State Rep. Jaime Greene today voted to strengthen oversight,
licensing, training, and accountability for professional guardians and
conservators in Michigan.
“When the court gives one person authority over another person’s
life, that power must come with accountability,” said Greene
(R-Richmond). “A guardian or conservator can make decisions about where
someone lives, what medical care they receive, how their money is
handled, and whether they are able to maintain basic personal
independence. That is too much power to hand over without clear
standards, proper vetting, and real oversight.”
The bill package, made up of House Bills 4727, 4728, 4729, and
4959, creates a licensing structure for professional guardians and
conservators, requires background checks, establishes education and
continuing training requirements, requires professional liability
insurance, and creates a public list of licensed professional guardians
and conservators. It also makes clear that courts should look first to
family members, trusted nominees, patient advocates, or other suitable
individuals before appointing a professional guardian or conservator.
“This is not about attacking families who step up to care for loved
ones,” Greene said. “This is about making sure that people who serve as
professional guardians and conservators meet a basic standard of trust,
training, and transparency.”
Across Michigan, vulnerable adults have been financially exploited by
people entrusted with their care. In Mason County, a Scottville woman
was convicted on multiple counts of embezzlement from vulnerable adults
and caregiver commingling of funds after taking advantage of individuals
who depended on her. Cases like this demonstrate why Michigan must be
serious about protecting people who may not be able to protect
themselves.
The Michigan Attorney General’s Elder Abuse Task Force has
also identified long standing concerns in the guardianship system,
including inconsistent practices across the state, limited safeguards,
unnecessary or overly restrictive guardianships, and lack of
accountability when individuals lose control over major life decisions.
Disability Rights Michigan has reported receiving thousands of calls
from people with disabilities seeking help, including individuals
reporting abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation by guardians.
“Some of the people impacted by guardianship are seniors with
dementia,” Greene said. “Some are adults with developmental
disabilities. Some are people recovering from illness or injury. Some
are simply in the middle. They are not fully independent, but they are
not helpless either. Those are exactly the people who can be overlooked
by the system. These bills say their dignity still matters. Their
property still matters. Their voices still matter. Their safety still
matters.”
Greene said she will continue working to ensure the legislation
protects vulnerable people while also making sure courts, especially in
rural communities, have access to qualified guardians when no family
member or trusted individual is available.
“We need to raise the standard without creating a shortage of good
people willing to serve,” Greene said. “The goal is simple: remove bad
actors, protect vulnerable people, and make sure those who truly need
help can still receive it.”
Ann Cowan, a caregiver at Corinth Road Personal Care Home in Newnan, has been arrested and charged with two counts of exploitation and intimidation of disabled adults, elderly persons, and residents. The charges follow allegations of elder abuse, including leaving medication out of reach for a wheelchair-bound resident and assaulting an elderly man with dementia. Cowan is currently in jail with a bond set at $10,000. A former coworker who witnessed some of the alleged abuse hopes that coming forward will encourage others to do the same.
LANCASTER, S.C. (WBTV/Gray
News) - A man in South Carolina is accused of holding four “vulnerable
adults” captive in his basement and stealing their money.
Donnie
Birchfield Jr., 36, was arrested after Lancaster police responded to an
unattended death on July 25 at a home on Churchill Drive.
Donnie
Birchfield Jr., 36, was arrested after Lancaster police responded to an
unattended death on July 25 at a home on Churchill Drive.(Lancaster County Sheriff's Office)
According to a report, officers learned that Birchfield had cared for
multiple people in his basement and allegedly had been using at least
two of their debit cards and one bank account.
Officers alleged Birchfield financially exploited four people, identified as vulnerable adults, starting in September 2022.
For
almost three years, Birchfield allegedly made dozens of purchases using
the debit cards and the bank account number to pay for services for
himself and to pay his own credit card bills.
Birchfield was arrested on Aug. 2 and charged with:
Four counts of exploitation of a vulnerable adult
Four counts of false imprisonment
Two counts of domestic violence high and aggravated nature
Two counts of abuse of a vulnerable adult
Two counts of financial transaction card theft
One count of transaction card fraud
One count of financial identity fraud
He
was placed under a $150,000 bond. According to Lancaster police, more
charges were possible as the case remained under investigation.
ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WACH) — Investigators with the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety (ODPS) say five vulnerable adults ranging in age from 99 to 52 were in imminent danger when they were found in heavily soiled undergarments in the back of a Broughton Street barbershop.
During the December 27 investigation, officials say they were told that a man inside a closet room area ate himself to death and passed away on Christmas Eve, according to the incident report.
ODPS officials say bond was set a $30,000 for 40-year-old Shaneima Montgomery of Saint George on January 5 in connection to the crimes.
The Lemon Drive woman was arrested on January 4 and is charged with five counts of neglect and financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult. The incident reports also states:
The building is deemed unsafe for residential living due to the following: building is not zoned for residential, building lacks necessary fire and safety systems that are required for individuals living in an institutional occupancy to include automatic sprinkler system and fire alarm system
The building does not have a kitchen sink
The building does not have bathing facilities
The exterior and interior doors are not adequate, the door hardware does not allow for accessible and safe egress
The front door was secured by a turn latch only, the exit door from the rear of the building where the stove was located has a twist style doorknob with a turn latch above and the third exit door was through a room where storage created exiting obstacles and a narrow path to the door
The storage room exit door had a twist style doorknob with a turn latch above
The victims rooms were keyed on the exterior to allow for locking of the victims within their rooms
The building is unlicensed and lacking appropriate DHEC licensing, inspections, and documented staff training necessary for the care and supervision of vulnerable adults
The building has several fire hazards to include lack of portable fire extinguishers, lack of sufficient emergency lighting, a residential stove was installed in the rear area but not in use with intent present to eventually utilize for cooing operations without a fire suppression system in place
The building does not have any interior handrails installed for vulnerable adults as a travel support, medication was not properly stored
The exterior of the building does not have a handicap rail that would be utilized for the victims in wheelchairs to safely transport in and out of the building
The oxygen cylinders were stored improperly to include no posted signs stating "OXYGEN IN USE", etc.
NEWKIRK — A warrant is issued for Cornelius James White, 58, Ponca City, by the Kay County District Court.
White is facing a felony count of abuse, exploitation and or neglect of a vulnerable adult.
Ponca City police report that on Sept. 3 officers responded to a residence in reference to a 74-year-old female.
A
relative told police that White is supposed to be taking care of the
female and that she had fallen a few weeks before and suffered bruises.
The
relative reportedly said that on Sept. 1 the female was transported via
ambulance to the hospital and admitted to the critical care unit after
she was found to be malnourished and unbathed.
An officer
reportedly went to the hospital and spoke to the female. She reportedly
claimed that White has been taking care of her and denied allegations
that he assaulted her.
A nurse at the hospital reportedly told
police that it was obvious that the female was being neglected when she
arrived at the hospital.
The nurse stated that the female’s diaper
was so full, “that mounds of feces were inside” and that she had “urine
up in her neck and hair.” The nurse reported that it took 45 minutes to
get the female cleaned up.
EMS workers reported that when they
arrived at the residence, the female was sitting in her own urine and
feces that was all the way up to her neck.
An officer made contact with White.
He
reportedly stated that he is having a hard time taking care of the
female and that he uses her credit card with permission to get food.
Police report that White smelled of alcohol.
Police obtained
medical records and report that medical record abuse assessment section
stated that there was no assessment findings of abuse or indications of
neglect noted.
A warrant with bond endorsed at $2,500 is issued for White’s arrest.
Conservatorships have become a hot topic in the tabloids fairly
recently. From Britney Spears to the most recent scandal involving
retired NFL star Michael Oher, it is evident that the concept of
guardianship and conservatorships are not foreign in the minds of the
general public.
At their base, conservatorships
are permissions that allow an adult to take responsibility and control
over either the personal needs or the financial assets of another adult
who is considered unable to care for themselves.
Often, these agreements help hide the presence of the physical,
psychological and financial abuse being committed towards conservatees,
while also permitting conservators full control over their bodies and
livelihoods.
However, when discussing celebrity conservatorships, there is often a
missing structural analysis that is critical to justifying the need for
stricter and more regulated processes for approving this kind of
drastic legal decision.
The experiences suffered by these personalities are both unjust and
cruel. However, highlighting these experiences with conservatorships
over those of more marginalized and affected populations that routinely
encounter the threat of being found incapable of deciding what is best
for themselves.
I believe that there needs to be clear medical guidelines that not
only ensure that conservatees truly need the constant oversight that
conservatorships offer, but also that the conservator is mentally and
emotionally sound enough to take care of someone responsibly.
Although fairly commonplace in the United States, conservatorships
are especially a threat to both disability rights and the well–being of aging Americans.
In the last few years, the number of conservatorships around the country has been stagnant but huge, with an estimated 1.3 million people being committed to conservatorships around the country right now.
Of those cases, more than a million, 85% of them
are over the age of 65. Even more worryingly, statistics seem to
support the notion that institutional malpractice plays a role in how
these elders and others committed to conservatorships are able to be
abused behind closed doors.
In 2010, a federal report detailed hundreds of cases
of alleged abuse being committed towards conservatees, with most of
these being linked to family members who were acting as guardians.
However, there were several cases of abuse found that could be
attributed to professional conservators and the companies they work for.
In many cases, families might appoint a professional conservator if
they feel they might not be able or capable of taking care of their
family member by themselves. As such, these individuals are not as
knowledgeable on the wants and needs of their conservatees.
The lack of autonomy that surges from either one of these
conservatorship options should create a sense of worry for anyone who is
concerned with equity for those who might simply not be able to
communicate themselves or reason as “normally” as a judge deems
necessary.
As a great majority of conservatees are of older age, not only do
ageist legislative practices such as restrictive conservatorships strip
away their financial and bodily autonomy, in many cases the decisions
made by conservators end up changing what were supposed to be peaceful
and well-deserved moments of rest into whatever the conservator decides
is most appropriate.
However, it is understandable that sometimes conservatorships are
necessary in order to ensure that a person is as duly protected and
advocated for when looking to receive treatments or invest money.
The practice of conservatorship can obviously not be abolished. In a
world where those who might genuinely not have the intellectual
capabilities necessary to absorb information and use it to make informed
decisions, there do need to be protections established that accommodate
for their needs.
Many disability rights advocates advise that a more receptive
approach to conservatee input could help lower chances of abuse within
these relationships. Instead of simply needing the consent of the
conservator in certain decisions, there should need to be two
authorizations: one from the guardian and one from their conservatee.
Additionally, there needs to be more coverage of conservatorships
that align with the circumstances that most Americans living with them
are actually subject to.
Although it is nice to see how media attention tips the scale in the
favor of beloved public figures, it also negates the actual problem
found within conservatorships: the ease with which they can be acquired
and the difficulties found when trying to break these agreements.
Being tied to something as well-known as “Disney” provides for
interesting conversations. Mention “probate court” and eyes glaze over.
My stepson, Brad Disney Lund, the grandson of Walt Disney, and our
family have been in protracted probate cases for more than 13 years.
Brad won his Arizona case, our family vindicated of any wrongdoing, but
the people we met and what we learned about the probate system in the
United States revealed a nightmare worse than any evil portrayed in
fantasy. (Deposit Photos)
Being connected to something as well-known as “Disney” provides for
interesting conversations. Mention “probate court” and eyes glaze over.
The connection to one has made me all too familiar with the other. My
stepson, Brad Disney Lund, the grandson of Walt Disney, and our family
have been in protracted probate cases for over 13 years. Brad won his
Arizona case, our family vindicated of any wrongdoing, but the people we
met and what we learned about the probate system in our country
revealed a nightmare worse than any evil portrayed in fantasy. The Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals called the probate court in our case “The Most
Unhappy Place on Earth.”
These real-life experiences invoke questions of how this is even
legal in America. When compared, the pattern of practice across the
country becomes obvious. The Department of Justice has years of
documented physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, physical
abandonment, and financial exploitation from probate actions. More
accounts are found with a simple internet search.
People being denied due process, stripped of every dime they saved,
robbed of pensions, restricted of precious time with loved ones, drugged
and left to develop bedsores, pushed into declining health ultimately
to die penniless and often alone, motivated me to seek change. Which is
why two probate reform bills, SB1291 and SB1038, are in our Legislature
this session. Both bills have garnered immense bipartisan support, are
vitally important and must become law.
Arizona law allows for a simple medical evaluation, it could be by a
registered nurse or physician assistant, to place someone under a court
order. There is no requirement for an evaluation from your long-time
personal physician, or someone specifically trained in detecting mental
and physical incapacity to perform this evaluation that will remove you
of every right you ever had. A stranger is able to determine if a person
stands to lose their civil rights and be reclassified as a “ward” in a
court action where limited evidence is required.
Enter the dystopian reality of families legally
prevented from seeing loved ones, sedation to keep the ward “calm,”
liquidation of assets and personal belongings, a likely change of
residence to fit the needs of the guardian who now bills the ward for
every aspect of care, for example $25 to open and $25 to read each piece
of mail – even junk mail. The ward loses the right to vote, to drive,
to see whomever they choose, to live where they choose, the ability to
choose their own doctor and make healthcare decisions. Essentially, all
individual decision-making is forfeited and given to the guardian, a
stranger, appointed by the courts in most cases.
When a guardian is appointed, it usually means that a conservator
over their estate is also appointed. Probate does not require great
wealth or being elderly. Owning your home, having a 401K or IRA, other
assets, Social Security or pension will do. It can start with getting
sick or having an injury with an unexpected hospitalization, a bank
account problem, or a family squabble over who takes care of someone, or
who gets the house and remaining retirement savings after mom and dad
are gone.
These events trigger the idea that there is a need for an
intervention in the care or financial management of the individual,
which ushers in the court-appointed attorneys, fiduciaries and
guardians. With relatively minimal effort, an individual’s civil rights
are removed, their life no longer under their control. Then there is the
money that is filtered through probate cases. So much money.
The money running through the probate system makes
it ripe for corruption. The United States is estimated to have 1.3
million active probate cases, including over $50 billion under
management, with a staggering $16.9 billion drained from retirement
accounts, family trusts, and lifetime savings of Baby Boomers alone. In
many cases it is the court-appointed players receiving these funds,
nicknamed “probate pirates” due to their ease at liquidating assets
while staying in the gray zone of legality. One recent article said the
current probate system “… irreparably damages entire generations of
innocent families.”
Not surprisingly, the abusers in the system are trying hard to push
back on SB1291 and SB1038 by lobbying to water down these bills. They
should not be allowed to deny the Constitutional protections against
what is happening in the probate courts to protect their status quo.
Every citizen should be concerned that our rights are so easily
eliminated and all that we hold dear and planned for, wiped away. It is
incumbent on the Arizona Legislature to pass and Gov. Katie Hobbs to
sign into law, SB1291 and SB1038.
Sherry Lund of Paradise Valley is the founder of Protecting
Liberty 5-14, a grassroots organization dedicated to protecting the
rights guaranteed in the 5th and 14th Amendments and has spent over a
decade advocating nationwide for victims of probate abuse.
Anthony Morgan is accused of neglect in the death of his elderly mother
Mary Morgan at this house on Hillcrest Drive in North Augusta.
by Greg Rickabaugh
A North Augusta man ignored injuries to his 88-year-old mother, leading to her death, authorities said Friday.
Anthony Morgan, 45, was charged Friday with abuse or neglect –
leading to death of a vulnerable adult. The victim is his 88-year-old
mother, Mary Alice Morgan, who died March 14 at the family home on
Hillcrest Drive, Coroner Darryl Ables said.
Authorities found an unclean home when they responded to her death a
4:16 p.m. that day. The woman was found in her bedroom, and her body
showed signs of neglect. An autopsy showed she died of septic shock, a life-threatening condition that happens when your blood pressure drops to a dangerously low level after an infection.
“It was due to her injuries that were not taken care of,” Ables said.
“This lady was not able to care for herself … and care was not given.”
Police said they will release a report on the death Monday, said Lt.
Junior Johnson with the North Augusta Department of Public Safety.
In March, a new law went into effect in Ohio allowing families to install cameras in nursing home rooms to monitor their loved one’s well-being.
This
legal change allowing cameras in nursing homes is an added layer of
protection for Ohio’s most vulnerable patient population.
Lawmakers passed the legislation after a decade of advocacy by one Ohio man, Steve Piskor, on behalf of his mother, Esther. Legislators named the law in honor of her: “Esther’s Law.”
The law’s namesake, Esther Piskor, resided in a Cleveland-area nursing
home. Her son, Steve, suspected that something was wrong with his
mother, so he installed a hidden camera in her room. Unfortunately, the
camera revealed numerous incidents of elder abuse,
including aides pushing and yelling at Esther, shoving her face in a
pillow, spraying liquids in her face, roughly repositioning her, and
neglecting her basic needs for hours at a time.
Esther suffered from dementia,
so she was unable to verbalize what was happening to her in the nursing
home. Initially, the nursing home denied any abuse violations and the
chart revealed perfect care provided to Mrs. Piskor.
However, the hidden camera allowed Steve to witness the abuse firsthand.
In the wake of the incident, the violent aide was sentenced to 10 years in prison and the nursing home was sued for negligence.
Esther’s
saga is not unique. As nursing home abuse attorneys, we see this
frequently. It is estimated that 1 in 4 nursing home residents suffer
from, or have witnessed, abuse. The statistics are likely higher than
the reported numbers, too.
The National Council on Aging
estimates that only 1 in 24 cases of elder abuse are reported to the
proper authorities. Elder abuse is said to affect one in 10 Americans
over the age of 60, but the real numbers are likely higher still.
Tragically, sometimes it takes actual footage of the abuse to expose what is happening to a non-verbal patient.
Some nursing home corporations do not
appropriately screen employees. Instead, they look for cheap labor. This
means that violent predators can make their way onto the company’s
payroll, gaining access to vulnerable victims that reside in the
facility.
The issue of whether a family has a legal right to install a camera in their parent's nursing home room has been a sticky one.
Many
states do not allow cameras in nursing home rooms because it might
violate the privacy rights of nursing home staff and other residents.
Nursing homes argue that allowing cameras inside rooms raises privacy concerns due to HIPAA. However, nationally, there has been a growing trend to allow cameras in facility rooms.
Luckily,
the Ohio legislature fell on the right side of this issue by passing
Esther’s Law. The Ohio House and Senate unanimously passed the bill,
after which Gov. Mike DeWine signed it into law.
Families can now purchase ordinary nanny cams
and place them in their loved one’s nursing home room. Families should
discuss their intentions with nursing home management, so the proper
notice is given to facility staff.
Even if you do not intend on watching it regularly, an unmonitored
camera can have a deterrent effect on staff. When staff suspect they are
being watched, inevitably, they will provide better care for the resident.
Every Ohioan with a loved one residing in a
long-term care facility should take advantage of this new law allowing
cameras inside resident rooms.
The age of the average American is trending upward.
By the year 2030, all Americans born during the baby boomer
generation (1946-1964) will have reached 65 years of age or older —
around 73 million individuals nationwide.
Data from the 2020 census revealed around 16% of Indiana’s population
is currently 65 years or older. According to a 2018 study by the
Indiana Business Research Center, Indiana University Kelley School of
Business, one in five Hoosiers will be senior citizens by 2030. The
recent census also showed 9.7% of Hoosiers under the age of 65 have a
disability, while 10.3% of Hoosiers above 65 are disabled.
As the age of the average Hoosier grows, so has the need for legal
representation for vulnerable seniors and endangered adults in Indiana,
according to experts.
In June 2018, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration –
Division of Aging released a state plan on aging for federal fiscal
years 2019-2022. The study stated that based on reported statistics, 11%
of those 60 years old and over suffer from some form of abuse each
year, which would mean that “in 2030 potentially 157,287 Hoosiers 65 and
older could suffer from abuse in a period of one year.”
Offering free legal help
To provide more legal resources to those in need, Indiana Legal
Services launched the Legal Assistance for Victimized Adults, or LAVA,
Project in 2017. The project was funded by a two-year grant from the
Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, which has since been renewed twice.
The LAVA Project serves individuals 60 years and older and endangered
adults (18 and older with disabilities) who are victims of a crime,
including abuse and financial exploitation. They provide free legal
help, which includes writing advice letters, assisting with negotiations
and litigating cases in court.
Also, since the addition of a social worker to the program, the
project now helps connect Hoosiers with nonlegal resources such as
housing/rentals, food assistance, mental health and public benefits
assistance.
Jessica Brock
LAVA Project Director Jessica Brock said since the program started,
it has helped more than 700 individuals statewide. The staff, which
started with two attorneys and a paralegal, has now grown to five
attorneys, a paralegal and social worker, Brock said.
Most of the cases brought to the LAVA Project are breaches of
fiduciary duty, Brock said, but they’ve also dealt with cases where
clients were being physically and verbally abused, had issues with
conversion of property and/or were victims of consumer fraud and scams.
Case types include:
Power of attorney abuse — revocations, accountings.
Brock said the organization often works with community partners in
assisting clients, primarily Adult Protective Services. She said the
LAVA Project also works with financial institutions, agencies involved
with aging around the state and private attorneys, among others.
The LAVA Project is one of the first of its kind in the country. Over
the years, Brock said the organization has presented at national
conferences, such as the American Elder Abuse and National Aging and Law
conferences, to help other organizations.
The current grant funding ends in September 2022, and LAVA will apply again in the spring.
“Our grant doesn’t have any income or asset limitation on the clients
we can help,” Brock said. “Unlike the rest of folks who might qualify
for legal aid with income and asset caps, we are not subject to those
with our grants.”
Brock has been with the project since the start and has seen the impact it has made on the clients it has served.
“We offer legal representation to victims of crimes for Hoosiers who
are over 60 and Hoosiers who are endangered adults. Those populations
are very underrepresented in Indiana and in the nation generally,” Brock
said. “The cases they present are often complicated from a factual
standpoint, and sometimes the client management can be time consuming.
For a number of reasons, it can be very difficult for these individuals
to find private legal counsel.
“For many, our services are the only civil legal services they have
available to them,” she continued. “We have filled an obvious need in
the community and that’s been demonstrated by our success.”
Assisting disabled Hoosiers
Melissa Keyes
Melissa Keyes, executive director of Indiana Disability Rights, said
she has also seen an increased need for legal representation for
Hoosiers who have disabilities who are being abused and neglected.
IDR, the service arm of the Indiana Protection & Advocacy
Services Commission, aims to protect and promote the rights of
individuals with disabilities through empowerment and advocacy.
IDR has an abuse and neglect team that conducts investigations into
allegations of abuse, neglect and exploitation and monitors facilities
like group homes, workshops, nursing homes, psychiatric residential
treatment facilities and mental health facilities for signs of abuse,
neglect and exploitation.
Keyes estimated IDR works 10-15 cases per quarter on average. She
said while IDR can’t fine a provider, they are able to do systematic
investigations thanks to the broad authority they’re given, and can
provide their findings to agencies overseeing the facilities.
IDR can also provide legal assistance to disabled Hoosiers, but it
often won’t go that far to avoid any conflicts of interest tied to their
investigations. Instead, they will often refer them to their local
private bar.
“I think it’s a bigger problem than people realize. I think one of
the most frustrating things about what we see is how little value there
is from a legal sense to a person’s life with a disability — especially
if they live in a facility,” Keyes said. “One of the things we often
hear from the private bar when we do try to make those referrals is
there’s not a whole lot of value. For example, there is often not things
like recovery of lost wages and loss of consortium or things like that.
It’s not always easy to find a private bar willing to do this.”
Keyes said IDR will only represent people with disabilities, but if
the person has a guardian and wants their guardian to be involved, they
will work with the guardian — but will take direction from the client
directly to the extent that is possible. In cases where the guardian is
the adverse party, it’s a bit more complicated, Keyes said, and it can
depend on which program they’re operating under and the type of guardian
(family vs. professional or organization) because there are slightly
different rules.
According to the federal Office for Victims of Crime, individuals
with a disability are more than twice as likely to be a victim of
violent crime as those without a disability. Between 2017 and 2019,
individuals with disabilities accounted for 26% of nonfatal violent
crime in the U.S. despite representing just 12% of the population.
Keyes said more abusers need to be held accountable in court for their actions.
“The other frustrating thing we see is how few times legitimate,
substantified incidents of abuse, neglect and exploitation, how often
those occur without prosecution or without holding the staff member
accused of that accountable,” she said. “They often get fired or resign,
and because we don’t have any good method of tracking those folks in
the state system, they turn around and go to another provider down the
street. It’s a really big problem when it comes to making sure there is
accountability for injustices that happen to folks with disabilities —
especially those in facilities.”•
Springside Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center fined $27,739
By Heather Bellow
PITTSFIELD — During last winter’s COVID-19 outbreak at Springside
Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center, call lights went unanswered for
long periods and residents with bedsores were left in their waste for up
to eight hours at a time.
That was among the findings of an
investigation that revealed neglect and abuse amid depleted staffing
levels. Fines for the violations totaled $27,739 for the 115-bed
facility owned by BaneCare.
In
a report released Feb. 5, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, based on records and interviews with regulators regarding two
out of six residents, said Springside failed to protect residents from
abuse, emotional and physical harm and mental anguish.
The report says the facility’s neglect “resulted in residents
becoming angry, upset and crying after being left in soiled briefs and
unable to obtain assistance from staff for extended periods of time.”
More than 100 cases of COVID-19, including at least 37 staffers, were reported during a January outbreak at the nursing home, prompting the state to send in a National Guard medical corps and an epidemiologist.
The
staff cases and resulting quarantines exacerbated personnel shortages,
which, documents show, long had predated the coronavirus pandemic.
The report also says there weren’t enough licensed staff, and no
registered nurses, supervising residents in the COVID-19 unit to prevent
falls and to routinely reposition all residents to prevent bedsores. At
times, there was only one certified nursing assistant per 53 residents,
and one employee said low staffing prevented vital sign monitoring
every four hours in a wing of acutely sick residents.
“Nurse #2
said staff kept asking Administration for staffing assistance, but no
additional staff arrived in a timely manner,” the report says. “During
an interview … the Acting Director of Nursing said the Facility did not
have an acuity tool to identify the resident acuity.”
Most days
from Jan. 11 to Jan. 21 had two or fewer CNAs. On one day, two shifts
had four CNAs. Springside’s own policy says nurses and certified nurse
aides are to be available 24 hours a day to help residents directly.
BaneCare, a for-profit company, has 12 centers across the state,
including two in Dalton — Sugar Hill Assisted Living Community, and the
Craneville Place Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Craneville
also has had low staffing levels and has racked up more than $65,000 in government fines
since 2019 for violations that include failing to protect residents
from sexual abuse and rape by a male resident, and not reporting it to
state officials right away.
A BaneCare spokesperson said Springside currently has 93 residents
and 119 employees, including eight RNs and 13 licensed practical nurses,
and is working hard to make sure staffing levels are solid.
“Recruitment, retention, and recognition are an ongoing focus,” wrote
Emily Sugrue, BaneCare’s director of marketing and communications. The
company aggressively is recruiting for its open nursing and direct care
positions locally and on Indeed, and offering $5,000 sign-up bonuses and
other benefits. Springside also is working to train more people in the
area to become certified nursing assistants, and giving them job
guarantees.
Springside’s posts on Indeed, an online employment
site, list wages at $13.50 to $39 per hour, depending on the job and
experience.
Since March 2020, COVID at Springside has resulted in
the deaths of 16 residents who tested positive for the virus, according
to ProPublica. It also decimated staff levels. In January, more than 109 residents and staff tested positive,
and Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer urged the facility to get help from the
state Department of Public Health, and complained that the facility was not forthcoming with the city about data.
‘Still inadequate’
Adequate staffing by RNs and other
licensed caregivers has been a problem at Springside since at least
2016, when residents complained that they weren’t always getting their
weekly showers and frequently were waiting 45 minutes to an hour to have
their call bells answered.
Low staffing is a problem across the U.S.,
where 75 percent of nursing facilities don’t have adequate levels,
according to Charlene Harrington, a professor at the University of
California-San Francisco who has co-authored research establishing
“hours-per-resident-per-day” nursing and care minimums that are crucial
to meeting federal quality standards.
The federal five-star grading system on
the Medicare website’s “nursing home compare” does not give a true
picture of staffing and other issues, Harrington said.
“They’re
graded on a curve,” she said. “You can have horribly low staffing and
still get into the high group because you’re higher than everybody else,
but you’re still inadequate.”
Harrington said the sicker the
resident, the more Medicare pays, but this doesn’t mean the company then
will hire more employees for a facility.
“They don’t deliver the staffing for what they get paid for because they don’t have to under Medicare,” she said.
For people under guardianship, the system can be dehumanizing, dangerous, and even deadly. For the professionals — who can control hundreds of people at a time — it can be very profitable. A BuzzFeed News investigation.
By Heidi Blake and Katie J.M. Baker
They can isolate you: A teenager with cerebral palsy was snatched from the school gates and hidden from his parents.
They can bleed you dry: A successful rheumatologist was declared incapacitated after a bout of depression and lost her million-dollar waterfront home.
And they can leave you to die: A 46-year-old man died under a do-not-resuscitate order that went against the desperate pleas of his wife.
All three nightmares share a common cause: These people had been
placed under the care — and control — of legal guardians. America’s
guardianship system was designed as a last resort
to be used only in the rare and drastic event that someone is totally
incapacitated by mental or physical disability. In those cases,
conscientious guardians can provide vital support, often in complex and
distressing circumstances. But an investigation by BuzzFeed News has
found that the system has grown into a vast, lucrative, and poorly
regulated industry that has subsumed more than a million people, many of
whom insist they are capable of making their own decisions, and placed
them at risk of abuse, theft, and even death.
The #FreeBritney movement
has drawn international attention to the case of Britney Spears, and
wrongdoing by individual guardians has surfaced in the past, but our
investigation reveals the systemic failings behind these isolated
stories.
In local courts across the country — often woefully unfit for the
sweeping power they command — guardians, lawyers, and expert witnesses
appear frequently before the same judges in an established network of
overlapping financial and professional interests. They are often paid
from the estate of the person whose freedom is on the line, creating
powerful incentives to form guardianships and keep them in place.
“The
judge knows the lawyers, the lawyers know each other,” said J. Ronald
Denman, a former state prosecutor and Florida lawyer who has contested
dozens of guardianships over the past decade. “The amount of abuse is
crazy. You’re going against a rigged system.”
Without being
convicted of any crime, those declared incapacitated face some of the
most severe measures that the courts can take against any US citizen.
Most freedoms articulated in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights are denied to people under full guardianship: They can lose their rights
to vote, marry, start a family, decide where they live, consent to
medical treatment, spend their money, seek employment, or own property.
Thousands of professional guardians, lawyers, and corporations now hold sway over assets totaling tens of billions
of dollars. Some guardians have hundreds of people under their control.
And despite the public perception that guardianship is a protective
measure for older adults nearing death, the system traps huge numbers of young people.
BuzzFeed News has scoured hundreds of thousands of court documents,
obtained confidential mental health filings and financial records,
examined hundreds of guardianship cases, gathered exclusive data from
extensive public records requests, conducted hundreds of interviews, and
carried out a detailed review of guardianship laws in all 50 states.
Our investigation reveals an opaque, overgrown, and malfunctioning
system wielding vast and frightening power in the dark.
People
have been abused, neglected, and killed while living under
guardianship. BuzzFeed News identified 20 cases in which young or
middle-aged people died under questionable circumstances, including
murder, severe neglect, or malnourishment. A 31-year-old man was abused
by care home staff and buried in concrete for months before his guardian
realized he was missing. No charges were brought against her and she is
still in charge of 130 people.
People under guardianship
— commonly referred to as wards — have been locked up and isolated from
their families and friends, with guardians obtaining restraining orders
to keep loved ones at bay. One professional guardian who concealed the
whereabouts of a woman’s teenage son declared “I’m mom now” and said she
had no problem “taking the noose around” the mother’s “neck and
tightening it” to keep them apart, a nurse alleged in court filings.
In
many states, guardians can force wards to undergo invasive medical
procedures including the implantation of contraceptive devices — and in
several cases, wards were permanently sterilized.
Court
clerks have failed to perform vital checks in hundreds of cases, and lax
vetting has left vulnerable people in troubling hands. The owner of one
major guardianship corporation was given control of hundreds of wards —
including young people — despite having been repeatedly accused of
domestic abuse and assault involving children.
Guardians
have had scores of younger people placed under do-not-resuscitate orders
(DNRs) — including some who have a mental illness but are physically
healthy — blocking their access to potentially lifesaving treatment if
they fall seriously ill. Several middle-aged people, including a former
space shuttle scientist, have died under these orders, sometimes without
the courts being informed.
Professional guardians have
stolen tens of millions of dollars from hundreds of people and exploited
obscure trust fund laws to conceal their financial activity from the
courts. One guardianship nonprofit drained the accounts of more than 800
people, while another professional guardian transferred money from
several of her wards’ accounts into a trust controlled by her husband.
Other
wards say they have been trapped under the guardianship of controlling
relatives who strangled their ability to have social or romantic
relationships, choose where they live, or express their true gender
identity.
The public rarely hears from people who have
been stripped of their rights given the significant restrictions they
live under, but in an ongoing series, BuzzFeed News will report on the
cases of wards who endured harrowing ordeals while under the control of
private, public, and family guardians.
BuzzFeed News reviewed
details of more than 200 guardianships involving young and middle-aged
people across more than 30 states. In 130 of those cases — gleaned from
court documents, interviews, first-person testimony, and local news
reports — we found evidence suggesting that wards were exposed to
financial exploitation, and 110 may have suffered abuse or neglect.
There were nearly 50 claims that people had been isolated from friends
and family, and dozens of reports that people were confined against
their will. In scores of cases, people were put under guardianship based
on a questionable finding of incapacity. Many cases indicated that
wards had experienced several of these alleged harms at once.
No comprehensive data
exists on the guardianship system, and courts in many states keep case
documents under seal, making it impossible to say for sure how many
people are under its control. Estimates have put the number of adult guardianship cases at more than one million — a figure that experts say is rising.
BuzzFeed News filed public records requests to all 50 states and the
District of Columbia to create an unprecedented dataset on the number of
cases being opened across the country each year. Fewer than half of the
states had fully usable data, but BuzzFeed News consulted statisticians
to develop a national estimate based on the figures provided. Our analysis suggests that as many as 200,000 adult guardianship cases are filed per year.
People
whose capacity is in question are often struggling with physical and
mental conditions that make caring for them unquestionably difficult.
But guardianship is such an extreme measure that in most states,
judges are required by law not to impose it unless no other options are
available. Too often, however, they opt for full guardianship in
hearings that can last just minutes, without considering any
alternatives. Many state laws
allow hearings that determine if someone is incapacitated to be held
without notifying the person in question, meaning someone can be placed
under emergency guardianship without having an opportunity to fight
back. Some people are placed under guardianship without even undergoing a
medical examination. And people who have been declared incapacitated
generally lose the right to appoint their own lawyers or represent
themselves, which means that once guardianships are in place, they are
often impossible to escape.
The loss of liberty is particularly
consequential for people who have not yet had a chance at adult life.
Many young Americans with disabilities are funneled into guardianship as
soon as they turn 18 as part of what the National Council on Disability calls
a “school-to-guardianship pipeline.” Most 18- to 22-year-olds who
receive publicly funded services for intellectual and developmental
disabilities have guardians.
Others
have been declared incapacitated because of conditions that can often
be managed, such as depression, PTSD, autism, physical disability, or
addiction.
And for professionals who are unscrupulous, younger wards with access
to large inheritances or personal injury payments can represent the
most lucrative cases of all, because they have decades ahead during
which the guardian can keep billing.
With no federal laws to govern guardians, the powers given to them can vary dramatically: In more than 10 states, the law grants full guardians the same powers over a ward as a parent has over an “unemancipated minor child.” Illinois judges may give guardians “custody of the ward's minor and adult dependent children.” Guardians in Arkansas can put wards in the county jail “for safekeeping,” and in Texas, they can lock wards in psychiatric hospitals before asking for court approval.
Many professional guardians work hard to care for clients who
genuinely can’t care for themselves. Others are committed family members
looking after vulnerable loved ones in exceptionally difficult
situations.
But Shannon Butler, a “master guardian”
and board member with the National Guardianship Association, said
judges are too quick to put people under full guardianship because “It’s
just easier for them, and honestly, it's easier for us too.”
The association has clear standards
that guardianship should only be considered as a last option. “We
should only be using those powers that are absolutely necessary,” she
said. “A good guardian is actually working towards getting their wards
out of guardianship.”
Yet flaws in the system leave “room for
abuse,” Butler said. “If you’re somebody that’s predatory and you get
into this business,” she added, “it’s scary.”
WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING
Ben Kothe / BuzzFeed News
Elizabeth Hensley was stripped of her rights and put under
guardianship by a judge while she was receiving treatment for depression
in a Florida hospital.
The
59-year-old acknowledged she had autism and mental health difficulties,
but begged the judge not to take away her rights. “I really do not need
a guardian!” she wrote to the court, pleading to be allowed to return
to her home where her partner, “precious cats and the garden” were
waiting for her. But her pleas were denied.
Hensley was assigned a
professional guardian who was meant to help her. Instead, she
complained, she was kept under “lockdown” while court filings show the
guardian paid herself from Hensley’s accounts without court permission.
Florida’s guardianship industry is among the most bloated outgrowths of the system, with more than 500 professional guardians
and hundreds more lawyers who draw their income from vulnerable people
across the state. Hensley had fallen into the hands of one of the most
notorious.
Marion County Sheriff's Office
Rebecca Fierle made millions while controlling the lives and finances of more than 500 people before she was charged
last year with abuse and neglect of an older adult ward who died after
she had him placed under a DNR and allegedly told doctors to cap his
feeding tube. When police raided her office, they found urns containing
the cremated remains of nine former wards on display. An analysis of
thousands of court records by BuzzFeed News sheds new light on her
practices.
Though Fierle marketed herself as a specialist in care
for older adults, around a third of her wards at the time of her arrest
had been placed under her guardianship in their youth or middle age. She
sold people’s homes, cars, and belongings to pay her bills and moved
hundreds of thousands of dollars from their accounts into opaque trust
funds that shielded her from court scrutiny. More than $660,000 of
Hensley’s money was moved into a trust that a 2019 audit
found Fierle used to pay herself without court approval. Court auditors
were able to track several thousand dollars Fierle had directed to
herself and her business from Hensley’s accounts, but they noted that
she had failed to provide records for numerous other transactions.
Fierle
declined to respond to detailed questions from BuzzFeed News but has
previously denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the abuse and
neglect charges. She told court auditors who flagged multiple concerns
about her use of Hensley’s funds that all her spending was “for the
ward’s benefit,” but she couldn’t prove it because her paperwork had
been seized by law enforcement.
Like Hensley, many of Fierle’s
wards were diagnosed with mental rather than physical ailments,
including depression, bipolar disorder, and alcohol addiction. But
records reveal she had dozens of young and middle aged people placed
under DNRs and diverted thousands of dollars from their estates to buy
prepaid burial plans from two favored local funeral homes — in one case
for an 18-year-old with bipolar disorder and ADHD.
Judges eventually revoked nearly 100 DNRs in Fierle’s cases — but
records show it was too late to free at least two of those wards from
those orders. Unbeknown to the courts, Penny Pilkington, a 56-year-old
woman with developmental disabilities, and Drazen Premate, a 63-year-old
former space shuttle scientist who had schizophrenia, were already
dead.
Other professions that yield such large financial rewards
and power over the lives of vulnerable people — like law or medicine —
typically require years of intensive training and extensive vetting. But
guardianship generally demands neither.
In some states, guardians
(sometimes referred to as conservators) control both a ward’s personal
life and their money, while others assign a separate person to manage
financial matters. These roles can be assumed without a degree in law,
social work, or accounting — and some states require no more than a few
hours of education before guardians are empowered to assume control of
people’s lives.
Guardians are required to file annual reports on
their wards' well-being and financial affairs, often reviewed by
low-paid, overstretched court clerks who lack formal training in
spotting fraud. Many clerks are also charged with vetting people seeking
to become professional guardians — but troubling cases can slip
through.
In Minnesota, records reveal the owner of a major guardianship
corporation was placed in charge of hundreds of vulnerable people
despite pleading guilty to domestic assault in 2004 after her son told
police she threw him on the floor, slammed him against the wall, and
called him a “shit head.” Rebecca Reich, who owns the firm Guardian and
Conservator Services, had also been arrested the previous year for
allegedly telling another child to get a knife from the drawer and kill
her then-boyfriend, though no charges were brought. Court filings detail
other allegations of domestic abuse involving her son.
The
Minnesota Judicial Branch declined to comment on Reich’s case but said
background checks are run every two years and provided to judges who use
them to decide on a case-by-case basis whether to appoint guardians.
Reich’s
father, a retired local judge who now represents her guardianship firm,
responded to questions from BuzzFeed News on her behalf. He said she
had pleaded guilty to assault only to spare her son the distress of
testifying in court and the case was dismissed without an adjudication
of guilt after she met her parole conditions. Reich’s father said she
disputed all the allegations, which arose during a messy divorce, and
reiterated that no charges had been brought against her. She had been
fully vetted, he said, and currently serves on the statute committee of
the Minnesota Association for Guardianship and Conservatorship. “The
background concerns that you raise are incomplete, contested, and do not
reflect years of subsequent competent and compassionate service,” he
wrote.
In Florida, Fierle’s wrongdoing went unchecked for more than a
decade. Court clerks had failed to raise warning signs, and regulators
did not respond in a timely manner to reports about Fierle’s suspect
practices. After her arrest, the head of the Florida Department of Elder
Affairs said that the Office of Public and Professional Guardians —
whose four employees were tasked with overseeing the conduct of hundreds of guardians across the state — had a backlog of 80 open investigations.
This spring, the comptroller of Orange County, where Fierle controlled the lives of more than 100 people, issued a damning 86-page report
warning that overworked and ill-qualified court clerks were failing to
subject guardians to basic scrutiny, such as criminal records checks.
Some guardians had failed to report on the well-being of their wards for
years without the clerks raising any concerns. Guardians had paid
themselves from wards' estates without court approval and moved money
into trusts without filing mandatory paperwork. The Orange County Clerk
of Courts told BuzzFeed News she disagreed with many of the report’s
findings, but had made recent improvements including adding more deputy
clerks to the guardianship team and providing training in general
accounting principles and reviewing internal procedures.
BuzzFeed News identified more than 130 cases across the country in
which evidence suggested young or middle-aged wards were exposed to
financial malpractice, including 50 cases involving trust funds, which
can be used to shield guardians from court scrutiny.
One professional guardian moved money belonging to several of her wards into Florida trusts before successfully petitioning
the courts to release her of any obligation to account for future
spending because she said the money was no longer under her control. But
in three of those cases, the funds had been moved into a trust controlled by her husband. The conflict of interest was highlighted
in the report by Orange County investigators this spring, without
naming the guardian concerned. BuzzFeed News has identified her as Theresa Barton,
a professional who has controlled the lives of wards in Florida for 25
years. Her husband, Nick Barton, runs a non-profit that controls a pooled special needs trust used by guardians across the state to store wards’ funds. The Bartons did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Another Florida guardian, Teri St. Hilaire, has faced scrutiny over alleged financial irregularities
involving more than 60 of her wards — including a 29-year-old man with
funds of more than $2 million following a personal injury settlement.
Records show St. Hilaire established a trust with his money and charged
fees of more than $70,000 by the time regulators launched
an investigation into the “wellbeing and financial affairs” of scores
of people in her care last year. The probe concluded in May, and a
report was sent to the Office of Public and Professional Guardians, but
its findings have been designated confidential. Meanwhile, St. Hilaire
continues to wield power over the wards who remain in her control. She
did not respond to requests for comment from BuzzFeed News.
Guardians
are often legally empowered to liquidate wards’ assets to pay their own
bills — and BuzzFeed News identified cases where people lost almost
everything they owned. Among them was a rheumatologist in her 50s who
was placed under guardianship after experiencing a bout of depression
during acrimonious divorce proceedings in 2019. Her professional
guardian had her placed against her will in a lockdown facility while
arranging the sale of her $1 million waterfront home and other
belongings. By the time she was released from guardianship eight months
later, the guardian and her lawyers had charged more than $100,000 in
fees and expenses. The guardian refused to comment.
In New Mexico,
the owners of the nonprofit Ayudando Guardians embezzled around $10
million from more than 800 clients, spending the stolen funds
on expensive cars, luxury homes, Las Vegas shopping sprees, and exotic
holidays to the Caribbean and Hawaii. Court clerks had spotted no red
flags in any of the firm’s financial filings, leaving the abuse to
continue unchecked for more than a decade until junior employees blew
the whistle. The firm’s president was finally sentenced to prison in July, but by then there was almost nothing left in the accounts of any of Ayudando’s wards.
As
well as serving as guardian, conservator, or trustee for hundreds of
“private pay” clients, Ayudando was paid millions of dollars by New
Mexico’s Office of Guardianship to take over the lives and finances of
people living in poverty.
THE POOR CAN VANISH
Ben Kothe / BuzzFeed News
Private guardians can profit from wards with access to large
amounts of cash and valuable assets, but people with little money who
get sucked into the state-run guardianship system are also vulnerable to
abuse — and may be more easily overlooked.
Carl DeBrodie was a
happy and high-spirited child with multiple developmental disabilities
when he was first placed under the guardianship of Mary Martin, who said
she raised him in a loving home with his own pet horse. But she didn’t
realize she and her husband had to apply to be his guardians after he
became an adult, she told BuzzFeed News, so DeBrodie eventually came
under the control of a public guardian named Karen Digh Allen.
In
Missouri, elected public administrators handle the cases of
incapacitated people without financial resources or anyone else to care
for them. Allen has overseen hundreds of wards in Callaway County since 1997. As DeBrodie’s guardian, she was responsible for ensuring he received proper medical care and lived in a safe and comfortable setting.
Debrodie
was placed in a group home named Second Chance. While he lived there,
Martin reported seeing him covered in cuts and bruises. After she
reported the alleged injuries, she was banned from seeing DeBrodie,
according to her testimony in confidential court records obtained by
BuzzFeed News. Martin applied to adopt him as an adult, but Allen filed
an objection.
A law professor named Mary Beck who was appointed by the court to
determine DeBrodie’s best interests in the adoption case concluded that
he wanted to live with Martin and her husband, who he knew as “Mom” and
“Dad.” In the confidential report, she also noted what she saw as a
“conflict of interest”: Allen’s longtime deputy had a second job working
for Second Chance. Allen later said that homes like Second Chance had a financial incentive to hold on to clients, according to the Fulton Sun: "The amount of money paid almost creates a scenario that invites deception if you don't have good people in there.”
The judge ruled against the adoption, and the Martins said they never saw DeBrodie again.
“Why keep him from a home where he was loved, where he wanted to be?” Beck said to BuzzFeed News regarding Allen’s objections.
Carl DeBrodie
DeBrodie had been missing for around seven months when his remains
were found encased in concrete in a storage unit in April 2017. He had
been made to sleep in a staffer’s basement, and denied medical care when
his health deteriorated. He died just two blocks from Allen’s office.
Second Chance staffers hid his body and then falsified medical documents describing him enjoying snacks and dancing to music in order to keep collecting over $100,000 from Medicaid for his care.
Multiple
Second Chance staffers went on to plead guilty in connection to
DeBrodie’s death in what a judge called “one of the most deplorable,
depraved and disturbing” cases he’d ever heard.
Allen refused to
answer questions about her role in DeBrodie’s case. “In 25 years, I’ve
always been neutral,” she said, adding that it was the judge’s decision
to deny the adoption she contested, not hers. She said she was involved
in efforts to strengthen guardianship policy both state and nationwide.
She was originally named in the civil lawsuit but was dismissed
as part of a settlement agreement with the county. Her lawyer argued
she could not have known about DeBrodie’s abuse or death given Second
Chance’s elaborate cover-up.
She still holds her elected office and currently
oversees 130 people. In May this year, Allen was named Missouri’s
public administrator of the year as well as Callaway County's April employee of the month. “Allen is a great example of an employee who goes above and beyond every day,” the announcement said.
Public
guardianships for people who have little or no money form a significant
part of the industry. Across America, young people in group homes,
specialist schools, or foster placements have been pushed straight into
guardianships as soon as they turn 18.
“In
a lot of cases, it’s just reflexive,” said disability rights attorney
Viviana Bonilla López. Parents of children with disabilities turning 18
are often told
by doctors, teachers, or lawyers that they will lose any say in their
care unless they get a guardianship. What they don’t know is that, as
soon as they’re in the system, the judge can push the parents aside and
appoint a professional — even a stranger — in their place. “Parents say,
‘I don’t know how this happened. I didn’t mean to do this. Help me get
them out,’” Bonilla López said. But by then, it’s often too late.
Public
guardians are typically paid by the state to take on wards only if no
one else is willing to do so. In such cases, judges frequently favor the
total removal of the ward’s rights. Young adults who enter guardianship
can find that they are in it for life.
BuzzFeed News reviewed
details of 19 cases in which wards were allegedly abused, neglected,
isolated from friends or family, wrongly stripped of their rights, or
killed while under the control of public guardians. (Click to continue reading)
