It was a disappointing day in Lansing for advocates of guardianship
reform. A Senate committee did not vote on several bills that would
change Michigan’s guardianship laws. The 7 Investigators have been
exposing serious problems in the current guardianship system since 2017.
By:
Heather Catallo
LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) —
It was a disappointing day in Lansing for advocates of guardianship
reform. A Senate committee did not vote on several bills that would
change Michigan’s guardianship laws.
The 7 Investigators have been exposing serious problems in the current guardianship system since 2017.
These guardianship reform bills have been on the table in one form or another since 2021.
On
Thursday, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee ended her
committee hearing without taking a vote on the proposed changes. With
the Legislature about to take several weeks off for summer break, the
fate of these bills is unclear.
The 7 Investigators have shown you for years how loopholes in Michigan’s guardianship laws have hurt local families.
“This
is not a system designed to help — this is prison,” Niki Disner said
about her experience being under guardianship in Oakland County.
“Kept
them hostage, took them from their families, locked them behind a
6-and-a-half-foot privacy fence and just drained their estate,
researched how to sell off their property,” Gretchen Sommer said after a
judge appointed a professional guardian for her aunt and uncle instead
of a family member.
Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Elder Abuse Task Force has worked for
five years to create legislation to increase protections for vulnerable
adults. If you’re declared legally incapacitated, you lose the right to
make your own medical and financial decisions, and that’s not all.
“Where
you live, who you visit, whether you live or die under a
do-not-resuscitate order… every consequential decision that we make as
adults is eliminated. This is civil death. You are completely robbed of
your liberty,” said Michigan Elder Justice Initiative attorney Nicole
Shannon.
In front of the Michigan Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary,
and Public Safety Thursday afternoon, elder law advocates and family
members of people put under guardianship testified in support of the
bills.
“The
system is not working for the people at its center. I’m asking you to
find the courage today, in this room, with this vote that has been
missing for the last 30 years on guardianship reform and to pass House
Bill 4909 and 4912 out of committee today. We cannot wait,” Shannon
said.
“We want guardians who aren’t appointed 800 wards at a time… And we
want guardians appointed only to the people who truly need them,” said
Michelle Roberts, executive director of Disability Rights Michigan.
The
bills would provide several protections including making sure probate
judges put their reasons on the court record if they choose a
professional guardian over a family member. They would also require more
detailed reports from those assigned (Guardians ad Litem) to evaluate
whether someone needs a guardian.
“The
vulnerable adults of Michigan need for you to understand how the
unintended consequences of the legislation as written today combined
with the continued lack of proper funding to serve indigent clients will
negatively affect the quality of the services that they receive,” said
Diana Matay from the MGA.
The MGA is the same group that was kicked off the Elder Abuse Task
Force in 2023 after the 7 Investigators revealed their lobbyist was
caught on tape mocking the AG’s efforts to add more oversight in the law
by calling her task force a “task farce.”
“This is just one more example of how the system is failing,” said
Chandra Drayton, whose mother Ernestine died while under the care of a
professional guardian.
In a written statement, Committee Chair Senator Stephanie Chang said:
"I am supportive of the guardianship reform bill package
and have been working closely for many months with the bill sponsor and
several key stakeholders on the details of the bills. We have had
robust committee hearings on the bills and plan to have more in order to
hear from all parties and those wishing to speak. The stories from
individuals impacted by the flaws in the guardianship system have
compelled us to action and I am committed to seeing this bill package
through to the finish line."
The 7 Investigators asked Chang if she will hold a vote before summer recess. This was the response received late Thursday:
“The bills are a top priority for me and committee
members and we look forward to continuing in the committee process as
soon as we can. The legislature is likely to be on summer recess after
the budget process is complete, so we will see what we are able to do.
Again, it's a priority and we are continuing to take in feedback from
groups and hear from impacted families.”
Variety, Ilya S. Savenok / Stringer/Getty Images, Dia Dipasupil / Staff/Getty Images
For those living with dementia,
or those with loved ones experiencing dementia, the condition can be
overwhelming and have a profound effect on overall quality of life. The
same can be said for celebrities living with dementia, as well as their
family, friends, and caregivers. Bruce Willis, Wendy Williams, and Mavis
Leno are among a handful of celebrities who have publicly shared their
dementia diagnoses, giving insight to their personal health struggles
and raising awareness of the all-encompassing condition.
A broad term, dementia describes a
group of symptoms that affect a person’s memory, reasoning, thinking,
and social abilities, according to Mayo Clinic. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, a degenerative brain disease that’s caused by complex changes to the brain following cell damage, per the Alzheimer’s Association. Other types of commonly diagnosed dementia include vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and Frontotemporal dementia.
While genetics and age increase the risk of a person developing dementia, numerous other factors — including depression,
head trauma, inadequate diet and exercise, and low levels of certain
vitamins and nutrients — all play a key role in determining an
individual’s risk for developing dementia. Symptoms can present as
memory loss, difficulty speaking or processing language, visual and
spatial confusion, poor coordination, anxiety, depression, and more.
Ahead, see what celebrities living with
dementia — and their family and friends — had to say about the diagnosis
and its impact on their cognitive and psychological health.
Wendy Williams
In May 2023, a few months into filming her Lifetime docuseries Where Is Wendy Williams, Wendy Williams’s care team announced in a press release that she was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.
The former condition, a rare nervous system syndrome that affects the
ability to communicate, can limit a person’s ability to speak, read,
write, and understand speech, according to Mayo Clinic.
The latter form of dementia, in which the frontal and temporal lobes of
the brain shrink, affects the areas of the brain associated with
personality, behavior, and language.
News of Williams’ condition came after years of speculation around
the state of her mental health. “The decision to share this news was
difficult and made after careful consideration, not only to advocate for
understanding and compassion for Wendy, but to raise awareness about
aphasia and frontotemporal dementia and support the thousands of others
facing similar circumstances,” the press release read. “Unfortunately,
many individuals diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia face
stigma and misunderstanding, particularly when they begin to exhibit
behavioral changes but have not yet received a diagnosis.” The statement
continues, “Wendy is still able to do many things for herself. Most
importantly she maintains her trademark sense of humor and is receiving
the care she requires to make sure she is protected and that her needs
are addressed.”
Bruce Willis
In
the spring of 2022, Bruce Willis’s family announced that the actor had
been diagnosed with aphasia. “To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family
we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some
health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is
impacting his cognitive abilities,” Demi Moore shared in a statement on Instagram. “As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.”
Following the announcement, Willis received a more specific diagnosis
of frontotemporal dementia. “FTD is a cruel disease that many of us
have never heard of and can strike anyone,” Willis’s family wrote in a
2023 statement published on The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration
website. “For people under 60, FTD is the most common form of dementia,
and because getting the diagnosis can take years, FTD is likely much
more prevalent than we know. Today there are no treatments for the
disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead. As
Bruce’s condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be
focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness
and research.”
Mavis Leno
Jay Leno was recently granted conservatorship of his wife, Mavis Leno, after revealing in January that Mavis is battling dementia.
The conservatorship will allow Jay to “structure her living trust and
other estate plans” in case he dies before his wife, per Entertainment Tonight.
While the couple of 44 years have not shared specifics about what kind
of dementia Mavis is experiencing, the initial petition for
conservatorship claimed she has “been progressively losing capacity and
orientation to space and time for several years,” according to NBC News.
Court documents revealed that Jay has been deeply attentive to his
wife’s needs during this time. Per the filing, “Jay is fully capable of
continuing support for Mavis’ physical and financial needs, as he has
throughout their marriage.” On April 30, the couple made a rare
appearance at the premiere of Netflix’s Unfrosted. “Thought I’d come to something fun for a change. Everything is so controversial,” Jay told ET.
“Just to come to a funny, silly movie—it’s great. I think people will
have a great time.” When asked how she was doing, Mavis added, “I feel
great.”
Sharon Stone
In
2001, Sharon Stone experienced a life-threatening brain aneurysm that
resulted in a ruptured vertebral artery and a nine-day brain bleed into
her head, neck, and spine. According to Vogue, Stone was given a one percent chance of survival after surgery and beat the odds, even after numerous counts of medical gaslighting
by healthcare professionals who told her nothing was wrong. “I bled so
much into my subarachnoid pool that the right side of my face fell, my
left foot was dragging severely, and I was stuttering very badly,” she
said. “For the first couple of years I would also get these weird
knuckle-like knots that would come up all over the top of my head that
felt like I was getting punched. I can’t express how painful it all
was.”
During her decade-long recovery period, Stone also experienced
aphasia, a kind of dementia that results in the loss in ability to
understand or express speech. Through regular therapy and practice,
Stone was able to improve her cognitive health and has since become a
vocal advocate for stroke survivors, namely women whose medical concerns
are frequently dismissed by medical professionals. “I became more
emotionally intelligent,” she said in a profile on the National Aphasia Association
website. “I chose to work very hard to open up other parts of my mind.
Now I’m stronger. And I can be abrasively direct. That scares people,
but I think that’s not my problem. It’s like, I have brain damage;
you’ll just have to deal with it.”
Robin Williams
Robin Williams died by suicide at age 63 in 2014. Leading up to his death, the beloved actor and comedian had been experiencing symptoms of Lewy body dementia,
one of the most common types of dementia, which is associated with
abnormal deposits of proteins called Lewy bodies in nerve cells in the
brain.
Symptoms of this disease include depression, trouble with sleep,
movement disorders, cognitive problems, visual hallucinations, and more,
according to Mayo Clinic.
For Williams, specifically, these symptoms manifested as confusion,
forgetfulness, paranoia, hallucinations, anxiety, personality changes,
and difficulty with movement, according to a profile by the Lewy Body Dementia Association.
“It was very out of character for Robin to be so paranoid,” Susan
Schneider Williams said of her late husband in a 2021 interview with The Guardian.
“And that was the start of this 10-month drumbeat of increasing
symptoms, and the thing with LBD is the symptoms don’t come all at once –
they change. So they’re incredibly confusing to the patient and
caregiver.”
Williams’s Lewy body dementia, however, was not diagnosed until after
his death. During his lifetime, the star was misdiagnosed with and
treated for Parkinson’s disease. While the two conditions have many
overlapping symptoms, Parkinson’s is characterized by more tremors,
shaking, or other uncontrollable movements, while Lewy body affects
thinking or memory problems, and the diseases require different
treatments. In the years since her husband’s death, Schneider Williams
has become an outspoken advocate for Lewy body dementia awareness,
research, and education. Schneider Williams also signed off on Robin’s Wish, a 2020 documentary about her husband’s experience with dementia.
Tony Bennett
In a 2021 feature published in AARP magazine,
Tony Bennett’s family announced that the legendary singer had been
living with Alzheimer’s disease for five years. While some common
symptoms of the disease — including disorientation, terror, and rage —
did not affect Bennett, other common symptoms were more prevalent, such
as short-term memory loss and confusion. “Mundane objects as familiar as
a fork or a set of house keys can be utterly mysterious to him,” wrote
John Colapinto at the time.
Alzheimer’s disease, which is incurable and progressive, can be a
frightening diagnosis to confront. For Bennett’s family, however,
breaking their silence about the singer’s condition felt like a symbol
of hope and a step toward breaking the stigma Alzheimer’s carries. “He
is doing so many things, at 94, that many people without dementia cannot
do,” said Gayatri Devi, M.D., the neurologist who diagnosed Bennett in
2016. “He really is the symbol of hope for someone with a cognitive
disorder.” Bennett died in 2023 at age 96.
Rita Hayworth
In
1980, Rita Hayworth was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease,
a rare form of the condition that presents in people ages 65 or
younger. Shortly after receiving news of her condition, Hayworth became
one of the first celebrities to publicly announce her Alzheimer’s
diagnosis, starting a much-needed conversation around the disease, which
few were informed about then. At the time of her diagnosis, however,
Hayworth’s condition had already been progressing for years.
“By the time she was diagnosed, she really wasn’t totally aware,”
Hayworth’s youngest daughter and conservator, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan,
told Fox News
in 2018. “But it was difficult . . . She would look at me and say, ‘Who
are you?’ That was heartbreaking . . . She would get angry for no
reason. And belligerent. Not all people with dementia get that way, but
she did . . . I had to regulate her medication as she became more
aggressive . . . And just the basics of eventually trying to get her in
the shower. It was very painful.”
Khan credits the Alzheimer’s Association for helping her through that
difficult time, and for inspiring her to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s
disease in the years that followed her mother’s death in 1987. “They
found me and said, ‘We have this small organization and we would love
for you to be a part of it,’” Khan said. “‘We can share our heartache
and our pain and also, what’s coming next. Preparation of the disease
and what to expect down the road.’ … They were there for me.”
Sean Connery
Celebrated
actor Sean Connery died in 2020 at age 90 after a months-long battle
with dementia. Only after his death did Connery’s family reveal the
star’s condition and the effect it had on his quality of life. “It was
no life for him,” Connery’s widow, Micheline Roquebrune, told The Daily Mailfollowing
his death. “He was not able to express himself latterly. At least he
died in his sleep and it was just so peaceful. I was with him all the
time and he just slipped away. It was what he wanted.”
Rosalynn Carter
In
2023, Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter’s family revealed that she had
been diagnosed with dementia. “She continues to live happily at home
with her husband,” her family wrote in a statement shared to The Carter Center
website just months before her death. The statement continued, “We hope
sharing our family’s news will increase important conversations at
kitchen tables and in doctor’s offices around the country.”
After years as an advocate for mental health care, Carter’s impact on
the country and her family remains apparent. Though the Carters have
refrained from commenting further on Carter’s condition since her death
at 96 in November 2023, they have continued her legacy by raising
awareness of the profound impact caregivers have
across the country. “As the founder of the Rosalynn Carter Institute
for Caregivers, Mrs. Carter often noted that there are only four kinds
of people in this world: those who have been caregivers; those who are
currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will
need caregivers,” her family said in the statement. “The universality of
caregiving is clear in our family, and we are experiencing the joy and
the challenges of this journey.”
Ronald Reagan
On Nov. 5, 1994, five years after the end of his presidential term, Ronald Reagan announced in an open letter
to the public that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In the
letter, Reagan stated he felt “fine” and expressed concern for the
burden his wife, Nancy Reagan, might bear in caring for him as the
disease progressed. Reagan died a decade later at age 93 in 2004. In the
years leading up to the former president’s death, Nancy became a
steadfast Alzheimer’s advocate, raising awareness of the disease in the
years leading up to her own death at age 94 in 2016.
Gene Wilder
Gene
Wilder died in 2016 at the age of 83 as a result of Alzheimer’s
disease. Though Wilder and his family kept his dementia diagnosis
private during his lifetime, the legendary film star’s fourth wife,
Karen Wilder, shared details about her husband’s disease — including
watching him lose his memories and fine motor skills — in a 2018 essay
for ABC News.
“My husband took the news with grief, of course, but also astonishing
grace,” Wilder wrote about her late husband’s battle with Alzheimer’s.
“I watched his disintegration each moment of each day for six years. One
day, I saw him struggle with the ties on his drawstring pants. That
night, I took the drawstrings out. Then his wrist was bleeding from the
failed effort of trying to take off his watch. I put his watch away.”
At times, Wilder’s condition made him unrecognizable to his loved
ones. “The first signs of trouble were small. Always the kindest, most
tender man (if a fly landed on him, he waited for the fly to leave),
suddenly I saw Gene lashing out at our grandson,” Wilder said of her
husband. “His perception of objects and their distance from him became
so faulty that on a bike ride together, he thought we were going to
crash into some trees many feet away from us. Once, at a party with
friends, when the subject of ‘Young Frankenstein’ came up, he couldn’t
think of the name of the movie and had to act it out instead.” Wilder
credits the Alzheimer’s Association for helping her process her feelings
of grief and for supporting her in the years during her husband’s
battle with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as in the years that have
followed.
Sidney Poitier
Trailblazing
actor Sidney Poitier died at age 94 in 2022 as a result of three
concurrent health conditions, including cardiopulmonary failure,
prostate cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease, per People.
Though Poitier and his family did not share the details of his
experience with dementia during his lifetime, the actor’s family has
since shared how moved they were by Poitier’s ability to radiate
kindness, even at the end of his lifetime.
“We thought we were taking care of him. I see now that the truth is
he was still taking care of us,” Poitier’s daughter, Sydney Tamiia
Poitier, wrote on Instagram
at the time of her father’s death. “He was reminding us, particularly
in these uncertain times, of the power of GOODNESS. That even when the
body is fading and things seem to be falling apart around us, the
goodness remains.”
In her 44-year career, Judge Kathleen Gomes has ruled on NFL player Michael Orr's and Sherra Wright's conservatorship cases, but the judge says everyday vulnerable people are being targeted more than ever. She also shares her thoughts on the recent land grab of Elvis' Graceland.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew
Bailey has announced that a grand jury in Franklin County has returned
charges against Daniel E. Harrison, 40, for allegedly defrauding
consumers through his business, Extreame Lawn and Landscape. Harrison
faces three counts of financial exploitation of an elderly person and
three counts of deceptive business practices.
“As
Attorney General, I will always hold accountable those who target
innocent Missourians,” said Attorney General Bailey. “We will continue
to work around the clock to obtain justice for any Missourian who has
been ripped off.”
The
charges allege that between February 2022 and August 2022, Harrison’s
business falsely promised to engage in home and business renovations for
consumers in exchange for upfront payments. Once paid, Harrison either
abandoned the projects after performing negligible work or without
completing any work or delivering any materials.
The case is being prosecuted and investigated by the Attorney General’s Office.
Consumers
who believe they may have been scammed by a contractor should file a
complaint with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office by calling the
Consumer Protection hotline at 1-800-392-8222 or by submitting a
complaint online at ago.mo.gov.
Attorney
General Bailey reminds the public that charges against Harrison are
allegations and, as in all criminal cases, the defendant is presumed
innocent unless or until proven guilty in a court of law.
Older adults’ risk of being financially exploited underscores the
need for tools to help them and their caregivers keep their money safe,
according to a new report published by AARP.
“Over the past decade, criminals have become increasingly
sophisticated, posing new risks to the hard-earned savings of American
adults,” Jilenne Gunther, the national director of AARP’s BankSafe
initiative, said in a statement.
“Our data shows that older adults find age-friendly banking services
and a highly skilled workforce substantially more appealing than they
did ten years ago.”
AARP surveyed 2,014 US adults, of which half were between the ages of
18 and 49 and half were over 50. Among all respondents, 48% reported
that they have been a victim or intended victim of financial
exploitation, such as scams or fraud. Older adults were more likely to
lose a substantial amount of money; 22% of victims over 50 years old
indicated that they have lost more than $5,000 as a result of financial
exploitation, compared to 13% of victims under 50.
AARP’s report builds on previous research it
conducted in 2014. Increasingly many seniors are using online banking
tools, highlighting the need for new tools to combat scams and fraud,
according to AARP.
For older adults, the need for secure and accessible financial
resources is crucial, according to AARP. More than 90% of respondents
over 50 indicated that they want highly-trained employees at financial
institutions to help prevent exploitation, extra monitoring for
unauthorized withdrawals and notifications for unusual account
activity.
Caregivers also play a part in keeping older adults’ finances safe.
Among the respondents 50 years and older, three quarters called for
special services that allow caregivers to provide better financial
assistance. The most popular services, favored by more than 80% of older
adults surveyed, included phone calls, emails and text alerts for
caregivers when suspicious account activity or large withdrawals are
reported by an aging loved one’s financial institution.
A grieving daughter has taken legal action against a
Florida nursing home, alleging severe negligence that led to her
mother's death. Analisa Edell filed the complaint on June 7, 2024, in
the Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County,
Florida, accusing FI-Boca Raton, LLC, doing business as Boca Raton
Rehabilitation Center, of multiple violations and negligence.
The lawsuit centers around Susan Edell's time at Boca Raton
Rehabilitation Center, where she was admitted in early 2023 due to total
disability. According to the complaint, the facility failed to provide
adequate care and neglected its statutory obligations under Florida
Statute Section 400.022. "At no time prior to January 2023 did the
Defendant document or notify the guardian or family members that Ms.
Edell was suffering from a serious wound," states the filing. The
plaintiff alleges that this lack of communication and care led to an
unstageable sacral wound going untreated.
On January 28, 2023, Susan Edell suffered an unwitnessed fall at
the facility but fortunately did not sustain serious injuries. However,
her condition worsened over time due to inadequate care. By July 25,
2023, her coccyx wound had grown larger because staff failed to turn and
reposition her as required by standard care procedures. The situation
escalated on August 16 when she was sent to Boca Raton Regional Hospital
with shortness of breath and diagnosed with pneumonia and a Stage IV
pressure wound on her sacrum.
Despite being readmitted to Boca Raton Rehabilitation Center on
August 28 after receiving a feeding tube, Susan Edell's condition
continued to deteriorate due to ongoing neglect. She was readmitted to
Boca Raton Regional Hospital on October 2 with pneumonia and sepsis
linked to her worsening sacral ulcer. Tragically, she died from
infection and dehydration on January 7, 2024.
The complaint accuses FI-Boca Raton of failing in numerous areas:
providing adequate health care and protective services; treating
residents courteously; preventing physical abuse and neglect;
implementing proper policies for fall prevention; executing a Care Plan
for turning and repositioning intervals; documenting these actions;
using pressure-reducing devices; and taking precautions against
bedsores.
As a result of these alleged failures, Analisa Edell claims her
mother suffered significant pain and suffering before her death. The
lawsuit seeks compensatory damages exceeding $100,000 for medical bills,
funeral expenses, mental anguish experienced by both Susan Edell during
her lifetime and Analisa Edell following her mother's death.
Representing Analisa Edell is Jeffrey M. Fenster from Fenster &
Cohen P.A., while the case will be presided over by Judge Joseph
Abruzzo under Case ID: 502024CA005347XXXAMB Div: AK.
A bill by Napa Democratic Sen. Bill Dodd aims to keep seniors from being scammed.
In summary
A California bill would
temporarily halt large transactions if a financial institution suspects
elder fraud. Will the bill prevent seniors from accessing their bank
accounts for legitimate expenses?
Alice Lin’s husband died, and she found herself alone and caring for a
disabled son. Then two years ago, the 81-year-old Alhambra woman said
she started getting texts from a stranger on a messaging app.
So
she did – in seven separate in-person transactions at her local bank
over three weeks. Her life savings disappeared, along with the man who
scammed her. For a time, she said she contemplated suicide. But then she
got angry – at her bank.
“Despite many red, red flags, my bank failed to consider that I might be a victim of elder fraud,” Lin told the California Assembly’s Banking and Finance Committee this week. “And they did not even contact my daughter, who is the joint account holder on the account.”
In the months since, Lin started working with Consumer Attorneys of California to sponsor Senate Bill 278, a measure aimed at preventing elder fraud scams like the one that drained Lin’s investment accounts.
The bill, by Napa Democratic Sen. Bill Dodd,
would require that financial institutions delay transactions of more
than $5,000 by at least three days if they “reasonably” suspect an
elderly person is a victim of fraud. Banks would be required to train
their employees to spot red flags, such as an unusually large and sudden
transaction. Banks would also have to take steps to inform an elderly
customer’s designated “emergency financial contact” or joint account
holder – someone like Lin’s daughter – of a suspected fraudulent
transaction.
“Elder financial abuse is everywhere,” Dodd told the banking committee. “Losses exceed $23 billion annually. Once a senior falls prey to financial fraud, they may never recover.”
Dodd’s
bill passed the Senate this spring with support from every prominent
senior advocacy group in California, including the AARP. The measure
originally faced intense opposition from the state’s banking and
business lobbies, though they’ve since softened their stance after the
bill was recently amended.
The financial institutions cite worries that they’d be forced into
defacto conservatorships that would give them too much control over an
elderly customer’s finances. The restrictions would also limit how
quickly customers get their cash for legitimate expenses.
It was a concern shared by Roseville Republican Sen. Roger Niello who
cast the lone “no” vote when the bill was before the Senate’s judiciary
committee last month.
“As the bill exists now, it seems to me we
run the risk of more conflict between seniors and their financial
institutions than we do limiting elder abuse,” said Niello, who used the opportunity to give Dodd, 68, a good-natured ribbing about his age.
“I want you to know you don’t look a day over 90,” said Niello, who is 76 and the third-oldest member of the Legislature.
Dodd told the Assembly committee that the bill has been amended to
limit the liability banks could face “when they do the right thing to
protect elderly people, their customers.”
State Sen. Bill Dodd speaks during the first day of session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Jan. 3, 2024. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters
That eased some of the concerns from the 13 financial and business
groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, that are listed as
opponents to Dodd’s bill.
“We think what’s in front of us right now, while it’s going to be a
heavy lift for credit unions, the good outweighs the work that’s going
to go in there,” Robert Wilson, a lobbyist with the California Credit
Union League, told the banking committee this week. “This is going to protect seniors.”
Wilson and other bankers remain leery of how Dodd’s measure would be
enforced – a matter that Dodd says will get cleared up by the time the
bill reaches the Assembly Judiciary Committee next week.
The Justice Department announced today its findings
that the State of Missouri violated Title II of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) by unnecessarily institutionalizing adults with
mental health disabilities in nursing facilities. The investigation also
examined the role of guardianships in such institutionalization.
The Justice Department determined that there is reasonable cause to
believe Missouri violates the ADA by failing to provide the
community-based services adults with mental health disabilities need in
order to remain in their communities. It also found that the state is
improperly relying on guardianship and that this leads to people
entering nursing facilities even though community-based services are
appropriate for their needs.
“People with mental health disabilities should not have to be
confined to a nursing facility because they cannot access the
community-based services they need,” said Assistant Attorney General
Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The
Civil Rights Division will safeguard the rights of people with
disabilities to participate fully in their communities. The state’s
reliance on guardianships that serve as a pipeline to nursing
facilities, rather than engaging people in community-based mental health
services, has led to violations of the ADA.”
The department’s investigation found Missouri fails to provide
community-based mental health services for many people with mental
health disabilities who need them, including services such as:
Assertive Community Treatment;
Case management;
Supported employment;
Mobile crisis response;
Crisis stabilization services;
Permanent Supportive Housing;
Peer support; and
Supported Decision-Making.
Instead, the state makes nursing facility services for these
people. Missouri can reasonably modify its system to remedy this
violation by expanding community-based services and implementing
processes to ensure that individuals can receive those services rather
than entering nursing facilities.
Individuals with information relevant to this matter can contact the
department by leaving a voicemail at 833-610-1242 or emailing Community.Missouri@usdoj.gov. The Justice Department will hold two virtual community meetings on Tuesday, June 25, at 6 p.m. CT/7 p.m. ET and Wednesday, June 26,at 12 p.m. CT/1 p.m. ET. Members of the public are encouraged to attend
to learn more about the findings. Please register to join these
meetings by clicking on the respective link. If you need an interpreter
or accommodation to attend, please email Community.Missouri@usdoj.gov.
Attorney General Jason Miyares | Attorney General Jason Miyares Office
By Legal Newsline
Attorney General Miyares Announces Elder Abuse Investigation Center for Central Virginia
RICHMOND, Va. – Attorney General Jason Miyares today announced the
creation of the Elder Abuse Investigation Center for Central Virginia to
address and combat the growing issue of elder abuse and neglect.
Statistics show that one in ten Americans over 65 have been victims of
elder abuse, yet only one in 24 cases are reported to the authorities.
Operating as a specialized unit within the Office of the Attorney
General, the Elder Abuse Investigation Center aims to enhance and
streamline collaboration among Central Virginia jurisdictions to
investigate and prosecute instances of elder abuse in nursing homes,
assisted living facilities, and private residences. This includes
physical assaults, neglect, sexual assaults, violent crimes, and
suspicious deaths.
This initiative will see a coalition of law enforcement agencies,
Commonwealth’s Attorneys, and elder advocates from Richmond, Colonial
Heights, Chesterfield, Henrico, Hopewell, Hanover, Powhatan, and
Goochland Counties working together. Additional jurisdictions are
expected to join the effort in the near future.
Although other regions of Virginia have similar elder abuse
investigation coalitions, such as the Peninsula Elder Abuse Forensic
Center, this will be the first initiative in Central Virginia.
As Attorney General, Miyares has taken several new steps to fight
back against elder abuse in Virginia, including advancing the Senior
TRIAD program, streamlining consumer protection resources, and advising
the General Assembly in crafting legislation to increase penalties for
criminals and scammers who target vulnerable older Virginians.
For more information about the resources offered by the Office of
the Attorney General to prevent and address instances of elder abuse and
neglect click here.
