Grace's Imprisonment

For five years Grace Connors was isolated in a residential facility against her wishes and denied the love, comfort and care of her only daughter, Mary Claire.

Her spirit and her health failed while in Hospice.

Who benefits from forced public and state guardianships? Not Grace; she's was never allowed to go home, never allowed to receive any care, food, or even water from her family. She was not even allowed to have a phone.

Ask yourself who benefited from Grace's imprisonment.

Grace had a Long Term Care Insurance Policy that provided for full care in her home. Instead, your tax dollars paid over $5,000 a month to confine her in a nursing home against her wishes and the wishes of her family.

Be warned: You could be next! Guardian Recipe for Abuse

May 2009 ~ Guardianship abuse victims recognized during Elder Abuse Prevention Month

Forced Chemo

A judge ruled that Daniel Hauser must get medical treatment for his cancer.

Hauser, 13, has refused chemotherapy, against the advice of doctors, in his fight against Hodgkin's lymphoma. Hauser and his family have instead opted for "alternative medicines" as his treatment.

District Judge John Rodenberg issued a 60-page ruling saying Hauser has been "medically neglected" and is in need of child protection services.

Colleen and Anthony Hauser will maintain custody of their son, but have until May 19 to get an updated chest x-ray for Daniel and select an oncologist.

Full Article and Source:
Daniel Hauser Must Get Cancer Treatment

More information:
The Hauser’s believe that the injection of Chemotherapy into Danny Hauser amounts to an assault upon his body, and torture when it occurs over a long period of time. They believe that it is against the spiritual law to invade the consciousness of another person without their permission.
Forced Chemo - Hauser Family Statement on Ruling

A court-appointed attorney for Daniel, Philip Elbert, called the decision unfortunate. "I feel it's a blow to families. It marginalizes the decisions that parents face every day in regard to their children's medical care. It really affirms the role that big government is better at making our decisions for us."
Minn. judge rules teen must see cancer doctor

SB290 Surveillance Devices

A Nevada Assembly panel was urged to support a Senate-approved plan to let patients in care facilities or their families or guardians install surveillance devices in the patients' rooms.

Sen. Barbara Cegavske told the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee that SB290 would protect seniors in hospices, nursing homes and other group home settings from abuse, and would comfort guardians of such patients who might live far away.

Cegavske: "The capabilities of monitoring from a remote location provide a sense of security to both the facility and the residents."

Cegavske said she introduced SB290 in large part because of an unexplained hand injury her mother sustained while in a Minnesota nursing home last year. Cegavske's mother has Alzheimer's disease and can no longer play the piano as a result of the injury.

Full Article and Source:
Senior surveillance proposed in care facilities

Protecting the Client Security Fund

In 2007, a Norwalk attorney was accused of stealing $90,000 from a Florida retiree and smaller amounts from other clients.

Duncan Hume's misconduct, for which he was disbarred and convicted of third-degree larceny, was part of what state bar officials said at the time was a spate of attorney thefts that included accusations against lawyers practicing in lower Fairfield County. Two of Hume's clients, including a woman who lived in Stamford, sought compensation from a special fund set up by the state's attorneys in 1999 to help people in their situation, the Client Security Fund.

In March, Gov. M. Jodi Rell, state Treasurer Denise Nappier, and state Comptroller Nancy Wyman tried to transfer the $2 million held in the fund into the state's general fund to help bridge the budget gap, according to a lawsuit filed by attorneys and the Connecticut Bar Association.

Full Article and Source:
Bill protects Client Security Fund

More information:
On April 7, Gov. M. Jodi Rell agreed to withdraw her bid to seize $2 million from the legal profession’s Client Security Fund.

ZELDES V. RELL: GOVERNOR WITHRDRAWS BID TO USE FUND'S MONEY

Rell Backs Off Siphoning $2 Million From Client Security Fund

Rell Told "Hands Off" Special Lawyers Fund

Class Action Against Lawyer

Five people have filed a class action lawsuit against a Marietta lawyer, claiming he defrauded them of millions of dollars in an elaborate Ponzi scheme.

Last month, Robert Price Copeland pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to one count of wire fraud. The suit also names five financial planners and five businesses.

Prosecutors say Copeland’s five-year scam defrauded more than 125 people out of $40 million, including some senior citizens who gave him their life savings.

Full Article and Source:
Marietta lawyer faces class-action suit for Ponzi scheme

See also:
Elder Law Attorney Ponzi Scheme

Youth Inspires Others

My Grandma, Jean McKee Blackwell, was stolen from me when I was 11 years old.

I am now 15 and want to speak out about what the conservator and guardian in Tucson Arizona did to my family.

My whole family lived together and we were very happy. Janice Bernardini came in and separated my Mom and Dad. My Dad was sick and needed Mom to take care of him. He died because they did not care. He was only 43 and was supposed to meet my kids someday. Now I am the man of my family and I will not let them take anymore from me.

I love my Grandma and want her back. I am not allowed to call her or visit her without “permission” or supervision. My Mom and Grandma Jean were best friends and they won’t ever let them talk again.

My Grandma has money and they like to use it. They threw my Mom, sister and me on the street with no place to go. They spent over 1million dollars to ruin my Mom. We had to leave Arizona just so Mom could raise us in peace. Mom is not allowed to talk about what they did to our family. They made her sign a paper promising not to speak. Judge Clark Munger called my Mom a bad mother. HE WAS WRONG.

He may have hurt my family but he will be stopped. I will get my Grandma free so she can watch me and my sister make Dad proud.



Puppets Imitate Life

I love you Grandma Jean and I will never stop fighting for you!

May 2009 ~ Guardianship abuse victims recognized during Elder Abuse Prevention Month

Connecticut Probate Courts

After weeks of closed-door negotiations among lawmakers, Probate Court judges and the governor's budget staff, a bill has been crafted to keep the financially troubled system afloat and cut the 117 courts down to 50 in time for the fall 2010 election.

The draft bill that is expected to reach the House floor early next week includes $12.4 million in new funds to prevent the court system from going bankrupt and the creation of a new 12-member legislative commission to decide which districts stay open or close.

Rep. Bob Godfrey, who negotiated the draft agreement: "This will bring the colonial Probate Court system into the 21st century. We'll be adopting reforms of economy of scale and save courts money while preserving the user-friendly aspect of the courts."

Minimal court jurisdictions would include about 40,000 residents and each court would have to be open 40 hours a week.

The new Probate Court system would include magistrates appointed by the state's chief justice of the Supreme Court, for assignment when needed throughout the state.

The deal would include $4 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and $8.4 million for the next fiscal year.

Full Article and Source:
Deal will keep probate courts solvent

See also:
Non-Lawyer Judges Fight Reform

Will Reform Finally Happen?

Meeting on Avoiding Guardianship

NAMI Erie-Ottawa is offering an education meeting on Psychiatric Advance Directives to avoid guardianship 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at Sandusky Artisans, 138 Market St., Sandusky. The presenter will be Niki Hanselman.

Call 419-732-6264 to register. This class is for consumers, professionals and family members.

Source:
NAMI offering education meeting Friday in Sandusky

Futile Care Law

Those who want to extend the time some hospital patients may live before their life support is cut off are worried that their proposal is running into a wall at the Capitol.

Legislation by state Rep. Bryan Hughes would require life-sustaining treatment to continue for patients whose condition is deemed futile by doctors until a transfer to another medical facility can be arranged, if their family requests it.

Currently, hospitals can stop life support after 10 days in certain cases if the patient is terminally or irreversibly ill and cannot express treatment wishes.

Hughes: "No other state in the country has a law that Draconian. The balance of power is completely shifted against the patients and the families."

Hughes' bill is being pushed by Texas Right to Life and groups for the disabled, including the Coalition of Texans With Disabilities and Not Dead Yet of Texas, also back Hughes' proposal, as does the American Civil Liberties Union.

Full Article and Source:
Texas legislators fighting futile-care law fear roadblock

More information:
Patients' Rights Bill Stalled in Texas - Bill Backed by Disability Advocates, Right to Life and ACLU

Texas Lawmakers See Competing Bills to Scrap, Defend 10-Day Futile Care Law