On May 22, the Egyptian Regional Human Rights Authority met for its regular meeting, this time at the Depot in Anna.
This rather unassuming group of nine private citizens and health care professionals meets six times a year to discuss their investigations of disabled individuals’ complaints of rights violations by service-providing agencies.
The Human Rights Authority is one program under the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, a state agency that promotes the rights of persons with disabilities.
“(A service provider) can be anything from a special education program to a group home to a hospital psychiatric unit; any place where individuals with disabilities might receive disability-related services,” said HRA Director Teresa Parks.
The Egyptian regional authority, which encompasses Southern Illinois, is one of nine regions across the state.
The local panels, which review and investigate complaints, are usually made up of three service providers and six citizens.
The Egyptian Regional Authority service providers include Sharon Mumford, J.R. Livesay and Mary McMahan, as well as Alphonso Farmer, Kathy Rambeau, Clarence E. Russell, Phyllis Brown, Pam O’Connor and Sue Taylor Barfield.
“The bulk of the review, the majority of the membership, is made up of consumers, family members and concerned citizens,” Parks said. “So it’s consumer and family member driven.”
Parks said they are regularly looking for local volunteers to serve on the panel.
Full Article and Source:
Citizens Evaluate Help Disabled Through Local Human Rights Authority
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Linda Kincaid Reports: Wildwood Canyon Villa Director Admits Isolation and Elder Abuse of Resident
Wildwood Canyon Villa in Yucaipa, California isolated 86-year-old resident Jean Swope for fifteen months in 2010 and 2011, according to court records. In September 2011, the court issued a restraining order against unlawful isolation. Executive Director Lynnette Alvarado returned to her policy of isolation in March 2012. In May 2012, Alvarado was deposed concerning elder abuse at Wildwood.
September 27, 2010: Department of Social Services cited Wildwood for violating Swope’s right to visitation.September 28, 2010 Tenant Services Notes: "The executive director stated that [Swope’s] family [sister and nieces] are not allowed in the building until further notice."
Full Article and Source:
Wildwood Canyon Villa Director Admits Isolation and Elder Abuse of Resident
Two Questioned in L'Oreal Heiress Abuse Probe
French police Monday detained L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt's ex-lawyer and a businessman for questioning in a probe into allegations of abuse of power, a source close to the matter said.Police are investigating whether the lawyer, Pascal Wilhelm, and reality TV entrepreneur Stephane Courbit took advantage of the 89-year-old heiress, who last year was placed under guardianship, to secure an investment in Courbit's LOV Group.
Bettencourt's former nurse, Alain Thurin, was also detained for questioning, the source said.
The 143-million-euro ($180-million) investment saw Bettencourt buy 20 percent of the group in May 2011, a few months before courts placed her under family guardianship because of her declining mental health.
Wilhelm, who is also Courbit's lawyer, is alleged to have arranged the transaction for the businessman -- an entertainment magnate who launched reality television in France with a local version of the programme "Big Brother".
Courbit recently told Le Monde newspaper that he was aware of the investment but had not spoken with Bettencourt about it.
Bettencourt, France's richest woman, was placed under guardianship in October, ending a long legal battle over her vast fortune, estimated to be worth more than 16 billion euros.
Her family, including estranged daughter Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers, had long accused advisors of taking advantage of the heiress.
Full Article and Source:
French Police Detain Two Over L'Oreal Heiress 'Abuse'
See Also:
L'Oreal Heiress Loses Attempt to Free Herself from Her Daughter's Guardianship
After Fisticuffs, Attorney in Contentious CT Probate Resigns
The Newington Probate Court accepted the resignation of Town Attorney Peter Boorman as conservator in a bitter probate case.
Boorman's resignation followed a fight between him and his client's grandson.
Probate Judge Robert Randich made his decision after 90 minutes of testimony that included a blow-by-blow account of the May 22 fisticuffs between Boorman and Joseph Geremia.
Randich ruled that Boorman was not at fault for the melee, but agreed to accept his resignation.
"I think Mr. Boorman had been doing it and doing it well," Randich said of his work on the difficult case. "I think the well has been poisoned from which the good will needs to come."
Randich appointed Boorman conservator at the time Boorman was vice chairman of the Newington Democratic Town Committee and Randich a member. Boorman left the town committee earlier this year, he said.
On May 22, Wallingford police arrested Boorman, 58, of Newington, and Joseph Geremia, 39, of Rocky Hill after a fight at the home of Geremia's parents, Douglas and Linda. Boorman went to the house after Randich issued an oral order to collect almost $9,000 in cash and deposit it in the trust account of 96-year-old Margaret Geremia, for whom Boorman serves as conservator.
The fight happened about an hour after a contentious hearing during which Boorman sought authority to request a criminal investigation of $15,000 in expenditures he says that Douglas and Linda Geremia have failed to explain.
Boorman and Geremia were each charged with second-degree breach of peace. State prosecutors decided last week not to prosecute the charges.
Full Article and Source:
Newington Town Attorney's Resignation Accepted In Contentious Probate Case
See Also:
State Won't Prosecute CT Attorney/Conservator Involved in Altercation
Boorman's resignation followed a fight between him and his client's grandson.
Probate Judge Robert Randich made his decision after 90 minutes of testimony that included a blow-by-blow account of the May 22 fisticuffs between Boorman and Joseph Geremia.
Randich ruled that Boorman was not at fault for the melee, but agreed to accept his resignation.
"I think Mr. Boorman had been doing it and doing it well," Randich said of his work on the difficult case. "I think the well has been poisoned from which the good will needs to come."
Randich appointed Boorman conservator at the time Boorman was vice chairman of the Newington Democratic Town Committee and Randich a member. Boorman left the town committee earlier this year, he said.
On May 22, Wallingford police arrested Boorman, 58, of Newington, and Joseph Geremia, 39, of Rocky Hill after a fight at the home of Geremia's parents, Douglas and Linda. Boorman went to the house after Randich issued an oral order to collect almost $9,000 in cash and deposit it in the trust account of 96-year-old Margaret Geremia, for whom Boorman serves as conservator.
The fight happened about an hour after a contentious hearing during which Boorman sought authority to request a criminal investigation of $15,000 in expenditures he says that Douglas and Linda Geremia have failed to explain.
Boorman and Geremia were each charged with second-degree breach of peace. State prosecutors decided last week not to prosecute the charges.
Full Article and Source:
Newington Town Attorney's Resignation Accepted In Contentious Probate Case
See Also:
State Won't Prosecute CT Attorney/Conservator Involved in Altercation
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Two Lawyers Challenge VA's Decisions Regarding VA-Approved Fiduciaries
Across the country, disabled veterans' families are waging bitter battles with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, trying to remove VA-appointed fiduciaries from their lives and their bank accounts.
Two activist attorneys, Doug Rosinski of Columbia, S.C., and Katrina Eagle of San Diego, have taken on the VA in cases involving allegations of bureaucratic mistreatment. Both said regional program managers sometimes overlook the misdeeds of paid fiduciaries while coming down hard on veterans' relatives who do the work for nothing.
The agency's policy is that family members get priority in fiduciary appointments, but it does not always work that way. And while many family members serve successfully — and thanklessly — as fiduciaries for disabled veterans, some get into trouble, often because of a lack of training or knowledge of the rules. In those cases, the family's situation often becomes nightmarish.
Joe Boatman of Round Rock, Texas, also never got an explanation why James Andrews, a fiduciary program official based in Waco, showed up at his house last July to berate his wife for the way she had handled their finances as her husband's appointed fiduciary for 10 years, bringing her to tears.
Andrews' follow-up report cited overdraft charges and questioned Boatman's access to the bank accounts. He also said “no questionable expenditures or misuse of funds were identified,” though he added there was no way to tell because his funds were commingled with his wife's. His report described Boatman as an “alert” and cogent man.
Eagle said the VA had previously allowed Boatman's wife, a retired social worker, to commingle their money. In previous reports she was praised for her handling of their finances.
Andrews, who could not be reached for comment, had already appointed a new fiduciary to take over Boatman's financial affairs. Eagle said his criticisms seemed “pre-ordained” to justify his actions.
After Eagle got involved, the VA backed away, taking the unusual step of releasing Boatman from the program. Eagle said it helped that his case was mentioned at a February congressional hearing.
The VA also ordered an investigation of the case. It has not responded to a Hearst request for the report.
Full Article and Source:
Two Lawyers Challenge VA's Decisions
See Also:
NASGA: Veterans in Peril
Two activist attorneys, Doug Rosinski of Columbia, S.C., and Katrina Eagle of San Diego, have taken on the VA in cases involving allegations of bureaucratic mistreatment. Both said regional program managers sometimes overlook the misdeeds of paid fiduciaries while coming down hard on veterans' relatives who do the work for nothing.
The agency's policy is that family members get priority in fiduciary appointments, but it does not always work that way. And while many family members serve successfully — and thanklessly — as fiduciaries for disabled veterans, some get into trouble, often because of a lack of training or knowledge of the rules. In those cases, the family's situation often becomes nightmarish.
Andrews' follow-up report cited overdraft charges and questioned Boatman's access to the bank accounts. He also said “no questionable expenditures or misuse of funds were identified,” though he added there was no way to tell because his funds were commingled with his wife's. His report described Boatman as an “alert” and cogent man.
Eagle said the VA had previously allowed Boatman's wife, a retired social worker, to commingle their money. In previous reports she was praised for her handling of their finances.
Andrews, who could not be reached for comment, had already appointed a new fiduciary to take over Boatman's financial affairs. Eagle said his criticisms seemed “pre-ordained” to justify his actions.
After Eagle got involved, the VA backed away, taking the unusual step of releasing Boatman from the program. Eagle said it helped that his case was mentioned at a February congressional hearing.
The VA also ordered an investigation of the case. It has not responded to a Hearst request for the report.
Full Article and Source:
Two Lawyers Challenge VA's Decisions
See Also:
NASGA: Veterans in Peril
Thieves Swindle Disabled Veterans, Program
Gambling addicts, psychiatric cases and convicted criminals are among the thieves who have been handed control of disabled veterans' finances by the Veterans Affairs Department, a Hearst Newspapers investigation has found.
For decades, theft and fraud have plagued the fiduciary program, in which the VA appoints a family member or a stranger to manage money for veterans whom the government considers incapacitated. The magnitude and pace of those thefts have increased, despite VA promises of reform. Three of the largest scams — ranging from about $900,000 to $2 million — each persisted for 10 years or more before being discovered.
In the past six years, the VA has removed 467 fiduciaries for misuse of money, but only a fraction have faced criminal charges, a Hearst analysis of data from the VA's Office of the Inspector General shows.
The government has never adequately tracked fiduciaries' thefts from brain-damaged or memory-impaired veterans. The inspector general's office says it conducted 315 fiduciary fraud investigations from October 1998 to March 2010, resulting in 132 arrests for thefts amounting to $7.4 million.
But a Hearst analysis of court records and documents obtained by freedom of information requests shows that the thieves' take since 1998 is more than $14.7 million — nearly twice the amount reported to Congress.
Full Article and Source:
Thieves Swindle Disabled Veterans, Program
See Also:
NASGA: Veterans in Peril
$900K Settlement for Death at Washington State Adult-Family Home
For 22 days, caregivers at a Kirkland adult-family home guarded a secret.
An elderly woman at Houghton Lakeview suffered from pressure sores that had burrowed to the bone. No one called her family. No one alerted a doctor.
The state of Washington harbored a secret, too.
Investigators had cited Houghton Lakeview 33 times for inadequate care and substandard conditions. Two caregivers were convicted felons, barred from such work. Two others had forged nursing credentials. The public was never warned — nor were the residents in the home.
By the time the woman was rushed to the emergency room, it was too late. Jean Rudolph, 87, a retired nursing educator who had Alzheimer's disease, died in 2008 from untreated pressure sores.
The state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and the owner's insurance company agreed to a $900,000 settlement this week with the Rudolph family.
This rare settlement reveals a state regulatory system torn between dual roles: booster of the industry as a way to control costs, as well as enforcer of its failings. With rising numbers of low-income seniors in need of long-term care, Washington and dozens of states are banking on these residential facilities as alternatives to more costly nursing homes.
The risk to the public, says attorney Tony Shapiro, who represented the Rudolph family, occurs when state agencies like DSHS form a "bunker mentality" and excuse violators to preserve existing adult homes.
Full Article and Source:
$900,000 for Death at Kirkland Adult-Family Home
An elderly woman at Houghton Lakeview suffered from pressure sores that had burrowed to the bone. No one called her family. No one alerted a doctor.
The state of Washington harbored a secret, too.
Investigators had cited Houghton Lakeview 33 times for inadequate care and substandard conditions. Two caregivers were convicted felons, barred from such work. Two others had forged nursing credentials. The public was never warned — nor were the residents in the home.
By the time the woman was rushed to the emergency room, it was too late. Jean Rudolph, 87, a retired nursing educator who had Alzheimer's disease, died in 2008 from untreated pressure sores.
The state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and the owner's insurance company agreed to a $900,000 settlement this week with the Rudolph family.
This rare settlement reveals a state regulatory system torn between dual roles: booster of the industry as a way to control costs, as well as enforcer of its failings. With rising numbers of low-income seniors in need of long-term care, Washington and dozens of states are banking on these residential facilities as alternatives to more costly nursing homes.
The risk to the public, says attorney Tony Shapiro, who represented the Rudolph family, occurs when state agencies like DSHS form a "bunker mentality" and excuse violators to preserve existing adult homes.
Full Article and Source:
$900,000 for Death at Kirkland Adult-Family Home
Dispute Over Thomas Kinkade's Will Heads to Court
Thomas Kinkade’s widow and girlfriend have taken their dispute over the late painter’s estate to court.Amy Pinto-Walsh was living with Kinkade and found his body when he overdosed on alcohol and Valium in April. She asked a Northern California judge to allow arguments over the artist’s contested will to be heard in open probate court.
Lawyers for Kinkade’s wife of 30 years, Nanette Kinkade, want the terms to be decided in secret binding arbitration.
Full Article, Video, and Source:
Dispute Over Thomas Kinkade's Will Heads to Court
GAO Says Veterans Targeted by Pension Poachers
Veterans at senior centers, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities are being approached by companies or agents looking to take advantage of their pension benefits.
Terry Schow, executive director of the Utah Department of Veteran Affairs, collected the stories of seven exploited veterans and submitted them at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging.
"There are some people who have taken the business of helping veterans into profit-making," he said before the hearing.
Certain low-income veterans are entitled to pensions, and more than 200 agencies across the United States are "marketing financial products and services" to help veterans qualify for the benefits, according to a recently released report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The yearlong GAO investigation found that veterans who do not meet pension requirements are qualifying for and receiving the funding, often because they were encouraged to do so by private companies.
One veteran transferred $1 million just months before applying, and was approved to receive the monthly payments, the GAO found.
Full Article and Source:
US Veterans Targeted by Pension Poachers, GAO Says
Terry Schow, executive director of the Utah Department of Veteran Affairs, collected the stories of seven exploited veterans and submitted them at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging."There are some people who have taken the business of helping veterans into profit-making," he said before the hearing.
Certain low-income veterans are entitled to pensions, and more than 200 agencies across the United States are "marketing financial products and services" to help veterans qualify for the benefits, according to a recently released report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The yearlong GAO investigation found that veterans who do not meet pension requirements are qualifying for and receiving the funding, often because they were encouraged to do so by private companies.
One veteran transferred $1 million just months before applying, and was approved to receive the monthly payments, the GAO found.
Full Article and Source:
US Veterans Targeted by Pension Poachers, GAO Says
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