panel of the District 7 Grievance Committee found that on April 14, 2018, the complainant hired Oliphint for representation in a criminal case. The complainant paid a legal fee of $4,000 to Oliphint for the representation. In representing the complainant, Oliphint neglected the legal matter entrusted to him. Oliphint failed to explain the matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the complainant to make informed decisions regarding the representation. Upon termination of representation, Oliphint failed to refund payments of the fee that had not been earned. Additionally, Oliphint failed to respond to the grievance. Oliphint violated Rules 1.01(b)(1), 1.03(b), 1.15(d), and 8.04(a)(8). He was ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution and $1,461.50 in attorneys’ fees and costs.

On October 23, 2020, Lloyd Eugene Ward [#20845100], 59, of Dallas, received a 36-month fully probated suspension effective March 7, 2020. The 191st Civil District Court of Dallas County found that Ward committed professional misconduct by violating Rule 3.03(a)(1) [A lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of material fact or law to a tribunal]. Ward was ordered to pay $19,216.74 in attorneys’ fees and direct expenses.

PUBLIC REPRIMANDS
On November 9, 2020, C. Bruce Abraham [#00819800], 70, of Marshall, entered into an agreed judgment of public reprimand. An investigatory panel found that the complainant hired Abraham to represent him in a divorce case. Abraham neglected the legal matter entrusted to him, failed to keep the complainant reasonably informed about the status of his divorce case, and failed to promptly comply with reasonable requests for information from the complainant. Abraham also failed to file a response to the grievance. Abraham violated Rules 1.01(b)(1), 1.03(a), and 8.04(a)(8). He was ordered to pay $250 in attorneys’ fees and direct expenses.

On November 16, 2020, John-Paul Chidgey [#24035419], 47, of Fort Worth, agreed to a public reprimand. The District 7 Grievance Committee found that in March 2019, the complainant hired Chidgey for representation in a medical practice matter. Chidgey neglected the legal matter entrusted to him by allowing the statute of limitation to expire. Chidgey failed to explain the matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the complainant to make informed decisions regarding the representation. Chidgey violated Rules 1.01(b)(1) and 1.03(b). He was ordered to pay $500 in attorneys’ fees and direct expenses.

On October 26, 2020, Arthur David Courtade [#04891000], 73, of Fort Worth, agreed to a public reprimand. The District 7 Grievance Committee found that upon termination of representation, Courtade informed the complainant that he was experiencing a health issue and would provide any information and paperwork that the complainant might need regarding the case. Thereafter, Courtade failed to respond to the grievance. Courtade violated Rules 1.15(d) and 8.04(a)(8). He was ordered to pay $200 in attorneys’ fees and direct expenses.

On November 24, 2020, Ryan Edward Huie [#24055700], 42, of Austin, received a public reprimand related to four disciplinary cases. An investigatory panel of the District 8 Grievance Committee found that in the first case, Huie was paid $5,000, in August 2018, to defend a client in a DWI matter. On November 7, 2019, Huie failed to appear for a scheduled court hearing and notify the client that he would not be attending the hearing. Additionally, Huie failed to inform his client and the court that his license to practice law had been administratively suspended, in compliance with Rule 13.01 of the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure. Subsequently, after Huie was terminated by the client, he failed to withdraw from the representation and to take the steps reasonably practicable to protect the client’s interests. Additionally, Huie was found to have neglected the client’s case and failed to maintain reasonable communication with the client regarding the matter. In the second case, the panel found that Huie was paid $1,800, in November 2018, to represent a client in a criminal matter. During his representation of the client, Huie failed to appear for a scheduled court hearing and failed to inform the client and the court in writing that his license to practice law was administratively suspended, in compliance with Rule 13.01 of the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure. Additionally, Huie failed to withdraw from the case and to take steps reasonably practicable to protect the client’s interests after he was terminated. Huie also failed to respond to the client’s numerous communication attempts, thus failing to maintain reasonable communication with the client regarding her case. In the third case, the panel found that after Huie was paid $2,000 to represent a client in a criminal matter, he failed to appear for a scheduled court hearing and failed to inform the client and the court that his license to practice law was administratively suspended, in compliance with Rule 13.01 of the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure. Additionally, after Huie was terminated by the client, he failed to withdraw from the case and to take steps reasonably practicable to protect the client’s interests. Huie also failed to maintain reasonable communication with the client regarding his case. In the fourth case, the panel found Huie was paid $6,000, in July 2018, to represent a client in multiple criminal matters and failed to appear for two scheduled court hearings in 2019. Additionally, the panel found Huie failed to inform the client and the court that his license to practice law was administratively suspended, in compliance with Rule 13.01 of the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure. Subsequently, after Huie was terminated by the client, he failed to withdraw from the client’s representation and to take steps reasonably practicable to protect the client’s interests. Further, Huie failed to respond to the client’s numerous communication attempts, thus failing to maintain reasonable communication with the client regarding his case. Huie violated Rules 1.01(b)(1), 1.03(a), 1.15(a)(1), 1.15(d), and 8.04(a)(10) of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, Article X, Section 9, State Bar Rules. He was ordered to pay $2,500 in restitution in the first case.

On November 17, 2020, Ben L. Ivey III [#24032462], 46, of El Paso, accepted a public reprimand. An investigatory panel of the District 17 Grievance Committee found that Ivey failed to promptly notify and deliver funds to parties entitled to receive funds. Ivey violated Rule 1.14(b). He was ordered to pay $2,800 in restitution and $750 in attorneys’ fees and direct expenses.

Full Article & Source:

28 Lawyers & Judges Publically Disciplined on January List

Elderly exploitation suspect to remain in jail

by Sandy Hodson

A woman jailed three years ago for multiple charges of neglect and exploitation of an elderly adult will remain in custody because she hasn't been able to post the $20,000 bond.

Attorneys for Julia Hunter, 63, tried to persuade the judge during a Richmond County Superior Court bond hearing Tuesday that her situation is unfair. She has been jailed for three years because she has no money of her own or family able to make a $20,000 bond. If and when she could stand trial is unknown. The chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court suspended all jury trials in the state last month because of the worsening pandemic.

Hunter has pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against her in a 15-count indictment.

She was arrested Dec. 25, 2017, about a month after she was found in the home of an 88-year-old retired medical school professor. The smell of chemicals from the manufacturing of methamphetamine combined with the smell of dirt, mold and rotting food made the home unbearable, according to the officer who responded to the family's and neighbor's request for a welfare check on the elderly man.

Two other people – John Unger, 32, and Grace McCarthy, 26 – also face charges in the same case. They have each pleaded not guilty and are free on bond.

Hunter has no history of felony convictions. The prosecutor consented to the $20,000 bond, but objected to Hunter's request to be released on her own recognizance. Judge James G. Blanchard Jr. rejected the request for an own-recognizance bond in August 2019 and again Tuesday.

Defense attorney Andrew Williams found a 12-week in-patient rehabilitation program for Hunter. Assistant District Attorney Tom Watkins opposed the request for the OR bond Tuesday.

Blanchard said Tuesday that he might reconsider bond if the defense can convince him of Hunter's stabilityto reduce chances of possible flight or harm to the community.

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Elderly exploitation suspect to remain in jail

Wisconsin police arrest hospital worker suspected of intentionally spoiling Covid vaccine doses

Investigation launched after medical centre says worker admitted leaving 500 doses out of refrigeration

Boxes containing the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine sit in a refrigerator at Augusta University in Georgia. Photograph: Michael Holahan/AP

Police in Wisconsin said on Thursday evening that they had arrested a hospital employee who was fired after being suspected of intentionally spoiling hundreds of doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Law enforcement and federal authorities in the US had already been investigating after a health center in the state said an employee admitted to deliberately spoiling 500 doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

Aurora medical center, in Grafton, first reported that the doses of the Moderna vaccine had been spoiled on Saturday, saying a staff member had accidentally left them out of refrigeration overnight.

On Wednesday, however, it said the doses appeared to have been spoiled deliberately.

Police in Grafton, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, said the department, the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration were investigating the case.

A pharmacist at the suburban medical center deliberately removed hundreds of coronavirus vaccine doses from refrigeration and left them out overnight – twice, not just once as officials had initially believed, the health system’s chief medical officer said later on Thursday.

Employees at the Aurora medical center in Grafton inoculated nearly 60 people with the ruined vaccine, not knowing the doses had been left out too long, rendering their shots less effective or ineffective, Jeff Bahr, the chief medical officer for Aurora Advocate Health, told reporters during a teleconference.

The recipients shouldn’t be in any danger, he said, but the system is monitoring their conditions.

The pharmacist intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration, Bahr said, but he declined to comment on the individual’s motive, saying the person has been fired and police are investigating.

He did not identify the pharmacist and stressed that the facility’s security protocols are sound.

“This was a situation involving a bad actor, as opposed to a bad process,” he said.

Police said they were notified of the alleged tampering on Wednesday night, but that no other information would be immediately released. They declined to say if any arrests had been made.

In a statement late on Wednesday, Aurora said the employee involved “acknowledged that they intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration”. Aurora said it had fired the person in question and referred the matter to the authorities. The statement said nothing about a possible motive for the action.

“We continue to believe that vaccination is our way out of the pandemic. We are more than disappointed that this individual’s actions will result in a delay of more than 500 people receiving their vaccine,” the statement said.

The tampering will delay inoculation for hundreds of people, Aurora Health officials said, in a state where 3,170 new cases were reported and 40 people died on Wednesday of Covid-19, according to the Washington Post’s coronavirus tracker.

Leonard Peace, an FBI spokesman in Milwaukee, would not comment on the bureau’s involvement but said of the episode: “We’re aware of it.”

Initiating an internal review on Monday, hospital officials said they were initially “led to believe” the incident was caused by “inadvertent human error”.

The vials were removed on Friday and most were discarded on Saturday, with only a few still safe to administer, according to an earlier statement from the health system. Each vial has enough for 10 vaccinations but can sit at room temperature for only 12 hours.

Two days later, the employee acknowledged having “intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration”, according to the hospital statement, the Washington Post reported.

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Wisconsin police arrest hospital worker suspected of intentionally spoiling Covid vaccine doses

Former client of disbarred KY lawyer Eric Conn sues to overturn 100s of judgments

By Bill Estep

A former client of disbarred attorney Eric C. Conn has sued to try to overturn hundreds of small-claims lawsuit judgments that Conn pursued against people he represented in Eastern Kentucky.

The judgments have likely caused problems for Conn’s former clients that include damage to their credit scores, losing out on loans and being passed over for jobs, the lawsuit claims.

Some face potential arrest on outstanding warrants they don’t even know exist, according to the complaint.

The man who sued Conn, James K. Gillman, is serving a two-year jail sentence and fears the judgment Conn obtained against him will jeopardize his chance of being released on parole, said his attorney, Ned Pillersdorf.

“This is just the exploitation of vulnerable people,” Pillersdorf said of Conn’s small-claims actions against clients.

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/state/kentucky/article248288575.html#storylink=cpy

Conn had an office in Floyd County and lived in Pikeville. He once had one of the largest, most lucrative disability practices in the nation, winning Social Security benefits for thousands of people in Appalachia and getting rich in the process, but ultimately admitted his success was built on massive fraud.

He put false evidence of clients’ disabilities in their claims, paid health professionals to sign the claims with little oversight, and bribed a Social Security judge to approve them.

No evidence has been presented that clients were involved in the scheme.

However, the judge, David B, Daugherty, who has since died, pleaded guilty in the case, and Charlie Paul Andrus, once a supervisory Social Security judge, pleaded guilty to helping retaliate against an employee who blew the whistle on the fraud.

A psychologist who received payments from Conn, Alfred Bradley Adkins, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/state/kentucky/article248288575.html#storylink=cpy

Conn, who fled the country for several months before he was fully sentenced in 2018, is serving a 27-year sentence at a prison in West Virginia.

Fugitive lawyer Eric Conn is taken in to custody by FBI agents on the tarmac at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, December 5, 2017. Matt Goins

Pillersdorf, who is handling the case with Lexington attorney Mark Wohlander, said Conn had a doctor evaluate clients at a charge of $400.

Conn filed hundreds of small-claims lawsuits in district court in Pike County to get back the $400, going after disabled people who had little money even though he was making millions, Pillerdorf said.

Gillman, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, only found out in December that Conn had sued him in 2004, according to his lawsuit.

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/state/kentucky/article248288575.html#storylink=cpy

A judge held Gillman in contempt and levied a 10-day sentence for not answering questions in the case, his lawsuit said.

That was an unusual sanction for that type of alleged violation, and Gillman’s wasn’t the only case where it happened, Pillersdorf said, calling Conn’s tactics a “shameful exploitation” of the court system.

In 2002, Conn had resigned from practicing before the Veterans’ Affairs Disability Benefits Program while under investigation, meaning it was improper for him to later handle Social Security disability cases and misuse the Pike County court system to collect fees from clients, Gillman’s lawsuit argues.

Pillersdorf said Conn collected money from some former clients through the small-claims complaints, but many of them received no notice of the lawsuits or judgments.

There may be contempt citations or active warrants for people who don’t know they exist, and the judgments have the potential to cause problems for people, Pillersdorf said.

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/state/kentucky/article248288575.html#storylink=cpy

“Credit agencies can find this in two seconds,” he said.

The lawsuit seeks to have the judgments set aside and purged from the system of public records. It also seeks class-action status to potentially include hundreds of former clients of Conn.

Full Article & Source:

Former client of disbarred KY lawyer Eric Conn sues to overturn 100s of judgments

Vaccinations underway at local long term care facilities

by Angela Kerndl

YAKIMA COUNTY -- Nursing homes in the Yakima Valley have begun administering COVID-19 vaccines to residents and staff.

Landmark Care was the first nursing home in the county to administer the vaccines. Nearly all of the residents at Landmark Care have gotten their first doses.

"I'm just going to be happy when all of this is over, and then we can go on with our lives," says 88-year-old resident at Landmark, Freddie Green.

The Yakima Health District says making sure staff and residents at nursing homes and assisted living facilities is an extremely high priority. Lilian Bravo with the health district says she doesn't yet know exact numbers on how many doses have been delivered and administered and to which local long term care centers.

So far at least Prestige Care in Union Gap and Willow Springs in Yakima have begun administering vaccines to residents and staff.

Landmark says 57 of its 62 people who stay here, and 32 staff have gotten their first shot.

"We're actually starting to turn, and I can see an end. That's the most important thing," says Jane Davis, an administrator at Landmark.

Green got his first shot last Tuesday. He and his wife survived COVID-19 after being hospitalized in May with severe symptoms.

"We're recovered, and we're miracles because we were both very bad. They didn't expect us to live," says Green.

He was eager to get that vaccine in his arm.

"I'm just looking forward to when this is over, so that we can all get together, you know congregate," says Green.

Since the pandemic began, the hardest part, he says is having to be on lockdown. March was the last time he got to see his daughters inside.

"Oh it's terrible. The fifth of March was the last time that we got to you know hug them and be with them," says Green.

Davis says she's hoping they'll get to allow visitors back inside the building by the summer, when more of the community has gotten the vaccine.

"We want our families back in our building with our residents," says Davis.

The Yakima Health District today says it will still take some time before everyone in group 1-A receives the vaccine because of the size of our county and the amount of people who work in health care here.

Full Article & Source:

Vaccinations underway at local long term care facilities

The Holocaust Stole My Youth. Covid-19 Is Stealing My Last Years.

A Holocaust survivor reflects on what it means to survive the pandemic.

 

By Toby Levy
Ms. Levy is a retired accountant and a volunteer docent for the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

Desiree Rios for The New York Times

These days, I’m a little bored.

The boardwalk is my lifesaver. I’m two blocks from the boardwalk. I can walk to Coney Island if I want to. I go alone. I have some friends here. We used to play canasta once a week. But when Covid arrived, my daughter insisted, “You can’t sit in one room!” So I talk on the phone. I read. The grandkids call in by Zoom. I also do a little bit of Zoom lecturing for the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

I keep very busy, and it helps me a lot. I am trying not to give up. But what is getting me down is that I am losing a year. And this bothers me terribly. I’m 87 years old, and I lost almost a full year.

I’m doing everything I can to stay connected, to make an impact. So even now, amid Covid, I tell my story to schools and to audiences the museum organizes for me, by Zoom.

Here’s what I say: I was born in 1933 in a small town called Chodorow, now Khodoriv, about 30 minutes by car from Lvov, now Lviv, in what was then Poland and is now Ukraine. We lived in the center of town in my grandfather’s house. The Russians occupied the town from 1939 to 1941, then the Germans from 1941 to 1944. My father was well liked in town by Jews and non-Jews. One day in early 1942, one of the guys came to him and said, “Moshe, it’s going to be a big killing. Better find a hiding place.” So my father built a place to hide in the cellar. My grandfather didn’t want to go. He was shot in the kitchen; we heard it.

Not long after that, the Germans said they were going to relocate the remaining Jews to the ghetto in Lvov, so my father and my aunt searched for someone to hide them more permanently. They found Stephanie, who had a house on the main street with a garden and a barn. She had known my parents their whole life. My father built a wall inside the barn and a hiding place for nine people, where we slept like herrings. It was just four feet by five feet. Pigs and chickens were on one side, and we were on the other: my parents, my aunt and uncle, my maternal grandmother and four children, ages 4, 6, 8 and 12.

The author in 1945.

Eventually, with the help of Stephanie’s 16-year-old son, they expanded the space a bit and added a way for the kids to look out. That is where I spent the next two years. I always think of the son when I get down, because when Stephanie was scared to keep hiding us, he insisted we stay.

We had lice. We had rats. But every day in the barn was a miracle. I’m not a regular person. I’m a miracle child. Most of the Jews of Chodorow never returned.

Desiree Rios for The New York Times

So when the coronavirus came, I thought, “I’m a miracle. I will make it. I have to make it.”

During the war, we didn’t know if we would make a day. I didn’t have any freedom. I couldn’t speak loudly, I couldn’t laugh, I couldn’t cry.

But now, I can feel freedom. I stay by the window and look out. The first thing I do in the morning is look out and see the world. I am alive. I have food, I go out, I go for walks, I do some shopping. And I remember: No one wants to kill me. So, still, I read. I cook a little bit. I shop a little bit. I learned the computer. I do puzzles.

I still sometimes feel that I am missing out. A full year is gone. I lost my childhood, I never had my teenage years. And now, in my old age, this is shortening my life by a year. I don’t have that many years left. The way we have lived this year means I have lost many opportunities to lecture, to tell more people my story, to let them see me and know the Holocaust happened to a real person, who stands in front of them today. It’s important.

Desiree Rios for The New York Times

I am scared that I am not going to be in the shape I was a year ago. When this started in March, one of my grandchildren, who lives in New Jersey, went to Maine with his wife; they never came back. They have a baby boy now, and I have only seen him on Zoom. This child will never know me. That’s a loss.

Some of what I’m missing is so simple. I have a male friend I know from synagogue. We would take a trip, if we could, by car. To anyplace! I would go to Florida. Maybe even go to Israel for a couple of weeks. But not now. So, again, this has shortened my life. That is my biggest complaint.

I understand the fear people have, and I understand you have to take care.

But there is no comparison of anxiety, of the coronavirus, to the terror I felt when I was a child. That was a fear with no boundary. This is going to end, and I am already thinking, planning where I am going first, what I will do first, when this ends.

Full Article & Source:

The Holocaust Stole My Youth. Covid-19 Is Stealing My Last Years.

Florida lawyer disbarred more than a year after her death

By Amanda Robert 

The Florida Supreme Court has disbarred a lawyer who died more than a year ago.

Sabrina Starr Spradley, a 41-year-old attorney in private practice in Delray Beach, Florida, was disbarred in December. But according to an official death certificate provided to Law.com from the Florida Department of Health, she died in October 2019.

The Florida Bar requests a dismissal of formal charges against an attorney if it is notified of their death, but the rules do not require another attorney or family member to share that news, Jennifer Krell Davis, the deputy director of communications for the bar association, told Law.com.

“We do have 108,000 lawyers in Florida,” she said. “There are a lot of individuals that we regulate. We rely on people to inform us.”

Spradley was first suspended by the Florida Supreme Court in March 2018 for failing to respond to a complaint filed against her. Prior to the suspension, the Florida Bar counsel gave her more time to respond after she said she was a victim of domestic violence and looking for a new apartment.

She was suspended again in April 2019 and ordered to pay restitution to two attorneys for statements that she knew to be “made with reckless disregard as to their truth or falsity.”

The third complaint against Spradley was filed after she failed to notify her clients, judges and attorneys that the bar had twice suspended her license, which resulted in another three-year suspension. She was then disbarred after being held in contempt of the court’s order.

Randolph Braccialarghe, a law professor at the Nova Southeastern University, has worked for the Florida Bar in ethics-related cases for more than 30 years. He described the situation to Law.com as “one of those unfortunate circumstances where there was no way the bar would know.”

“How many lawyers and judges know a tenth of the lawyers practicing in their jurisdiction?” he said.

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Florida lawyer disbarred more than a year after her death

We need long-term solutions for older Americans’ long-term care

By Jasmine L. Travers

Jean-Francois Badias/AP

“Mom is getting older,” my brother said to me as we chatted on the phone. “We need to prepare.”

He started offering ideas.

“Should we make a fund for her care? There’s insurance, right?”

“You mean long-term care insurance?” I responded. “That’s a joke.”

“OK. Let’s save up. You, me, my wife, and our two siblings could contribute $100 per month. That’s $6,000 a year, a realistic start.”

But is it?

The median cost of living in a semi-private room in a nursing home for one year is $93,000. Hiring a home health aide for 40 hours a week costs $55,000. Assisted living costs $52,000.

Our mom was 70 years old. How much time would we have to save before she needed long-term care? Five years? Ten? At that point we’d only have $30,000 to $60,000 in savings.

What about our dad, who will be turning 70 in three years? What about my future spouse’s parents?

We were ahead of most families that fail to have these conversations before the need for care arises, yet we were nowhere near a solution.

To have banked enough money for our parents’ care, we should have started more than 30 years ago — but we were barely out of our mother’s womb.

Plan for long-term care, they say. But how? Even as a gerontological nurse practitioner and a researcher focused on improving delivery of this essential service for older adults, I was lost.

Nearly 70% of adults 65 years and over will need long-term care. That means assistance with activities of daily living like getting dressed, preparing and eating meals, bathing, and more. Nursing homes, adult day services, assisted living, home health aides, and informal caregivers can provide this help. Yet one-quarter of adults fail to believe they will need extended care and so don’t plan for it.

When long-term care is needed, many older adults and their families are hit with the realization that Medicare does not cover it. Anything beyond rehabilitation or 100 days of nursing home care is the older adult’s responsibility. A long-term care system exists only for the impoverished (Medicaid) and the wealthy (self-pay). There is no robust system for the middle-income people who make up half of the U.S. population, and there are threats to the sustainability of Medicaid, which currently covers 62% of all nursing home residents.

These issues are framed as a failure to plan, but there is little support for planning, and planning doesn’t solve many of the problems. Without a long-term care infrastructure, most Americans face exorbitant costs, undue burdens, and threats to their well-being in older adulthood.

Concerns about long-term care have been complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately affected older adults, especially in long-term care facilities. Families have weighed their options: Should mom be in a nursing home, with increased risks for isolation, infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, and death? (Long-term care facilities currently face decreased occupancy and insufficient funding.) Or should she be at home with the accompanying family, work, health, and safety challenges?

Government funding is the most obvious solution to building a long-term care system and reshaping and supporting planning for long-term care, but efforts in this area have failed. For example, Maine proposed a universal home care initiative in 2018 to provide no-cost home care, but it was voted down due to fears that taxing those who made more than $128,000 a year (especially physicians) would cause people to relocate to other states. In 2011, the federal Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act proposed to provide up to $50 a day in cash benefits to help families pay for in-home assistance or nursing home care, but it was plagued with unreasonable premiums and uncertain sustainability.

The first state social insurance program for long-term care was recently initiated in Washington. Beginning in 2022, all of the state’s residents will pay into a long-term care trust fund $5.80 for every $1,000 of their income. This program provides a glimpse of hope, although the first payout for an individual’s long-term care won’t occur for 10 years after paying into the trust — three years after a catastrophic disabling event — and has a lifetime cap of $36,500.

Long-term care needs to be on the new administration’s agenda. Efforts that increase access to long-term care financing, resources, services, and supports are needed at all levels: local, state, federal and for all socioeconomic groups. No family should shoulder the burden of long-term care planning alone.

My brother and I will work together to make a plan, and we are fortunate to be having these conversations earlier and with more resources than some families. But for all families, long-term care needs long-term solutions.

Jasmine Travers is a gerontological nurse practitioner and an assistant professor of nursing at New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing.

Full Article & Source: 

We need long-term solutions for older Americans’ long-term care

These nursing homes kept Covid-19 out for 7 months. Here's what caregivers learned

by Lou Michel , Scott Scanlon

Administrator of Slate Valley Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Janice Doughman, left, and Director of Nursing Tamme Taran "socially distance" for a photo outside the center's employee entrance in Granville.

Jenn March

Covid-19 hit many of New York’s nursing homes with illness and deaths, but a facility in a rural pocket of the state best known for its slate quarries has fought off the virus.

For seven months, Slate Valley Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing was one of only 16 nursing homes in the state untouched by the novel coronavirus, according to federal and state statistics. 

Not a single one of its approximately 80 residents and more than 100 workers had tested positive for the virus or were suspected of having it through Sept. 27. 

Elsewhere in New York, more than 27,000 nursing home residents and workers had tested positive and more than 6,000 died with Covid-19 during that same time period.

When two Slate Valley staffers and a resident tested positive for the virus in late September and October, they showed no symptoms and follow-up tests came back negative, officials at the facility said.

So how has this nursing home managed to protect its residents and staff?

“It was education, education, education and the staff respected that education. The staff wanted to learn and they wanted to do it right,” said Tamme Taran, the facility’s director of nursing who until recently doubled as its onsite infection control specialist.

Longtime certified nursing assistant Savannah Lee Parker said she and her coworkers realized that if they kept themselves safe at work and in their off hours, everyone benefited.

“If we as a team keep each other safe, we keep our residents safe as well,” Parker said.

“We’ve avoided crowds and there are some licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants who are a little older and do not go to the grocery store. They still have their groceries delivered,” Parker said of the extra precautions.

Janice Doughman, the nursing home’s administrator, is reluctant to say her nursing home did anything out of the ordinary.   

“We took it seriously, but I think everybody was trying to do that. I don’t think we are unique in that,” Doughman said.

Nursing Director Tamme Taran gets her temperature checked by a receptionist at Slate Valley Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Granville.

Jenn March

Working in the nursing home’s favor, Doughman said, may be the fact that it is situated in sparsely populated Washington County.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 61,204 residents in the county. The closest city, Glens Falls, is a 35-minute drive and has a population of 14,348.

Expert recommendations

While Slate Valley's administrator said she can't point to one strategy or practice that kept her facility safer than others, experts in long-term care identified some factors that may help nursing homes in general. 

They include: 

• Low community spread, which lessens the odds that workers or visitors will bring the virus to senior living campuses.
• A stable, well-informed staff working regularly with the same patients.
• Nursing home designs that split residents and workers into subgroups and limit interactions with others on-site. 

But there is no silver bullet, industry leaders, resident advocates and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stress. 

Slate Valley didn't follow all of those strategies, but low community spread may have benefited it.

As of Dec. 23, Washington County had a total of 677 people test positive for Covid-19 and 14 of its residents die with the virus.

It had a positive test rate of 1.3%. Statewide, the positive test rate is three times higher, at 3.7%. Only three of New York's 62 counties had a lower positivity rate than Washington County, as of Dec. 23. 

"The best action states can do is to focus on reducing the level of Covid in the surrounding communities, ensuring nursing homes have adequate PPE and testing resources and getting the vaccine rolled out as soon as possible to long-term care residents and staff,” said Mark Parkinson, chief executive officer the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living.

Another nursing home that had success keeping Covid at bay, Kendal at Ithaca, is located in Tompkins County. Just .2% of the 847,969 residents tested were positive for Covid-19 as of Dec. 23, the lowest rate for any county in the state. 

Same community, different experiences

While the amount of spread within a community can play a role, nursing homes within the same community can have very different Covid experiences. 

For instance, Canterbury Woods in Amherst had success against Covid-19 through the spring and summer that mirrored Slate Valley's. Through Nov. 29, the 50-bed facility, ranked at five stars, or "much above average," had four residents test positive for Covid-19 and none die from the virus, according to data it provided to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Five workers had also tested positive. 

Just four miles away, Comprehensive Rehabilitation & Nursing Center of Williamsville, a 142-bed facility with a one-star "much below average" rating, had 70 residents test positive and 12 die through Nov. 29. Thirty-nine workers there also tested positive, according to the federal statistics.

Despite the difference in ratings between the two facilities, studies show that five-star nursing homes are roughly as likely as facilities with two to four stars to do a good or poor job withstanding coronavirus spread, said Dr. Bruce Troen, director of the Center for Successful Aging at the University at Buffalo and chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine in the UB Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Neighborhood design

Kendal at Ithaca checks other boxes that experts recommend for keeping Covid-19 out of nursing homes and keeping caregivers safe.  

Many nursing homes rely on nursing staff hired through employment agencies to supplement their own staff. But Kendal at Ithaca does not hire agency workers, said Laurie Mante, the facility's executive director.

Kendal at Ithaca sits on a 105-acre campus and includes 167 cottages and 69 apartments for independent living, as well as three skilled-nursing care “neighborhoods,” each with 16 residents. The same nurses and certified nursing aides are assigned to work in the same pod each day, which limits the number of people coming into contact with each resident.

That strategy and facility design helped limit staff and resident spread to one of those "neighborhoods" until mid-November, when two Kendal at Ithaca residents who live together in an independent living apartment tested positive.

Mante said frequent coronavirus-prevention training, encouragement from supervisors and co-workers, and regular signals from owners and operators that they put staff and residents first are cornerstones of "a culture of shared accountability and caring” that helped protect that facility against the virus.

“This virus will look for an opportunity,” she said, “so you're only as strong as your weakest link.”

Like Canterbury Woods, Kendal at Ithaca in recent weeks has also had a relatively small number of residents and staff test positive.

“We're in the middle of an outbreak, so I'm certainly not comfortable putting ourselves out there as experts on prevention,” said Mante, who, like administrators at Canterbury Woods, declined to be interviewed at length about the keys to their successes because they said their luck could change in an instant.

“It’s literally a minute-to-minute battle,” said Rob Wallace, Canterbury Woods' president and chief executive officer. “We are doing everything we can to stay ahead of things, especially as the dynamics in the surrounding community continue to change on a daily basis.”

WGRZ-TV interviews Buffalo News reporters about nursing homes having success against Covid-19

Industry problems 

There are long-standing problems in some of New York's long-term care facilities – including low wages, understaffing and infection control – that contributed to the spread of Covid-19, according to some experts.  

Long-term care facilities have accounted for 6% of positive tests in the U.S. but 39% of deaths from Covid-19, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. One in five of the 35,000 New Yorkers who’ve died lived in long-term care.

Many nursing homes that have succeeded in limiting the number of Covid-infected residents in Western New York focus on intense training, work hard to keep a stable, well-supplied workforce, and share the true extent of coronavirus-related challenges on their campuses, said Lindsay Heckler, supervising attorney at the Center for Elder Law and Justice in Buffalo.

Public health inspectors can assure these steps are taken across the state by checking more often on staff operations, especially during off-hours, Heckler said.

“Nursing homes are best staffed during the day, however what we see through (federal) payroll data is that on weekends and holidays, they're severely short-staffed," she said.

The pandemic also underlines one of the biggest factors that can make elder care settings tinder boxes for an infectious spread, Heckler said.

“People who are providing care to another human being should not be making minimum wage,” she said. “What they're doing is literally backbreaking labor and they're paid less than someone working at Tim Hortons. If you want people to do a good job, they have to be supported in their career. If they're having challenges, whether it's child care or whatever, does the facility or the operator group do enough to support them?”

A Government Accountability Office report published in May said four of every five nursing homes across the U.S. were cited for infection prevention and control lapses from 2013 and 2017. Roughly half had persistent problems over multiple years.

“Before Covid hit, our nursing homes were risky, risky places for both nonserious and life-threatening infections,” Troen said. “This pandemic is a clarion call that we need to fix them.” 

At Slate Valley

Slate Valley in Granville achieved its success against Covid-19 without employing some of the factors that some industry leaders recommend. 

The 88-bed nursing home, which the federal government ranks overall at four stars, or “above average,” has a traditional layout, with two wings of mostly double occupancy rooms.

It is not on the cutting edge when it comes to advanced nursing home industry models, such as the “greenhouse” approach, which features smaller residential-like units with private rooms and permanent staffs.

Slate Valley, a for-profit facility owned by Centers Health Care in New York City, also relies on agency workers to fill staffing gaps, a common practice among nursing homes, one that experts have said may be responsible for spreading Covid from facility to facility. But Doughman added that most of the contract workers are considered “regulars,” and not strangers.

Doughman thinks an on-site prayer group started by workers to cope with the demands of the pandemic might have played a role in her facility's success.

“We don’t know of one thing we’ve done differently from any other nursing home, except the prayer, and I don’t even know if that is unique to us,” the administrator said.

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This story was produced through the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations and universities. The group is supported by the Solutions Journalism Network.

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These nursing homes kept Covid-19 out for 7 months. Here's what caregivers learned