Lawyer Ethics Probe

The Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Discipline Board suspended the license of Marc Casey, a Dyersville lawyer, for two months for several ethical violations.

The charges stem from Casey's representation of clients in a 2001 personal injury case and a 2004 probate matter.

In the estate case, Casey told the district court he would have it resolved in 30 days but delayed so long that the court certified the matter as delinquent, according to the ruling. Casey did not take care of costs and documentation regarding a bequest, the ruling says. The discipline board tried to reach Casey about that case, but Casey did not respond. The board found many errors in Casey's work and discovered that Casey had taken his entire fee for the probate matter and placed it in his firms account before the final report was filed.

Full Article and Source:
Dyersville lawyer's license suspended in ethics probe

States Look to Uniform Guardian Laws

Guardian Kelly Qualey watched helplessly from afar as one of her wards, a vulnerable adult from Fargo, ended up with a convicted felon as a roommate after he moved to Texas.

Qualey’s guardianship didn’t travel with the man, who suffered from dementia and mental illness, because the state of Texas didn’t recognize her authority.

Ultimately, the former Fargo resident was placed in an assisted-living facility, where he is better protected from those who would prey upon the unsuspecting. But his case underscores the need for uniform state guardian laws, said Qualey, who is with Guardian and Protective Services.

North Dakota and Minnesota are among a handful of states considering legislation to adopt a standard guardianship law to prevent pitfalls such as the one Qualey’s client faced last year.

Full Article and Source:
ND, Minnesota look to uniform guardian laws

Abuse of Psychiatric Patients

Shock advocates have proven impervious to science and to public criticism. Like men who beat their wives and abuse their children, shock doctors escalate their violence when criticized. Like other abusers, criticism by itself will not stop them. Shock treatment must be banned. We can begin by banning it on children eighteen and younger, and involuntary adults.

Electroshock for Children and Involuntary Adults
by Dr. Peter Breggin

America and Australia are two countries I vastly admire. Nonetheless, they are continuing to abuse psychiatric patients with electroshock treatment (ECT). In America involuntary adults are being shocked despite the best efforts of psychiatric reformers. In Australia psychiatrists have taken shock treatment to a new level of barbarity by shocking 55 toddlers age four and younger in Victoria.

The controversy over shocking children has a long history. In 2000 before his untimely death, Steve Baldwin, at the time a professor of psychology in Australia, and his co-author Melissa Oxlad wrote a book reviewing and condemning the practice throughout the world.

Electroshock "treatment" was discovered in the 1930s in a slaughterhouse in Italy. Before being killed, hogs were knocked out by a jolt of electricity to the head and brain. If they weren't slaughtered, after a while the animals awoke and were able walk around on wobbly legs. Two Italian psychiatrists learned about this phenomenon and immediately tested it on an involuntary patient. The patient wasn't knocked out by the first jolt and struggled from the table screaming "Murder!" The doctors gave him a bigger jolt. When he awoke, he was docile and no longer complained. A miracle treatment was born and the two psychiatrists became famous.

Why in the world would medical doctors be so excited about a jolt of electricity that knocked out a hog without killing it?

Full Article and Source:
Electroshock for Children and Involuntary Adults

See also:
Remember Ray

Blindsided

Brookfield Probate Judge Joseph Secola, who in recent years has been the leading advocate on maintaining the current court system, said that Gov. M. Jodi "blindsided a lot of people" by calling last week for a consolidation of the probate jurisdictions from 117 to 36 as she attempts to restructure state operations during a time of severe fiscal crisis.

Mr. Secola staunchly opposed efforts by James Lawlor of Waterbury, the former court administrator, to consolidate the system in response to reports that it is financially insolvent.

Mr. Secola, who was initially elected in 2001, said in a phone interview that the current probate court structure allows for citizens, particularly immigrants, to get personal attention without the cost of having to be represented by a lawyer.

"I don't know who is giving her advice, but it is bad advice," Mr. Secola said of Mrs. Rell's announcement in her Feb. 4 budget address that she wants to pare down the size of the probate court system, which has been in place for 300 years.

Full Article and Source:
Brookfield's Probate Expert 'Blindsided' by Rell's Plan

See also:

Rell's Surprise

Protection From Public Records

A bill currently under consideration by the state legislature would remove Social Security numbers and birthdates from state probate records, and it is a bill that Covington County Probate Judge Ben Bowden favors.

Bowden: "I am in favor of anything that would protect the identity of our citizens. I’m for this bill and want to work with my fellow probate judges across the state to develop some means to protect this kind of information."

Information like Social Security numbers and birthdates is listed on public records held at the state’s county probate offices. However, as more of that information is being transferred to the Internet, questions have arisen about the safety of including such information in a place where anyone could easily access it.

Bowden said the bill would remove SSNs and similar information from probate records in the future, both hard copy and online archives. He added that there are ways to mask the information in the existing digital archives, but doing the same for the bound printed public record may prove to be difficult.

The bill is enumerated as S.B. 11 and is sponsored by Sen. Kim Benefield.

Full Article and Source:
Bill could remove SSNs from records

See also:
Probate and Identity Theft

Grand Jury Investigation

A state agency denies a license for the former president of the industry group that represents professional guardians and says she made false claims on her application. She denies lying.

One of California's most prominent professional conservators has been denied a license by the state and is the focus of a grand jury investigation.

The decision to deny Melodie Jo Scott a license marks a significant shift in the oversight of professional conservators, who answered only to probate judges until a 2005 Times series highlighted abuse in the field and prompted a licensing requirement that took effect in January.

Until this year, conservators, who control the healthcare and finances of adults deemed in Probate Court to be incapable of looking after themselves, were less regulated than hairdressers and guide-dog trainers. The Times series described how some were able to gain control over the lives and finances of elderly adults without their knowledge or consent, neglect their wards, isolate them from relatives, run up fees and in some cases steal from their clients.

Scott's licensing problems come as the San Bernardino County grand jury is examining many of her cases as well as others handled by a former associate, Lawrence A. Dean II.

Records show that Probate Court officials began delivering case files involving both conservators to the grand jury in October. They provided more files as recently as last month.

Full Article and Source:
Conservator Melodie Jo Scott under investigation

See also:
Conservator Could Be Out of Business

Money Used Up

An Excelsior woman joined the ranks of Minnesotans who lose control of their finances to lightly regulated guardians and conservators.

Peggy Greer will be 86 in March. That month will mark the fourth anniversary of her strange journey through the justice system in which she overcame a life crisis but her assets disappeared with the approval of a Hennepin County judge.

For more than two years, Greer was among a growing number of Minnesotans living under the authority of a guardian and conservator. The court- appointed officials had broad power over her life once a judge deemed Greer incapable of making decisions about her housing, health care or finances.

Disturbed by the decisions made on her behalf, Greer repeatedly fought to regain control of her affairs. During that time, the guardian, Professional Fiduciary Inc. (PFI), and the conservator, Wells Fargo Elder Services, spent more than $600,000 of her money, much of it on health care for her that some family members called excessive. Nearly $100,000 went to lawyers.

Greer: "My money was all used up, was all gone, without my knowledge or OK or anything."

In Greer's case, in the spring of 2007, the guardian no longer opposed having her rights restored. The change coincided with the fact that Greer's assets had been exhausted.

Full Article and Source:
2 years, $672,808 gone

State to Take Guardianship

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said Monday he'll likely call for tougher state laws after the discovery that mentally disabled men from Texas had for years been lodged in an unsafe and poorly heated house while working at an eastern Iowa turkey processing plant.

The governor said local officials were going to court to allow the state to take guardianship of the men and would launch an investigation of how the situation in Muscatine County was allowed to continue for 20 years.

"It's too soon to know the extent of the potential criminal and civil penalties and fines," Culver said at a Statehouse news conference. "This is going to be a very extensive and thorough legal process."

Culver appeared with Department of Human Services director Gene Gessow, who said the state first became aware of the situation last Thursday when a caller to a DHS hot line reported the abuse.

Iowa may seek new laws after turkey plant reports

More information:
Bunkhouse case may move slowly

Iowa agency: Housing disabled men was criminal

Iowa probes plant that employed mentally retarded

FBI Investigates Employer Of Mentally Disabled Workers Found In ...

See also:
"Kind Care"

Adoptive Dad Fights For Benefits

Wayne LaRue Smith wanted to ensure that the foster child he was raising wouldn't be taken from him, so he sought permanent guardianship. He really wanted to adopt the boy, but under a 32-year-old Florida law that bans adoption by gay people, that seemed out of the question.

Now, two years later, Smith faces a legal Catch 22. In August, a Key West judge declared the state's gay adoption law unconstitutional, allowing Smith to adopt his foster son. But state child welfare administrators have declined to provide the boy a host of financial benefits available to foster kids who are adopted.

Their reason: Because the boy was already in a guardianship, he was no longer a foster child when he was adopted.

Department of Children & Families Secretary George Sheldon: ''We have never granted an adoption subsidy in a guardianship case.''

Full Article and Source:
Gay adoptive dad fights for state benefits for his child

See also:
High Court To Rule

Adoption Ban Ruled Unconstitutional