Disabled woman denied food, water, and healthcare in a nursing home

ANNANDALE, Virginia, April 20, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – A disabled Virginia woman who was being starved at a nursing home there is now getting food and water, but her family and attorneys are sounding the alarm because she is still at risk and not receiving adequate care.

Yolanda Bell, sister of Anastasia Adams, contacted Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF) on behalf of Adams.

Adams was denied treatment for a blood clot and had her guardianship filched away before she was then clandestinely taken to an undisclosed facility. After several questionable injuries in a short time there, Adams was moved back to the hospital and put into hospice care, where she had been denied nutrition. Treatment is still being withheld.

“The family is Catholic and Anastasia has communicated that she wants to live,” said LLDF Executive Director Alexandra Snyder. “Anastasia does not have a terminal disease — the hospital is simply refusing to treat her and instead wants to put her to death.” 

Snyder told LifeSiteNews that Adams is now receiving food and water, though only because more people were beginning to take note of the case. But in lieu of needed treatment, she’s only getting palliative care.

“This woman has family who loves her and wants to care for her,” said Snyder. “But they (hospital officials) have her on a death track.”

Adams was wheelchair bound after suffering a brain injury over 10 years ago, but she was able to speak and interact with family. Bell was the legal durable and healthcare power of attorney for over 12 years while Adams was in a nursing home. 

Several months ago, Adams developed a large blood clot while in INOVA Fair Oaks Hospital, Snyder explained. The hospital refused to treat her and ordered that Adams be discharged. 

When Bell refused to move her sister out of INOVA, the hospital took her to court and had its own guardians appointed to oversee Adams’ care. 

Snyder told LifeSiteNews, “The hospital said, ‘Instead of treating her, we’re just going to take you to court.’”

“It’s horrible,” she continued. “They don’t like her questioning their protocol. She just wanted her sister treated and released and home.” 

The guardians sent Adams to a nursing home without notifying the family, forcing Bell to have to track her down hours later because the nursing staff had been advised not to disclose any information. While in the nursing home, Adams suffered four injuries in two weeks, including a broken hip.

“To have two complete strangers come and just take her is just outrageous,” Snyder said. “They just dumped her in the facility.”

Bell has established a Change.org petition and Facebook page, where she’s telling her sister’s story. The petition is addressed to Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and others. The objective is to prevent hospitals from seeking guardianship as a means to override patient rights.

“I am heartbroken beyond words,” Bell posted on Easter Sunday. “I fear for my sister’s life every minute of every day.”

“To have strangers come in and forcibly tear you from your loved ones, to abduct your person, because that is exactly what this is — an abduction — is terrifying for a person with a brain injury and other such patients,” Bell wrote in the petition. “It is terrifying for an incapacitated person who has relied heavily on and whose life, happiness and well-being has depended on a family member.”

She told of how she has watched her sister “whimper and cry out in fear since guardianship of her was awarded to Inova Fairfax Hospital appointed guardians.”

“I have had to watch the expression of fear on her face while being told lawyers would now be her guardians and that I no longer had control over where she lived, who would be caring for her, what medications she could or could not be given, or treatments she would or would receive,” Bell stated.

When Adams was transferred back to INOVA in March because of the broken hip, the guardians refused to authorize any treatment, said Snyder. Instead, they put her in hospice care at a Golden LivingCenter nursing facility in Annandale.

Snyder told LifeSiteNews that as a result of the court action before LLDF involvement, not only has the hospital seized power over Adams’ treatment decisions, Bell is not permitted to visit her sister. 

“Yolanda lost all contact,” Snyder stated.

"I miss my sister terribly,” said Bell. “I can only imagine what she is going through. She must think I have abandoned her. I have trouble sleeping. I close my eyes and see her being beaten and abused. I hear her crying out in pain begging me to help her." 

Adams now has a fever, Snyder told LifeSiteNews, but treatment is still being refused.

“Even though they’re not starving her, they’re just waiting for her to die,” said Snyder.

LLDF has release two videos, one taken prior to her being admitted to the hospital and the second taken at the nursing facility on April 8 showing Adams’ shocking decline.

LLDF is currently assisting the family in securing an attorney to recover Adams’ guardianship back to another sibling. 

“Tragically, we are seeing an exponential increase in cases where patients are intentionally starved to death because someone has determined that their lives no longer have value,” Snyder stated. 

“Anastasia was targeted for death simply because she is disabled. But she can speak, feel pain, and fully understands what is happening to her. She is being tortured to death by healthcare professionals who have it in their capacity to provide care and treatment.”

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Disabled woman denied food, water, and healthcare in a nursing home

Assisted Suicide Activist Pushing to Euthanize Mentally Ill Patients

Euthanasia/assisted suicide is NOT about terminal illness. The issue is about normalizing killing as a response to human suffering.

Sure, the initial sales pitch would restrict doctor-administered or prescribed death to the dying. But that’s just to get people comfortable with the concept. Once a society accepts the principle, logic quickly takes it to a broad euthanasia license.

Canada is a prime example. Before the Supreme Court imposed a national euthanasia right on the country, the debate was all about terminal illness. But now that euthanasia is the law throughout the country, the push is on to allow doctors to kill the mentally ill who ask to die.

The Globe and Mail’s pro-euthanasia health columnist, André Picard André Picard uses the suicide of a mentally ill person to push that agenda. From, “The Mentally Ill Must Be Part of the Assisted Suicide Debate:”

We should not discriminate or deny people rights because it makes us queasy or because of our prejudices. This case reminds us just how severe mental illness can be.

“Non-existence is better than this,” Mr. Maier-Clayton said. “Once there’s no quality of life, life is akin to a meaningless existence.”

Opponents of assisted death argue that those who suffer from mental illness cannot make rational decisions, that they need to be protected from themselves.

But we’re not talking about granting assisted death to someone who is delusional, or suffering from psychosis or someone who is depressed and treatable. The suffering has to be persistent and painful, though not necessarily imminently lethal.

I would hasten to add, as defined by the suicidal person and regardless of ameliorating treatments that could be administered. But anyone who is suicidal believes his or her suffering is unbearable. Otherwise, they wouldn’t want to die.

This ever-broadening death license is only logical. If killing is indeed an acceptable answer to suffering, how can it be strictly limited to people diagnosed with a terminal illness? After all, many people suffer far more severely and for a far longer time than the imminently dying.

The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and now Canada, demonstrate that over time, it won’t be.

Meanwhile, California has a regulation requiring state mental hospitals to cooperate with assisted suicide for their involuntarily committed patients with terminal illnesses–despite supposed protections in the law for those with mental conditions that could affect their decisions.

Meant to be compassionate, assisted suicide is actually abandonment most foul. Compassion means to “suffer with.” Euthanasia is about eliminating suffering by eliminating the sufferer.

Or, to put it another way, euthanasia endorses suicide. It’s not choice, it is the end of all choices.

In any event, this is the debate we should be having. Whether one agrees or disagrees with my take, surely as we in the USA should debate the issue with intellectual integrity and honesty.

But we won’t because pro-euthanasia forces know they would lose. The obfuscating claim that assisted suicide will only be about the terminally ill for whom nothing else but death can eliminate suffering is just the spoonful of honey to help the hemlock go down.

LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith, J.D., is a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture and a bioethics attorney who blogs at Secondhand Smoke.

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Assisted Suicide Activist Pushing to Euthanize Mentally Ill Patients

Gov. LePage says he'll veto "death with dignity" legislation

AUGUSTA, Maine - Republican Gov. Paul LePage says he'll veto legislation that would allow doctors to prescribe medication that a patient may self-administer to hasten death.

The Legislature's health and human services committee on Wednesday is set to decide whether to recommend bills sponsored by Republican Sen. Roger Katz and Democratic Rep. Jennifer Parker.

The Maine Medical Association is not yet taking a position on the legislation because its members are divided.

Opponents say the bills would spur elder abuse and exploitation.

Supporters say the legislation protects against such abuse and that medications cannot treat all pain.

So-called assisted suicide is legal in Washington D.C. and six states, including Vermont.

The nonprofit Death with Dignity Political Fund says 25 states are considering similar bills this year.

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Gov. LePage says he'll veto "death with dignity" legislation

Alienation in Family Law

When it comes to families, the quality of the relationships between relatives can mean the difference between happy and unhappy ones. When it comes to family law, preserving relationships and addressing the people who would try to damage them is one of the law's most important functions. When alienation is present, it causes a rift within a family that can result in lasting pain and anguish. Whether the alienation occurs between spouses or between parents and children, laws exist to help families repair the damage caused to broken relationships.

Alienation of Affection

In 2010, a jury in North Carolina awarded a woman $9 million in a lawsuit filed against the woman she claimed stole her husband. In seven states, -- Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah -- a spouse can sue in civil court for what is called alienation of affection. Alienation of affection is the intentional act of discouraging a person from maintaining their marital relationship or willfully diverting a person's love, affection and attention away from his or her spouse. Cases of this kind are frequently brought against mistresses and paramours after a marriage ends in divorce. To succeed in an alienation case against an extramarital lover, spouses must prove that they were happily married, that the other spouse's affection was alienated from them, and that the alienation was caused by the actions of the third party.

Parental Alienation

Similar in nature to alienation of affection, parental alienation occurs when divorced or separated parents take steps to damage the relationship between their child and the other parent. This damage can be caused through words or actions that present a negative image of the other parent, which the child accepts to be true. Examples of behavior that could be considered parental alienation include telling the child that the other parent has no interest in visitation with the child, when actually the other parent is working or ill; calling the other parent names in front of the child; telling the child that the other parent is responsible for breaking up the family; and making the child choose between parents.

Child Custody

In child custody cases where parental alienation is alleged, the negative behavior of the parent causing the alienation can have an impact on the court's custody decision. Family courts consider what is in the best interests of the children. Under Ohio family law rules, for example, the court evaluates the ability of each parent to encourage the sharing of love, affection and contact between the child and the other parent.

Parental Alienation Syndrome

When a parent continually engages in behavior that undermines his child's relationship with the other parent, it can have a significant impact on the child's psychological health. The effect of ongoing criticism of the other parent can lead to the development of Parental Alienation Syndrome in the child. The syndrome exists when a child exhibits certain characteristics including a lack of interest in visitation or communication with the other parent. According to the American Bar Association, this syndrome occurs in as many as 60 percent of divorce cases. By cooperating with each other and insulating the children from the conflict between the parents, adults can do what is in the best interest of the child and prevent the onset of Parental Alienation Syndrome.

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Alienation in Family Law

Arkansas judge pleads guilty in DWI case; panel to decide discipline

The Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission is determining how to discipline Circuit Judge William Pearson after he pleaded guilty Monday in Johnson County to charges of driving while intoxicated and reckless driving.

What punishment the commission decides to give Pearson will determine if or how soon he can return to the bench as a judge in Arkansas' 5th Judicial Circuit, which is comprised of Franklin, Johnson and Pope counties.

Executive Director David Sachar said Tuesday the commission will act quickly to determine how to sanction Pearson for violating ethical canons by breaking state law. The commission could admonish, reprimand or censure him or pass on a recommendation to the Arkansas Supreme Court for some other action, Sachar said.

On a petition from the commission, the Arkansas Supreme Court suspended Pearson with pay from the bench.

Circuit court records show Pearson, 57, entered guilty pleas to the two misdemeanor charges before special Circuit Judge John Langston. As part of a negotiated plea, charges of misdemeanor fleeing and refusal to submit to a breath test, a violation, were dismissed.

The sentencing order said Langston suspended imposition of a sentence for six months and ordered Pearson to pay $1,020 in fines, fees and court costs. Pearson also was ordered to pay $1,829.24 restitution to the Arkansas State Police for damage caused to a state police car the night Pearson was arrested, according to his Little Rock attorney Jeff Rosenzweig.

As part of his sentence on the reckless driving charge, Pearson was ordered to serve five days in jail. Rosenzweig said Pearson will serve one of the five days working in the Johnson County jail on a day when the state police run a sobriety checkpoint.

Pearson will serve the other four days giving speeches to young people about the dangers of drinking and driving, Rosenzweig said. He said it would mirror a statement Pearson made to Langston before he entered his pleas.

"I make no excuses for my actions," Pearson said in the prepared statement. "I never considered myself above the law then or now. I simply should have known better not to drink and drive intoxicated. The shame and embarrassment is mine."

Pearson, 57, has served since 2008 as a judge in the 5th Judicial Circuit. The Supreme Court issued a suspension order Jan. 26, almost a week after Pearson was arrested Jan. 20.

State police records state Pearson was driving north on Crawford Street south of Clarksville in Johnson County and went through the state police sobriety checkpoint without stopping about 9:30 p.m. Jan. 20.

Pearson said in his statement to police that he thought the gathering of patrol cars on the side of the road with their strobe lights flashing was for a traffic stop or an accident. Rosenzweig said Pearson's intoxication contributed to his misinterpreting the reason for the police presence.

Troopers gave chase with their lights and sirens on while Pearson continued driving north into Clarksville. At one point, he turned into a parking lot. A trooper followed him and pushed against the back of Pearson's pickup in an attempt to stop it as the truck continued. The pickup finally came to a stop against the front of the trooper's car.

A trooper wrote in a report that Pearson was so drunk he slumped to the ground as troopers got him out of the pickup. Later at the Johnson County sheriff's office, Pearson became sick, lost bladder control and was uncooperative during the fingerprinting process. He was too drunk to take a test for his blood alcohol level, according to the report.

In his statement, Pearson apologized to 5th Judicial Circuit Judges Gordon McCain, Dennis Sutterfield and Ken Coker and other special judges who took over his caseload after he was suspended.

He also apologized to residents of the circuit's three counties for his "isolated lapse of judgment," to his staff, his family and to the judges in the state and the bar association.

"I regret my actions of January 20 and look forward to redemption and making amends for this and assure all that this will never ever happen again," he concluded.

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Arkansas judge pleads guilty in DWI case; panel to decide discipline

70-year-old Fairview woman charged with exploiting elderly or disabled person

FAIRVIEW, N.C. (WLOS) — A 70-year-old Fairview woman is charged with exploiting an elderly or disabled person.

Patsy Jean Steele, 70, of Charlotte Highway in Fairview was arrested on Saturday and charged.

This charge involves two separate offenses: exploitation of a disabled or elder adult through a position of trust or business relationship, and exploitation of a disabled or elder adult lacking capacity. Steel was charged with the former.

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70-year-old Fairview woman charged with exploiting elderly or disabled person

Michigan Owner of Sixteen Adult Foster Care Homes Indicted on Additional Charges Including Obstructing the IRS and Failing to File Tax Returns

PRESS RELEASE:  A federal grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of Michigan returned a superseding indictment today, charging a Grand Blanc, Michigan owner of adult foster care homes with additional tax crimes including obstructing the internal revenue laws and failing to file tax returns, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

Jeremiah Cheff was indicted in October 2016 on 60 counts of failing to collect, account for and pay over employment taxes. According to the superseding indictment, Jeremiah Cheff controlled the financial and business operations of 16 foster care homes that cared for individuals with mental illnesses and developmental and physical disabilities, including Hunter’s Home, Nico’s Place, Harmony Manor, Hilltop Estates and Deerwood Manor. It is alleged that from September 2010 through September 2014, Cheff withheld payroll taxes from employees’ paychecks, failed to timely file employment tax returns and failed to pay over the funds withheld to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The new charges allege that Cheff corruptly endeavored to obstruct the internal revenue laws and failed to timely file his 2013 through 2015 individual returns. According to the indictment, after the IRS informed Cheff it intended to file a lien to collect unpaid employment taxes, Cheff sent an $80,000 fake financial instrument to the IRS and falsely claimed to a revenue officer that he had paid the taxes due. Cheff also allegedly spent money from his businesses for personal benefit instead of paying it to the IRS, falsely classified his employees as independent contractors, provided false information to his return preparer and filed false 2013 through 2015 partnership returns for Hunter’s Home.

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

If convicted, Cheff faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for each of the 60 employment tax counts, three years in prison for obstructing the IRS and one year in prison for each of the failure to file counts. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Jeffrey McLellan and Carl F. Brooker IV of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan for its substantial assistance.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.

Source:
Michigan Owner of Sixteen Adult Foster Care Homes Indicted on Additional Charges Including Obstructing the IRS and Failing to File Tax Returns

Britney Spears under conservatorship of father 10 years after mental health battle

Britney Spears

Pop star Britney Spears is still under the conservatorship of her father, almost 10 years after she battled mental health issues.

According to US law, a conservatorship is a guardian appointed by a judge to manage the financial and/or daily affairs of another due to physical or mental limitations, or old age. Jamie Spears continues to control the Piece Of Me singer's fortune but the musician is said to be "very happy" with the court's decision, say reports.

In 2008, Spears, 35, was placed under a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold and a judge subsequently permitted her father to manage her finances.

A source told the New York Post's Page Six: "Britney just keeps working and working, and everybody around her gets paid. It's astonishing how hard she works, how well behaved she is now, but she still cannot make decisions about her own finances or personal life without the approval of her conservators," before adding: "[Britney] is in the best place she's ever been."

Previous reports claimed all of Spears' monetary transactions are noted in court documents in order to protect her fortune and Jamie is allegedly paid a $130,000 (£103,000) yearly salary. Earlier in April, it was announced that the Make Me hitmaker will bring her popular Las Vegas residency to an end in December after a four-year run.

Fans should not mourn the Piece Of Me residency just yet as an insider suggests Spears could return to Sin City one day, stating: "It's definitely not the end of her onstage. She will be back. As long as they play it smart, there's money to be made. Yes, she's still under the conservatorship, but she's happy because everything is taken care of for her. She's in a Britney bubble. She's healthy, she just celebrated another year of sobriety, and she's dating a handsome guy, model and personal trainer Sam Ashgari."

A friend of Britney Spears suggests the singer may return to Las Vegas after closing the Piece Of Me residency in DecemberGetty

One other alleged friend of Spears described the pop star as a "walking zombie", claiming she is simply a money-making machine for those in her inner-circle. However, the pop star's rep slams these claims, arguing: "This is not accurate. She is great... has shows in Asia and Tel Aviv coming up and is very happy."

Spears briefly addressed the conservatorship during an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show in 2016 and explained how she took control of creative decisions for her latest album Glory because other areas of her life are spearheaded by others. The Toxic singer told Ross: "Okay, so I have this conservatorship. I've been under this conservatorship for three years and I felt like a lot of decisions were made for me, so I wanted [Glory] to be my baby and I've been really strategic about it."

Once returning from her current holiday in Hawaii, Spears will resume her Las Vegas residency at The Axis at Planet Hollywood on 3 May.

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Britney Spears under conservatorship of father 10 years after mental health battle

Legislation to Protect Elderly and Vulnerable Adults from Financial Exploitation Being Considered

Nashville, TN – Two major bills to protect elderly and vulnerable adults from financial exploitation are moving through House Committees.  House Bill 304 will be heard in the House Government Operations Committee this week, and House Bill 1064 is the House Calendar and Rules Committee.
 
This legislation gives securities officials and financial institutions the tools they need to help detect and prevent financial exploitation of those age 65 and older and vulnerable adults with diminished capacity.

Tennessee State Representative Curtis Johnson

The legislation comes from the Elderly and Vulnerable Adult Abuse Task Force, which worked with Tennessee’s financial community to recommend the changes.

Approximately one in five seniors has been a victim of financial exploitation at a cost of approximately $2.9 billion annually.

Moreover, these numbers are likely low as it is also estimated that only one out of every 44 instances of financial abuse is actually reported.

Called the Senior Financial Protection and Securities Modernization Act, House Bill 304

• Provides a pathway for voluntary reporting by giving civil and administrative immunity to broker-dealers, investment advisers, agents, representatives and other qualified individuals for reporting the suspected abuse or exploitation;
• Allows those individuals to delay disbursements from an account for up to 15 days if financial abuse or exploitation is suspected (that delay could be extended to up to 25 days upon request by the commissioner and by court order);
• Grants the Commissioner of Commerce and Insurance authority to create additional guidelines by rule for delayed-disbursement when fraudulent activities are suspected;
• Authorizes notification to third parties previously designated by the elderly or vulnerable adult regarding any suspected fraudulent transactions; and,
• Gives the Commissioner authority, under the state’s Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, to double current civil penalties to up to $10,000 to $20,000 per violation against offenders who victimize a vulnerable or senior adult.
• It has been estimated that 41.4 percent of the offenses of financial exploitation were committed by a family member and another 13.3 percent of victims were described by law enforcement as having close relationships with the perpetrator.

Likewise, House Bill 1064 adds tools and greater flexibility as to how financial institutions can best protect their customers when they have reason to suspect financial exploitation of elderly or vulnerable adults is occurring or being attempted.

The legislation:

• Provides new authority for financial institutions to delay or refuse to conduct transactions which permit the disbursement of funds from the account of an elderly customer or vulnerable adult when exploitation is suspected; 
• Permits, but doesn’t require, the financial institution to establish a list of persons the customer would like to have contacted if the institution suspects the customer is a victim of financial exploitation or theft; 
• Allows financial institutions to refuse to accept an authorized power of attorney if they believe the person is conducting financial exploitation; and, 
• Requires the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions to consult with financial service providers, the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability, and the Department of Human Services to develop a public education campaign to alert the public to the dangers of vulnerable adults from financial exploitation. 

The proposals build on a new law passed by the General Assembly last year, which set up Vulnerable Adult Protective Investigative Teams (VAPIT) in each judicial district in Tennessee to foster cooperation and information sharing between different government agencies whose purpose is to protect elderly and vulnerable adults.

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Legislation to Protect Elderly and Vulnerable Adults from Financial Exploitation Being Considered