Linda Kincaid Reports: Santa Clara County Residents Speak Out Against Elder Abuse by Public Guardian

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors met on May 15, 2012 to discuss county budgets, including funding for the Public Guardian. The Public Guardian’s office is under scrutiny related to allegations of elder abuse and neglect.

Public Guardian Don Moody offered the Board that his office could eliminate two full-time equivalents from their payroll.

Moody testified that the number of conservatees in the county has remained stable for several years and is not expected to increase. Moody’s testimony was unexpected, given the dramatic increase in the senior population.

A number of senior staffers from Moody’s office testified against their boss, claiming they cannot provide adequate services without the current complement of staff. Public testimony against a superior is rare and indicates turmoil within the office.

Members of the public addressed the Board during Public Comment (Item #3) and again during budget discussions concern the Public Guardian (Item #16). County residents brought attention to the plight of Gisela Riordan, a conservatee of the Public Guardian.

Gisela has been isolated from nearly all visitation and phone calls for over two years. The Public Guardian allowed Gisela less than two hours with her son in that time. Gisela is not allowed any visitors from the community.

Gisela’s living conditions speak of profound neglect. Gisela has lost about a third of her body weight under the care of the Public Guardian. Her dentures are missing. She needs new eyeglasses, and she is rarely allowed access to her hearing aid.

Deputy Public Guardian Carlotta Royal was adversarial toward this reporter’s enquiries about Gisela’s welfare. Moody has not responded to requests for comment.

Full Article and Source:
Santa Clara County Residents Speak Out Against Elder Abuse by Public Guardian

See Also:
NASGA: Gisela, California Victim

New Jersey Considers UAGPPJA

The New Jersey Legislature is considering a new law to prevent an elder abuse known as “granny snatching” by joining a multi-state network that protects adults who need the assistance of a guardian when families feud.

“There has been one case after another where we have venue challenges and jurisdictional challenges that have caused a lot of problems,” said Sen. Fred H. Madden (D-Gloucester), co-sponsor of the legislation.

Typically, a NJ court appoints a daughter as guardian for an elderly mother incapacitated by Alzheimer’s. The mother then visits another daughter in Florida, who goes to court seeking to overturn the New Jersey guardianship order and be named the new legal guardian.

The bill now under consideration in Trenton -- the New Jersey Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act -- would allow New Jersey’s guardianship orders to be recognized by other states with the law.

The bills, S1755 and A2628, establish uniform procedures for addressing interstate conflicts regarding adult guardianship issues, and brings New Jersey into an national guardianship reciprocity network that includes more than 30 states.

Full Article and Source:
New Jersey Considers Law to Prevent Granny Snatching

CO: Proposed Bill Aims to Protect Elderly

A bill that would urge people to report problems for the elderly and at-risk adults will be back on the legislative agenda next session.

Senate Bill 12-78, sponsored by Rep. Sue Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge, and Sen. Evie Hudak, Westminster, calls for residents to report abuse, exploitation or self-neglect of elderly and at-risk adults.

“I think we need a law for mandatory reporting of elderly abuse,” Schafer said.

The bill updates the definition of abuse of at-risk adults to include exploitation and illegally taking money or property from them. It will also allow for disclosure of information among agencies to improve coordination for investigation of at-risk adult cases, and will require background checks for all prospective county employees who would have direct contact with the parties to such cases.

The final reading for the bill was on May 3. Schafer and Hudak could not get the bill passed this year because they could not find $4 million for funding in time for the current session.

Federal law requires care providers of the elderly to report any sort of abuse, but Schafer's bill would extend that requirement to all people in contact with senior citizens.

Full Article and Source:
Proposed Bill Aims to Protect Elderly

Woman Says Past Mason Sheriff's Mismanaged Estate, Breach of Fiduciary Lawsuit Filed

A Mason County woman is alleging the last four sheriffs have played a role in cheating her out of a family inheritance.

Former sheriffs David Lee Anthony II, Scott Simms, Troy "Shorty" Huffman and Paul Ernie Watterson are named as co-defendants in a breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit filed by Gina M. Eads. In her complaint filed April 9 in Mason Circuit Court, Eads, 44, a Leon resident, alleges the four lawmen over the last quarter century mismanaged funds belonging to the estate of her grandmother, Grace M. Thornton, during their respective terms in office.

According to the suit, Thornton died on Oct. 8, 1986. In a holographic will dated Oct. 23, 1979, she directed that her entire estate, except for her home in Kenny Street in Point Pleasant, be liquidated and the proceeds placed in an interest bearing account with the interest paid monthly to her son, Richard D. Gaylor.

A holographic will is one that is his handwritten, and signed by the testator -- the person making it -- but not witnessed by someone else. Records show, the Mason County Clerk's Office accepted the will into probate a week following Thornton's death.

On an unspecified date following Thornton's death, the Sheriff's Office was appointed to serve as its administrator. Also, because of his incapacity, it was appointed to act as Gaylor's guardian and conservator.

The reason for Gaylor's incapacity is not stated.

According to the suit, Gaylor died in 2008. Pursuant to Thornton's will, Eads was to receive the residual of her estate following Gaylor's death.

However, Eads alleges during the last 24 years Watterson, Huffman, Simms, Anthony "and their fiduciary officers ... paid over to Mr. Gaylor sums of money to which he was not otherwise entitled to receive." Funds in Thornton's estate, Eads alleges, "have dwindled almost to the point of non-existence."

Specifically, Eads alleges at the time her suit was filed, she's lost at least $67,615.31.

Full Article and Source:
Woman Says Past Mason Sheriff Mismanaged Estate

CA Judge Admonished for Delays, False Affidavits

The Commission on Judicial Performance [May 16] publicly admonished a Merced Superior Court judge for holding cases under submission beyond the 90-day limit and falsely swearing that he was not doing so.

The commission said that Judge John D. Kirihara had appeared before it on May 8 to object to the discipline, but that it had approved the discipline by a vote of 8-0, with two members recused and one not participating.

Kirihara, the commission said, violated the 90-day rule three times in 2010. He had one civil case under submission for 320 days, a probate matter under consideration for 237 days, and a matter involving a trust under submission for 110 days.

The commission also noted that with respect to the probate matter, the judge was specifically advised that the case had been under submission for five or six months, yet took another 59 days to submit his decision.

The judge committee further misconduct on 11 occasions, once a month from May 2010 through March 2011, by falsely swearing that he had no cases under submission for more than 90 days, the CJP found.

The commission also found that the judge violated the Rules of Court or the ethical canons by failing to keep a list of cases he had under submission, even during a period that he was presiding judge of the court and obliged by the rules to circulate such lists among the judges.

“Presiding judges have the responsibility of monitoring the cases under submission on their county and ensuring that no cases remain undecided for more than 90 days,” the commission said. “Consequently, a presiding judge should be particularly vigilant about monitoring his or her own submitted matters.”

Kirihara, a judge since 2001, was presiding judge from April 2007 through the end of 2010, the commission said.

Source:
CJP Admonishes Judge for Delays, False Affidavits

Our View: Public's Right to Know Trumps Seal

The guardianship case of Dr. John D. Witherspoon has taken a bumpy course through Davidson County Circuit Court, marked by an attempt to skirt the First Amendment that should give the public cause to reflect on how easily the right to know can be taken away from us.

Judge Randy Kennedy not only closed a hastily called hearing on May 11 regarding whether the doctor should be placed in a conservatorship; he sealed the court record, as well. Those moves violated legal precedent established in Tennessee by the 1985 State vs. Drake court case, as well as the state Supreme Court’s long-held belief that the public has a qualified right to attend judicial proceedings and read documentation of those proceedings.

The Tennessean and WSMV, whose representatives were kicked out of the May 11 hearing, may be accused of trying to intrude on private matters of the Witherspoon family solely because the doctor’s daughter, actress Reese Witherspoon, is a celebrity. But the real issue for these media outlets is the broader question: If court cases are entirely sealed, where is the oversight of the judicial process?

We ask that question because of Jewell Tinnon.

She is the 80-year-old Nashville resident who was placed in a conservatorship without her knowledge or consent nearly two years ago, and as a result lost all her possessions. Tinnon has since fought Kennedy’s ruling in her case, and is suing the attorney and social services agency who handled her conservatorship.

Of course there are many other Tennesseans who potentially face similar fates — and if those records are sealed there is opportunity for abuse and no public scrutiny.

Full Article and Source:
Public's Right to Know Trumps Seal

See Also:
Witherspoon Conservatorship: Sealing of Conservatorship Cases Raises Concerns

'All Baby Boomers Should Be Tested for Hepatitis C'

The federal government Friday called for all baby boomers to be tested for hepatitis C, which kills more Americans each year than AIDS and is the leading reason for liver transplants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made the draft recommendation in an effort to find hundreds of thousands of people who have the infection but don't know it.

Baby boomers account for more than 2 million of the 3.2 million Americans infected with the blood-borne virus. It can take decades to cause liver damage, and many people don't know they're infected.

CDC officials say the new measure could lead 800,000 more baby boomers to get treatment and could save more than 120,000 lives.

"The CDC views hepatitis C as an unrecognized health crisis for the country, and we believe the time is now for a bold response," said Dr. John Ward, the CDC's hepatitis chief.

Full Article and Source:
All Baby Boomers Should Be Tested for Hepatitus C, The CDC Decides

Missouri House Votes to Expand State's Elder Abuse Law

Missouri's elder abuse law could soon be expanded to protect older citizens from financial exploitation.

The House voted 147-2 in favor of legislation that makes it a crime for those with authority over an elderly person to take advantage of that person's state of mind for financial gain.

The provision would apply to people who have guardianship, power of attorney or some other financial management role for seniors.

If someone steals money from an elderly person that had been intended to cover nursing home expenses, a judge could order that the money be paid to the home.

Supporters say some senior citizens need more protection because of their age and health.

The measure has already been approved by the Senate and now goes to Gov. Jay Nixon.

Elder abuse bill is SB689.

Source:
Missouri House Votes to Expand State's Elder Abuse Law

Lawyer Sues Judge, 2 Others in Rosa Parks Estate Case

In a highly unusual move, a lawyer is suing a Wayne County probate judge and two court-appointed lawyers, accusing them of looting the estate of the late civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

Attorney Stephen G. Cohen said in court papers that Judge Freddie Burton Jr. conspired with probate lawyers John Chase Jr. and Melvin Jefferson Jr., enabling the pair to rack up more than $507,000 in mostly unnecessary legal fees that drained Parks' estate of its cash, leaving it $88,000 in debt.

Cohen also said Burton, through secret hearings and improper rulings, allowed the pair to concoct a bogus breach of confidentiality dispute. Cohen said Burton used the dispute to strip Elaine Steele and the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute that she created with Parks of their share of Parks' property, said to be worth up to $8 million .

"Chase and Jefferson, together with Judge Burton, illegally, maliciously and wrongfully conspired... for the illegal purpose of raiding Mrs. Parks' estate of its value," Cohen said in a 38-page probate petition.

He requested a jury trial in probate court and asked Burton to remove himself from presiding over Parks' estate.

Burton declined to comment on the dispute, the latest twist in a long-running battle that began when Parks' nieces and nephews challenged the validity of her trust after her death in 2005. Chase and Jefferson didn't return calls seeking comment.

Probate experts predicted Cohen's move would fail.

Full Article and Source:
Lawyer Sues Judge, 2 Others in Rosa Parks Estate Case

See Also:
Rosa Parks Estate Battle Ruled