(Note - Artist unknown)
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Friday, February 13, 2015
What Happened to Me When I Turned to Probate Court for Help With Elder Care
The new staff and management made it difficult for friends to visit my father and did not seem to appreciate that he is a 22 year veteran of the U.S Air Force.
I was incensed at the indignities my father began to experience and was told by Adult Protective Services that I should involve the local probate court.
Read More: Veterans Medical Neglected at VA Hospitals
“A caregiver’s refusal to allow visitors is a red flag,” said Kerry Peck, attorney with Peck Bloom and author of Alzheimer’s and the Law (ABA Book Publishing, 2013). “Dehydration, unusual weight loss, poor hygiene and unsafe living conditions are others.”
On one occasion, my father was dropped off at Wilford Medical Center on Lackland Air Force Base without an escort and without any paperwork in hand. Had I not called the emergency room to check on my father, the doctors would not have known he was there to be treated for high blood pressure.
After a lawyer sent a letter threatening a wrongful death lawsuit if my father was not cared for properly, he was expelled from Horizon Bay and moved to Morningside Manor Assisted Living, where he was well-cared for until new management took over. Typically, the elderly living in government-funded retirement homes are protected under certain federal regulations.
“But if it’s a private retirement institution, it is more difficult to find a remedy under federal law,” said Phil Ross, an elder care and civil rights attorney in San Antonio.
Read More: VA Hospitals Face Possible FBI Charges
I discovered that my sugar addicted father had about 13 cavities that had not been treated and that some of his teeth had been extracted rather than filled and others were left to rot. When I complained to the patient advocacy office of the Audie Murphy VA Hospital about the lack of dental care my retired military father was receiving, I was once again guided to probate court, because being his biological daughter did not give me the authority to improve his medical care without being appointed guardian in probate court.
Little did I know how difficult it would be to find an attorney who would take on the very political probate court. Evidently, probate court and elder care is big business in states like Texas and Florida, and the sharpest of lawyers are asking $30,000 up front to represent applicants in guardianship proceedings. I found a recent graduate of St. Mary’s University School of Law to represent me who was affordable.
However a month into the case, Counselor Stacey Barrus informed me that he was having a difficult time getting the probate court to cooperate in setting a hearing for a proposed order to obtain protected health information. It became clear quickly that my father would better off with a more seasoned attorney who had been in business long enough to develop the political connections that would make it easier for me to assist in his medical care.
After hours on the phone calling a dozen attorneys, I found one with a good reputation who would take monthly payments and began the process of applying to become my father’s guardian.
“There is a need for more guardians, conservators, trustees and agents partly due to the dramatic increase in the population of seniors,” said Richard Lambie, a professional guardian in California.
Read More: Professional Guardians Help Family with Elder Care Issues
It’s three years later, and still no one was appointed guardian of my father, James Edgar Fairley. As a result, in October 2014 I moved my father to New York City for medical care and filed for guardianship in Supreme Court, which yielded questionable results.
Full Article & Source:
What Happened to Me When I Turned to Probate Court for Help With Elder Care
A flood of overtime for nurses at county nursing homes
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| Dennis Biondo, Executive Director |
For a licensed practical nurse, giving medications and tending to the wounds of 30 or more residents would be common. Does that get trickier near the end of a 12- to 16-hour shift, a norm for many of the LPNs employed by Kane?
Charged with considering a resident’s entire medical history during care, one registered nurse worked the equivalent of about 90 eight-hour overtime shifts in both 2012 and 2013.
That's just a slice of about 125,000 hours of overtime worked by the nursing staff of the four Kane nursing homes in each of those two years, according to county salary data analyzed by PublicSource.
Kane doesn’t limit overtime worked by its employees, according to Executive Director Dennis Biondo. That includes nursing staff on the front lines of caring for Kane’s 940 elderly and disabled residents, the vast majority of whom are low income and supported by Medicaid.
Nursing-home industry experts said that, while frequent overtime is common in the field, it has the potential to compromise the quality of care, leaving fatigued caregivers in situations that could have serious consequences.
“Presumably they’re not at their optimal best having to work that much,” said Joe Angelelli, a gerontologist and assistant professor at Robert Morris University. “It leads to conflict and errors, even injuries.”
The Institute of Medicine recommended that states block nursing staff from working more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period and more than 60 hours in a week “to reduce error-producing fatigue,” according to a handbook written in 2008.
The book cites studies that say extended work shifts and frequent overtime are “associated with difficulties staying awake on duty, reduced sleep times, and nearly triple the risk of making an error.”
Three of the four Kane nursing homes have below average ratings on the national five-star rating system, Nursing Home Compare. But there is no direct evidence that the use of overtime at the Kane centers has led to any specific errors or incidents.
“I haven’t seen that as being a problem,” Biondo said. “Do folks make mistakes? Yeah. But I don’t see that when someone makes a mistake it’s because they just worked a double shift.”
Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner said recently there’s been an over-reliance on overtime in county government.
“The consistent overtime shows that you are running the operation with fewer resources than is appropriate,” she said.
The Kane Regional Centers — located in Pittsburgh, McKeesport and Ross and Scott townships — had more overtime costs than any other county department, but they also have the highest number of employees, with more than 1,000 working full-time.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and County Manager William McKain declined to comment on the PublicSource findings. Fitzgerald is responsible for the administration of all county departments and McKain supervises the departments, according to the county’s home rule charter.
County spokeswoman Amie Downs said in an email statement: “Costs at all of our facilities in the county are constantly being monitored and measured by the county manager and his staff, and he will continue to do so moving forward.”
Downs declined to speak to the issue of how overtime might affect quality of care at Kane.
Kane employees earned about $6.4 million in overtime pay in both 2012 and 2013, according to county salary figures. But its not clear that hiring more workers would be cheaper than paying overtime.
To cover the overtime hours worked by nursing assistants alone, the county could hire about 45 full-time workers. That would cost roughly $2.3 million, slightly less than they spent in overtime.
The Kane staff also earned $3.34 million in overtime pay through the first half of 2014, which puts it on track to match or exceed the overtime totals from 2012 and 2013.
The homes showed a deficit of $1.9 million in 2012 and $3.8 million in 2013. (Continue Reading)
Full Article & Source:
A flood of overtime for nurses at county nursing homes
South side nursing home forced to close
According to state documents, the Texas Department of Aging and Disability found the Sunview Care & Rehab Center failed to meet standards prescribed in Chapter 242 of the Texas Health and Safety Code.
The facility posted a letter on its door saying the state issued an order to suspend the nursing facility’s license and force an emergency closure. The letter went on to say the facility’s violations create an immediate threat to health and safety of the residents.
An employee would not comment on the violations, but confirmed all residents are being moved to nearby facilities.
Loved ones rushed to the nursing home to be there for their family members.
"Everybody was running around here very chaotic. All the nursing homes staffs from all the other facilities were outside waiting in line for their patients to be assigned to them with their medications, their charts. Everybody was really nervous,” Pat Galvan said.
Galvan traveled from Laredo to be with her aunt, who has been a resident at Sunview for two years.
"We had to just come right away because we didn't know what was going to happen to her or where she was going to be,” Galvan said.
The nursing home would not elaborate on the violations, but the state's Health and Safety Code grades all nursing facilities on things like quality of life, access to care, safety of the environment and professionalism of caregivers.
"We came over here last week and they told us that they were just rumors. The director told me himself they were just rumors,” Lydia Quinn said.
Quinn’s uncle has lived at Sunview for nearly two years.
"My husband came by last night to bring my uncle a burger and he sees everybody crying. He calls me and says, ‘You're not going to believe what's going on. Everybody's crying here. Everybody's saying goodbye,’ and I'm like, 'What are you talking about?'" Quinn said.
A 2014 state inspection shows the facility failed to provide the necessary services to maintain resident’s highest physical well-being.
Full Article & Source:
South side nursing home forced to close
Thursday, February 12, 2015
John Walters, Thanksgiving in Abiding Care
Source:
John Walters Thanksgiving in Abiding Care 2013
On John Walters:
John Walters is under conservatorship with the Santa Barbara Public Guardian. In 2014 he was living in a terrible board and care home named Abiding Care where he spent all day alone in bed in his room. The food was of inferior nutrition. He couldn't hear well, and wasn't given a hearing aid.
After I visited John Walters on Thanksgiving of 2013, a court investigator report came out that damned his son Adam's chances of taking care of his father and being his conservator.
The report stated that John's care manager, a person hired by the Public Guardian, said that on Thanksgiving I brought in matches to burn off his warts, and that he didn't have any. It also stated that she said I was screaming. In that report she is also purported to say that Adam is only interested in his father's money.
These reports are taken seriously by the judge, and at the time no-one from the Public Guardian's office who was responsible for John's welfare tried to counter this report. Also, this care manager did not contest the accuracy of the report.
In February 2018 I received a call from the care manager., She asked me to take down the post about her at NASGA. as it was inaccurate and hurting her reputation. She informed me the investigator's report that the post was based on was inaccurate, that she never said those horrible things about Adam or me, that it was instead a woman working at Abiding Care, Velma, who said those things. She also told me she would write a letter to the proper agency to counter this inaccurate and damning report.
After talking to the care manager, I believe this report is inaccurate and malicious. But it is important as it sealed John Walter's fate.
At the time I was shocked that the Public Guardian's office would hire someone who would make up such wild stories. I contacted the Public Guardian's office and it was claimed she didn't work for the Guardian. I contacted other local government agencies, and no-one had information on her. Finally, a representative of the Public Administrator, Kim, left a message on my answering machine that this care manager worked for John. This didn't make a lot of sense because John's under conservatorship, and doesn't have power to hire anyone. Finally, under pressure, the head of the Public Guardian's office, Arlene Diaz, admitted to me that its office was responsible for her position and paid her with John's money.
After Adam and I made quite a stink about John's situation, spoke at the Board of Supervisors, and I got an article published in the Santa Barbara News Press on the Public Guardian, John was eventually moved to another facility named Mission Villa. Owner Dana Newquist takes pride that he serves an all organic diet, and had written an article in the Montecito Journal about health improvements of his residents.
It took more time than it should have for the Public Guardian to get John out of Abiding Care, and into a better facility. The owner of Abiding Care also owns Peppers in Montecito, where Harry Olson suffered a terrible fate--he was drugged up with antipsychotics, and allowed to fall repeatedly--eventually he died. Was this allowed to happen because he was running out of money (see attached article)?
Despite being in a better place, John is apparently so drugged up that you can't have a conversation with him. Call his son Adam at (805) 448-2615 to find out more.
Please call Harry Hagen, the Santa Barbara Public Guardian, at (805) 568-2920(or email him at Hhagen@co.santa-barbara.ca.us) and ask him to allow John Walters to have a hearing aid. Also ask him to have his office stop targeting and being mean to family members. Ask his office to lay off the antipsychotic drugs, to try natural alternatives, and to choose better doctors. Adam had taken his father to see a holistic doctor named Dr. Saunders, M.D., and Dr. Saunders said the drugs John was under were very harmful, that there were alternatives. As a result of Adam seeking a second opinion for his dad, Adam was targeted, and not allowed to take him out anymore. Please ask the Public Guardian to respect family members, and honor their choice for a second opinion. If you live in Santa Barbara County, tell Harry Hagan, an elected official (also public administrator and tax collector), that you won't vote for him unless John Walters and other elders get better treatment.
There are alternatives to drugs. Please refer to Mahatma Ghandi's autobiography. In it he is adamantly opposed to drugs, and talks about the side effects.. He does, however, believe in natural methods and God's healing power.
Thank you for your help,
~Bryan Rosen
John Walters is under conservatorship with the Santa Barbara Public Guardian. In 2014 he was living in a terrible board and care home named Abiding Care where he spent all day alone in bed in his room. The food was of inferior nutrition. He couldn't hear well, and wasn't given a hearing aid.
After I visited John Walters on Thanksgiving of 2013, a court investigator report came out that damned his son Adam's chances of taking care of his father and being his conservator.
The report stated that John's care manager, a person hired by the Public Guardian, said that on Thanksgiving I brought in matches to burn off his warts, and that he didn't have any. It also stated that she said I was screaming. In that report she is also purported to say that Adam is only interested in his father's money.
These reports are taken seriously by the judge, and at the time no-one from the Public Guardian's office who was responsible for John's welfare tried to counter this report. Also, this care manager did not contest the accuracy of the report.
In February 2018 I received a call from the care manager., She asked me to take down the post about her at NASGA. as it was inaccurate and hurting her reputation. She informed me the investigator's report that the post was based on was inaccurate, that she never said those horrible things about Adam or me, that it was instead a woman working at Abiding Care, Velma, who said those things. She also told me she would write a letter to the proper agency to counter this inaccurate and damning report.
After talking to the care manager, I believe this report is inaccurate and malicious. But it is important as it sealed John Walter's fate.
At the time I was shocked that the Public Guardian's office would hire someone who would make up such wild stories. I contacted the Public Guardian's office and it was claimed she didn't work for the Guardian. I contacted other local government agencies, and no-one had information on her. Finally, a representative of the Public Administrator, Kim, left a message on my answering machine that this care manager worked for John. This didn't make a lot of sense because John's under conservatorship, and doesn't have power to hire anyone. Finally, under pressure, the head of the Public Guardian's office, Arlene Diaz, admitted to me that its office was responsible for her position and paid her with John's money.
After Adam and I made quite a stink about John's situation, spoke at the Board of Supervisors, and I got an article published in the Santa Barbara News Press on the Public Guardian, John was eventually moved to another facility named Mission Villa. Owner Dana Newquist takes pride that he serves an all organic diet, and had written an article in the Montecito Journal about health improvements of his residents.
It took more time than it should have for the Public Guardian to get John out of Abiding Care, and into a better facility. The owner of Abiding Care also owns Peppers in Montecito, where Harry Olson suffered a terrible fate--he was drugged up with antipsychotics, and allowed to fall repeatedly--eventually he died. Was this allowed to happen because he was running out of money (see attached article)?
Despite being in a better place, John is apparently so drugged up that you can't have a conversation with him. Call his son Adam at (805) 448-2615 to find out more.
Please call Harry Hagen, the Santa Barbara Public Guardian, at (805) 568-2920(or email him at Hhagen@co.santa-barbara.ca.us) and ask him to allow John Walters to have a hearing aid. Also ask him to have his office stop targeting and being mean to family members. Ask his office to lay off the antipsychotic drugs, to try natural alternatives, and to choose better doctors. Adam had taken his father to see a holistic doctor named Dr. Saunders, M.D., and Dr. Saunders said the drugs John was under were very harmful, that there were alternatives. As a result of Adam seeking a second opinion for his dad, Adam was targeted, and not allowed to take him out anymore. Please ask the Public Guardian to respect family members, and honor their choice for a second opinion. If you live in Santa Barbara County, tell Harry Hagan, an elected official (also public administrator and tax collector), that you won't vote for him unless John Walters and other elders get better treatment.
There are alternatives to drugs. Please refer to Mahatma Ghandi's autobiography. In it he is adamantly opposed to drugs, and talks about the side effects.. He does, however, believe in natural methods and God's healing power.
Thank you for your help,
~Bryan Rosen
Yadkin County woman suspected of exploiting elderly, disabled woman
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| Mary Elizabeth Crutchley |
On Monday deputies charged Mary Elizabeth Crutchley, 53, with felony exploitation of a disabled woman.
Investigators said Yadkin County Adult Services suspected Crutchley was misusing her powers in August 2014 and notified police.
Crutchley allegedly cashed a check from the woman’s account and used the money for herself.
She was placed under a $5,000 secured bond and her trial date is set for Feb. 11.
Full Article & Source:
Yadkin County woman suspected of exploiting elderly, disabled woman
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
HighPointe nursing home neglect case closes with last two sentencings
It was late April and the employees – a registered nurse, seven licensed practical nurses and nine certified nursing aides – stood accused of neglecting a bedridden man under their care.
One by one, each of those 17 former workers at HighPointe on Michigan pleaded guilty and has been sentenced, ending a story that cast yet another critical spotlight on nursing home care across the region.
“The treatment of the victim in this case was shameful, and I am pleased that those who were responsible have been held accountable,” Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a recent statement to The Buffalo News.
Initially charged with felony crimes, the defendants ended up pleading guilty to misdemeanors or violations. With one exception, a nursing aide who went to jail for 15 days, each was sentenced to community service.
As part of their sentences, they are required to take part in a “scared straight”-style program intended to educate other nursing home workers. State officials said the 17 will talk about their failure to adequately care for their patient and how that led to their arrest and prosecution.
“They worked in the most difficult, short-staffed unit,” said Charles J. Marchese, a defense lawyer in the case. “It was a very unfortunate situation, which I do not believe had to be handled criminally.”
The allegations against the 17 workers revolved around a
single patient, a 56-year-old man suffering from Huntington’s chorea, a
neurological disease that left him bedridden and totally dependent on the
nursing staff at HighPointe.
With the help of footage that came from a camera hidden in the man’s room, state investigators accused the nurses and nursing aides of ignoring their responsibilities. They said nurses failed to check on him and dispense pain medication, and aides failed to provide incontinent care and give him liquids.
The workers also faced allegations of falsifying documents to conceal their neglect.
Kaleida Health, which runs HighPointe, fired the 17 workers and removed the facility’s director and director of nursing. It also took steps to improve hiring practices and the education and training of workers there.
“As an organization, it is important to note that we took swift and appropriate action," said Kaleida spokesman Michael P. Hughes. “As we move forward now, we can continue to focus on the patients and residents that we serve here at HighPointe on Michigan.”
The convictions began in mid-June when Cynthia Kozlowski, an LPN, became the first defendant to plead guilty to falsifying business records.
Over the next several months, several other LPNs – Shateeka Stevens, Marlene Sims, Jamie Cunningham, Michael Howell and Heidi Bowens – pleaded guilty to the same crime.
Prosecutors also secured plea deals with seven certified nursing aides. Rubetta Harrell, Kenissa Henderson, Mariah Robinson, Margaret Glass, Amanda Stuart, Nicole Baker and Hazell Clegatt pleaded guilty to falsifying business records.
Three other defendants also pleaded guilty, but to different charges. Nursing aide Tiffany Heard-Williams was convicted of a willful violation of health laws, and LPN Rochelle McNeair-Tisdale was convicted of endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person.
The last two defendants to take pleas were Natalie Galbo, the only registered nurse charged in the case, and Ruteasha McCray, a nursing aide. They were convicted of disorderly conduct, a violation, and McCray was sentenced to 15 days in jail.
Marchese said the workers took the fall for Kaleida, which failed to provide its staff with the proper training and resources to adequately do its job. He also claims the victim, who has since died due to causes unrelated to the case, did not suffer any kind of physical harm.
“The individual patient suffered no injury,” Marchese said, “and to my knowledge, was never harmed.”
email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com
With the help of footage that came from a camera hidden in the man’s room, state investigators accused the nurses and nursing aides of ignoring their responsibilities. They said nurses failed to check on him and dispense pain medication, and aides failed to provide incontinent care and give him liquids.
The workers also faced allegations of falsifying documents to conceal their neglect.
Kaleida Health, which runs HighPointe, fired the 17 workers and removed the facility’s director and director of nursing. It also took steps to improve hiring practices and the education and training of workers there.
“As an organization, it is important to note that we took swift and appropriate action," said Kaleida spokesman Michael P. Hughes. “As we move forward now, we can continue to focus on the patients and residents that we serve here at HighPointe on Michigan.”
The convictions began in mid-June when Cynthia Kozlowski, an LPN, became the first defendant to plead guilty to falsifying business records.
Over the next several months, several other LPNs – Shateeka Stevens, Marlene Sims, Jamie Cunningham, Michael Howell and Heidi Bowens – pleaded guilty to the same crime.
Prosecutors also secured plea deals with seven certified nursing aides. Rubetta Harrell, Kenissa Henderson, Mariah Robinson, Margaret Glass, Amanda Stuart, Nicole Baker and Hazell Clegatt pleaded guilty to falsifying business records.
Three other defendants also pleaded guilty, but to different charges. Nursing aide Tiffany Heard-Williams was convicted of a willful violation of health laws, and LPN Rochelle McNeair-Tisdale was convicted of endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person.
The last two defendants to take pleas were Natalie Galbo, the only registered nurse charged in the case, and Ruteasha McCray, a nursing aide. They were convicted of disorderly conduct, a violation, and McCray was sentenced to 15 days in jail.
Marchese said the workers took the fall for Kaleida, which failed to provide its staff with the proper training and resources to adequately do its job. He also claims the victim, who has since died due to causes unrelated to the case, did not suffer any kind of physical harm.
“The individual patient suffered no injury,” Marchese said, “and to my knowledge, was never harmed.”
email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com
Full Article & Source:
DA: Great Neck Lawyer Stole $700K from Clients
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| Martha Brosius |
Martha Brosius, 50, tearfully pleaded not guilty Friday at Nassau County court to charges of grand larceny, scheme to defraud and offering a false instrument for filing. Queens prosecutors are handling the case because Brosius’ husband works for the Nassau County District Attorney’s office, which requested a special prosecutor to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
“She’s retired from law and is returning files from clients,” her Garden City-based attorney, Marc Gann, told Judge Helene Gugerty when his client was arraigned on the new charges.
In the 18 months since Brosius’ arrest in September 2013, investigators discovered additional instances of alleged theft, which increased the original three charges to 12, said James Liander, bureau chief of the Queens District Attorney’s Integrity Bureau. The case was sent to the grand jury twice last year, the Press has learned.
The victims included an incapacitated 77-year-old man and a disabled woman who was the sole inheritor of her father’s estate. Some of that money has since been repaid, authorities said.
Liander requested that Brosius’ bail be increased from $10,000 to $150,000. The judge declined the request after Gann argued that it was unnecessary because Brosius has attended every court and remains at home, caring for her two elementary-school-aged children.
“The defendant is accused of breaching her fiduciary duty and unjustly enriching herself at the expense of her clients,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement at the time of her arrest. “Such alleged actions cannot go unpunished.”
The case was referred to prosecutors by the Office of Court Administration’s Inspector General. If convicted, Brosius faces up to 15 years in prison. She is due back in court on March 11.
Full Article & Source:
DA: Great Neck Lawyer Stole $700K from Clients
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