When Families Step Up

When Rene Talavera's father, Jesus Talavera, 69, was hospitalized for kidney and heart failure last fall, the 45-year-old Chicago resident and his four siblings were catapulted into an uncomfortable new phase of life: caregiving.

At first, Rene Talavera says, the family descended into "disarray and dysfunction." The hospital staff didn't know who was in charge. And soon after Jesus Talavera was discharged, the only family member available to stay with him was Kristopher, a 20-year-old grandson. "It was very haphazard," Rene Talavera recalls.

[Art by Chris Silas Neal]

But even as the Talavera siblings absorbed the shock of their father's illness, they set aside old conflicts and concerns to work together. "The common thread is that you all love your parent," says Rene Talavera. "It's not about you or an argument you had 20 years ago. It's about Dad and what you can do for him."

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When Siblings Step Up

Woman Accused of Bilking Mother's Life Savings

Milwaukie police have arrested a La Pine woman on charges of bilking her elderly mother out of more than $224,000 over a five-month period.

Janet Gay Durkee, 61, was arrested Thursday after an extensive criminal investigation that began in September, police said in a news release. She was held at the Clackamas County Jail on first-degree charges of aggravated theft and criminal mistreatment. Bail was set at $40,000.

Durkee was arrested for systematically taking more than $224,000 over a five-month period from the bank accounts of her 85-year-old mother, Geneva E. Smith of Milwaukie, leaving the elderly woman destitute, police said.

Full Article and Source:
LaPine Woman Accused of Bilking Mother's Life Savings

Election Hot Spot: Broward County FL

With 12 sitting judges currently facing challengers, 2010 is shaping up to be a judicial election year like no other in Broward County.

In a county where it was long considered toxic for a lawyer's future to run against an incumbent judge, seven circuit and five county judges, as of now, have challengers.

And there are still five weeks left for more would-be candidates to file to run.

The change of tide, the legal community says, can be attributed to a number of factors: Questionable conduct by some Broward judges that may make judges as a whole seem vulnerable at the polls; a courthouse gossip blog that encourages attorneys to run for judge; and a poor economy making a government salary, benefits and pension more tempting for struggling lawyers.

"The existing judiciary has gotten into all kinds of trouble and scandals, and it's because they've been so insulated from elections," said criminal defense attorney Kevin Kulik, who has been actively encouraging fellow lawyers to run for judge. "They assumed that they were appointed for life."

Full Article and Source:
A Dozen Judges Face Challengers in Election

Women Not Allowed to Help a Friend

Mary Bonk and Shirley Gersh have a lot more questions than answers right now.

They want to know why their 82-year-old friend Margaret only got to spend a few hours in her home before it was put on the market and sold. They want to know if the reason she's been moved from one care facility to another is due to finances or medical condition. They'd also like to know where her belongings have been placed.

But it's hard to get answers when your friend is a ward of the state -- even harder when you're demanding answers no one seems willing to provide.

The situation has become so adversarial that the current court-appointed guardian, Christine Adelman, stopped returning phone calls and has limited both women's relationship with Margaret. A week ago Bonk was told she could not take her elderly friend off the premises of Jennings Terrace to attend Mass. And on Monday, Gersh was informed she was forbidden from visiting Margaret at all.

Bonk said she called the guardian multiple times this week, simply asking if she can take Margaret to dinner or to church this weekend. "And I've gotten no response from her at all." (Adelman did not return my repeated calls, as well.)

Full Article and Source:
Women Say They're Not Allowed to Help a Friend

Manhattan: Feature Documentary on Healthcare Seeks Stories

Critically acclaimed by the New York Times, this indie production house whose films have been exhibited nation-wide.

Seeks documentary subjects, anyone, or someone you know who has a health care story gone wrong.....a death, or permanent injury, anything that may have gone wrong caused by doctors, hospitals, nursing homes etc.

Source and More Information and Contact:
Craig's List Post 1652068501

Women's Group File Complaint Against Judge

Two organizations that foster women's legal rights filed a complaint Thursday with a panel that disciplines the judiciary, asking it to investigate a Baltimore County judge who performed a wedding ceremony between a woman and the man accused of beating her, and then acquitted him.

The House Of Ruth Maryland and the Women's Law Center of Maryland called the behavior of District Judge G. Darrell Russell Jr. "grossly inappropriate."

On March 10, when a 29-year-old Middle River man, Frederick D. Wood, appeared in an Essex courtroom on a charge that he had beaten his fiancee, Russell acquiesced to Wood's lawyer's suggestion that his client leave to obtain a marriage license. The judge volunteered to perform the wedding ceremony himself, and did so later that day in his chambers.

The newly married Shelly Pearl Say, 27, then invoked marital privilege so that she would not have to testify against Wood about allegations that he beat her on Nov. 29. Russell found Wood not guilty.

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Women's Groups File Complaint Against Judge

WI Attorney Publically Reprimanded by State Supreme Court

An Edgerton attorney was publicly reprimanded and ordered to pay the costs of his disciplinary hearing after the Wisconsin Supreme Court found he improperly handled two estates in 1999 and 2000.

However, a referee for the Supreme Court said he was sympathetic to Jeffrey Roethe, whom he said had an "insufferable, unreasonable" client, who was involved with both cases. Referee Timothy Vocke said Roethe's "biggest mistake was not getting rid of (the client) quickly," and he noted she waited six years to file the complaint.

The Office of Lawyer Regulation had alleged five ethical violations by Roethe. However, Vocke recommended dismissal of two, saying the lawyer-regulation agency had failed to prove the allegations.

Roethe agreed to be disciplined for twice instructing his assistant to notarize signatures of people who had not signed documents while in her presence and for improperly charging his clients for his services by taking a percentage of an estate sale rather than an hourly fee.

The court said that aside from a 2000 reprimand, Roethe had a "long and honorable career" and was acting in what he believed was the best interest of the estates. He was ordered to pay $24,680.

Source:
Edgerton Attorney is Reprimanded by State Supreme Court

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State's Supreme Court Reprimands Edgerton Lawyer

Sentence: Two Years Probation

An Arma woman has been sentenced to two years of probation for financially exploiting an elderly woman in her care.

Ernestine Anselmi pleaded guilty in October to one count of mistreatment of a dependent adult. The 73-year-old Anselmi admitted that she took unauthorized payments from 97-year-old Lena Zanichelli totalling nearly $1 million.

Anselmi was sentenced to a suspended 19-month prison term. She was then put on probation, which included 60 days in jail.

She also was required to transfer several properties, including homes, land and vehicles, to Zanichelli’s estate.

Full Article and Source:
Caregiver Sentenced for Exploitation

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Guilty Plea

Son Pleads for Help for Veteran Father

Dear Americans! Help!

My Father, a Vietnam Vet with a Purple Heart, is having his estate stolen by New Jersey’s Government Courts.

I am begging for your help on behalf of a Vietnam Vet who did three tours of duty and earned a purple heart. He is currently being robbed by the Office for the Public Guardian in Ocean County NJ

His name is Vincent Stanley Blasco and he is my Dad. He has Alzheimer’s and is in their care where they refuse to give any of his 3 children here in Georgia custody of him. Instead they continue to sell off dozens of plots of my Dad’s property and continue hiding thousands and thousands of dollars in false expenses. Now they are trying to sale his 19 acre farm off East Veterans Hwy.

The courts have allowed OPG to already sale 7 properties of his in Berkley NJ and they claimed it was for medical bills. We received accounting after 4 years of requests only to find out my dad by himself racked up $800 per month in Grocery bills, $2,000 a month in landscaping bills. $500 per day about 3 days a week in Home Depot bills, etc… I have a stack of accounting 2 inches thick of frivolous spending.

I am contacting News Agencies or whatever it takes to get this to quit. We deserve to have our father in Georgia where all 3 of his children live. Not tucked away in a nursing home in NJ to have his Army Pension and Social Security bilked as his farm goes on the market to cover thousands of bogus expenses and invented expenses.

Full Article and Source:
Vietnam Vet's Estate Stolen by New Jersey Gov Courts, Son Says

See Also:
NASGA: Veterans in Peril