Family Members Battle Over Sick Man's Care

A battle is raging between two sides of a family and a sick man is caught in the middle.

Laurie Chism and her brother and sister fear time is running out for their father, 74-year-old Jim Chism.

The Chism children are embroiled in a battle to take guardianship of their father from his wife, who they believe is deliberately letting their dad die.

Chism is being treated at a psychiatric facility in Mount Clemens. He was moved there after having a hallucination the day after Thanksgiving.

His children, who live out of town, say Chism’s wife of more than 20 years ultimately got doctors to sign off on a transfer to a mental institution.

Chism’s kids filed paperwork Monday in Macomb County court to get an emergency hearing to take guardianship of their father.

As for their stepmother, the Chism’s believe she is battling depression over her own struggle with cancer and may be trying to take control of Jim’s assets, including his chiropractic business. We tried to get her side of the story, but she declined.

It’s not yet clear if a judge will take up the emergency petition for guardianship.

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Family Members Battle Over Sick Man's Care

Michigan Man Charged With Bilking $1.2 Million Out of Seniors Says They Didn't Need it Anyway

They didn't need the money because they lived frugally.

That's the reason Brian Marsack gave his victims, according to one victim’s daughter, after allegedly bilking them out of their life savings by posing as a Goldman Sachs investment broker.

Edward Mancini, 91, his late wife, Joan, 79, his sister Virginia Cox, 77, and his sister-in-law Florence King, 87, lost $1.2 million combined.

They have little hope of getting it back -- joining hundreds of other senior citizens cheated out of billions of dollars a year, according to a study by MetLife.

Prosecutors say Marsack, 44, sold the family phony high-interest investments and sent them what were supposed to be interest checks each month. Edward Mancini, who knew Marsack since he was a child, said he now believes the checks were likely small amounts of his own money.

Marsack eventually confessed his crime to Mancini, but the only remorse his victims say he showed was his fear of going to jail. Marsack is to appear in 41B District Court on Jan. 25. He is charged with two counts of false pretenses, a 10-year-felony, and one count of racketeering, a 20-year felony.

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Man Charged With Bilking $1.2 Million Out of Seniors Says They Didn't Need it Anyway

Montana: Elders Lose $40K in Internet Site Scam

Local officials responded to 350 cases of elder abuse in 2011, most of them financial exploitation. If the first month of the new year is any indication, 2012 will be another tough year for seniors in the area.

In 2007 Rita Finch moved into her parents home to become their primary caretaker. Her mother is 84 and her father is 87.

Since the summer of 2011, [Finch's father has] been bombarded with letters and phone calls from people trying to turn his life's savings into a fortune. "Somebody offered to make him a million dollars in six months, and he fell for it," Finch said. She said the opposite has happened. "Their money is all gone."

Denise Armstrong with Big Sky Senior Services said it's the latest scam, and it's already affected at least two people in Billings. The alleged scam convinces seniors to start their own website where they can buy and sell merchandise.

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Two Elders Lose $40K in Internet Site

John Kass: It's Easy to See Why This Inexperienced Lawyer Will Get on the Bench

Once there were five candidates for Cook County judge in a Southwest Side district dominated by Democratic boss Mike Madigan.

There was the incumbent judge, who had been a criminal attorney for 20 years before his appointment last year. There was also an attorney for the city of Chicago, a public defender and an assistant Illinois attorney general.

And there was that fifth candidate, who suffered from an acute shortage of legal experience.

But what does experience matter when it comes time to don the black robes and dance along The Chicago Way?

Though short on courtroom time, the fifth candidate did have something more valuable: oodles of political chops. And he had the Mount Olympus of political hack jobs, executive director of the Cook County employee pension fund. But his most outstanding qualification was that his father was the political brain (and fist) of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.

So guess how many candidates are left on the ballot now? If you said "just one," meaning the political guy with the father with the clout, you'd be right.

Say hello to future Judge Daniel R. Degnan, the son of Tim Degnan, Daley's political hammer.

One by one, the other candidates dropped out. At least two had their petitions of candidacy challenged by the incumbent and withdrew before a hearing. Then it was down to two candidates: Degnan and Judge Tom Carroll. According to several sources, Judge Carroll got a message of his own: It's not your turn anymore.

Now, Daniel R. Degnan is running unopposed as a Democrat in the 3rd Judicial Subcircuit. In practical terms, that means he'll have a job for life, with a six-figure salary and no heavy lifting and all those holidays off with pay.

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It's Easy to See Why This Inexperienced Lawyer Will Get on the Bench

A Wedding Gift for Britney Spears? Freedom?

She's well and truly back on the straight and narrow, with a stable relationship and her life back on track.

And now it looks like Britney Spears is to finally regain her life and finances officially.

Her father Jamie has been conservator of her affairs for almost four years after her life spiralled out of control in 2007.

But as a special gift to mark her upcoming wedding to fiance Jason Trawick, Britney's father is asking a judge to halt the conservatorship.

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My Prerogative: Britney Spears to Regain Control of Her Finances for the First Time in Four Years as Wedding Gift from Father

WI: Jeffrey Schend Theft Case Prompts Tougher Guardian Rules

Financial caretakers appointed to assist the elderly and disabled in Outagamie County face more stringent requirements after a former guardian was charged with siphoning nearly $500,000 from clients.

New rules that took effect Jan. 1 are aimed at adding safeguards to the guardianship system that prosecutors say was exploited by Jeffrey M. Schend of Appleton.

Schend faces a trial in March on six felony counts of theft and one misdemeanor theft charge. In watchdog reporting after his arrest last year, The Post-Crescent found that he operated within a system that relied largely on his word alone.

State law does not require detailed audits, the newspaper found. Even if the law did, the oversight office in Outagamie County would not be able to handle the workload, its director said at the time.

Generally, the new rules require guardians to provide more detailed financial records to Outagamie County's circuit courts as part of their responsibility to clients who are deemed incompetent to handle their own affairs.

Also, county officials now will choose guardianship cases randomly each year for review, and those guardians will be required to give the court all receipts and canceled checks for the year. And, the rules also establish fines for guardians whose failure to answer questions about their work require court intervention.

"It's a good idea," said Gary Apitz of Bryant, guardian for his 63-year-old developmentally disabled brother who lives in an Appleton nursing home. Schend had served as the guardian for Apitz's brother when he lived in Shawano County. A judge there ordered Schend to pay nearly $5,000 based on the man's unpaid bills.

"Every guardian should be responsible to explain what he's done," Apitz said.

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Jeffrey Schend Theft Case Prompts Tougher Guardian Rules

See Also:
Jeffrey Schend Released From Jail

Battle Over Singer Jim Reeves' Royalties Nears End

Nearly 50 years after country star “Gentleman” Jim Reeves died in a Brentwood plane crash, a Nashville judge will settle once and for all the fate of his still-lucrative musical legacy.

On Monday, a trial gets under way in Davidson County Probate Court to decide the proper division of the income from Reeves’ royalties — which earn as much as $400,000 annually for the estate of the late singer best known for the lyric “Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone.”

The trial will determine how much Terry Davis — the man who married Reeves’ widow, Mary Reeves Davis — is entitled to in his dispute with Reeves’ nephew and niece. The legal dispute has continued without resolution since Mary’s death in 1999.

On Friday during a pretrial hearing, Davidson County Probate Judge Randy Kennedy denied Davis’ request to postpone the trial once more, but allowed Davis to fire his current attorney — his sixth in the case.

Three of Davis’ former attorneys were also in court, seeking to join the case in an effort to recoup more than $100,000 in unpaid legal fees for representing Davis. The judge denied their motion, suggesting the attorneys would have to stake their claims after the trial.

Davis said outside of court on Friday that the case would likely include some “surprises” and expressed bitterness toward the Reeves heirs he has been battling in court for more than a decade.

“They’re a bunch of hyenas,” Davis said. “This has been a nightmare.”

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Battle Over Singer Jim Reeves' Royalties Nears End

Stronger Safeguards Needed in NJ Hospitals, Nursing Homes

Should corporate lobbyists decide whether safe equipment and procedures are needed if you or a loved one have to go to a hospital or nursing home? Or should health care professionals make those decisions?

That’s the type of issue being debated in our Statehouse and in Congress over safeguards that protect the public’s health and safety.

This month, special interest lobbyists convinced the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill — the REINS Act — designed to make it practically impossible for federal health and safety experts to set standards that all corporations must follow. No major safeguard could be adopted unless every single word were approved by Congress.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the Senate to pass the House bill, arguing it would prevent “intrusive” regulation of the health care and banking industries, in particular.

Studies show the typical nurse lifts 1.8 tons during each shift. Before mechanical lifting devices were required in N.J. hospitals and nursing homes, more than half of nurses reported that they had suffered costly injuries from lifting and moving patients.

Similarly, proven measures to reduce violence against caregivers — lighting, alarms, communication systems, training and more — had been well-known. But these steps were not legally required of all facilities. Fifty-two percent of hospital nurses and radiology technologists reported experience with violence or physical harassment on the job, and patient safety suffered as well.

Fortunately, caregivers, their unions and workplace safety organizations were able to persuade then-Gov. Jon Corzine and the state Legislature to enact statewide standards. By this month, hospitals and nursing homes must establish committees made up of at least 50 percent front-line caregivers to choose and deploy safe lifting devices, violence prevention measures and other required protections.

During hearings on these laws, nurses and other health professionals presented research showing that investing in these safeguards had saved millions of dollars in other states. Facilities saved on medical payments and workers’ compensation; overtime, recruiting and training costs to cover for injured workers; administrative down time; and much more.

Yet corporate CEOs continue to try to block such health and safety protection. They want to use the REINS Act and other legislation to make it easy for corporate lobbyists to block meaningful federal standards on clean air and water, workers’ rights, consumer protection and many other issues. They want to pass legislation in New Jersey that would bar the state from adopting safeguards that the federal government hasn’t enacted.

Safe lifting and violence prevention rules for hospitals and nursing homes are among standards that either don’t exist in our state or are weaker at the federal level.

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Stronger Safeguards Needed in NJ Hospitals, Nursing Homes

IL 2011 Senate Year in Review

...Citizens will be able to access Hospital Report Cards from the state Department of Public Health Web site under HB 1562/Public Act 97-0171, as well as access information about income, sales, property and business taxes imposed across the state through the Department of Revenue’s Web site under SB 43/Public Act 97-0353....

...Adult Therapy Requests (HB 785/PA 97-0165): Attempts to provide short-term crisis counseling for adults under guardianship to address cases where the guardian is abusive or neglectful. Authorizes any adult to request and receive counseling services or psychotherapy, even if the adult is under guardianship. Establishes that the adult’s guardian will not be informed of counseling or psychotherapy unless the counselor or therapist believes such disclosure is necessary. States that if the counselor or therapist intends to disclose the counseling or psychotherapy, the adult must be informed....

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Senate Year in Review