Kent judge says ethics chief sabotaged Wulle's re-election bid

A Kent-area judge disciplined in 2010 for trying to influence the Amanda Knox murder trial in Italy has accused the head of a state judicial ethics agency of misconduct, including sabotaging Clark County Judge John Wulle's re-election bid.

In a Jan. 3 letter to the Washington Supreme Court, King County Superior Court Judge Michael Heavey accused Reiko Callner of violating her role as executive director of the Washington Commission on Judicial Conduct by spearheading an investigation of Wulle and then manipulating the media to help shatter Wulle's re-election bid.

He said the behavior is part of pattern of Callner's interference in due process for judges accused of misconduct.

"Commission powers have been usurped by Ms. Callner and have been wrongfully used to campaign against a sitting judge running for re-election," Heavey wrote. "The members of the commission have acquiesced in this highly unprofessional action."

Callner denied the accusations and said they appeared to be retaliation for the commission's September 2010 discipline of him. Heavey was admonished for using his office to advocate for Knox, his daughter's friend. He sent letters on Knox's behalf written on his court stationery to judges in Italy and other officials, according to commission documents.

"Judge Heavey is on a kind of personal campaign against me," Callner said Thursday in a phone interview with The Columbian.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Wulle said he wasn't consulted about the complaint, but Heavey had asked his attorney, Josephine Townsend, about his case.

As executive director, Callner is not allowed to initiate investigations against judges. Only the commission — a panel of 11 members charged with investigating complaints against other judges — may initiate an investigation, and they must vote to do so. Judges, attorneys and citizens make up the panel.

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Kent judge says ethics chief sabotaged Wulle's re-election bid

Schiavo's brother seeks guardianship in local case

ELMIRA — The brother of Terri Schiavo, whose right-to-die battle played out in the public spotlight in the early 2000s, has asked New York’s Supreme Court to name him the guardian of a Chemung County man who has been in a persistent vegetative state for nearly seven years.

Bobby Schindler is petitioning the court to name him the legal guardian of Gary Harvey, who was living in Horseheads in 2006 when he fell down his basement steps and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Since the accident, Harvey has been in a persistent vegetative state.

Harvey’s wife, Sara Harvey, has been involved in a prolonged legal battle with the county regarding the care of her husband, who did not have a living will at the time of his accident.

In 2007, Sara Harvey was removed as her husband’s guardian when a judge ruled she was ill-suited to care for him and did not follow the advice of medical professionals. The county was named Gary Harvey’s guardian.

In 2009, Chemung County planned to remove Gary Harvey’s feeding tube on the advice of doctors, but the move was blocked. A do-not-resuscitate order remains in place.

Later in 2009, Schindler joined Sara Harvey’s cause, saying she had the right to regain guardianship of her husband and take him home to care for him there.

After filing his guardianship request, Schindler said: “I have raised the question many times, ‘How can Chemung County, guardian of Mr. Harvey, be acting in his best interest when they, in fact, tried to kill him?’ From all indications, it appears that Mr. Harvey has been warehoused and denied the opportunity to receive the care and rehabilitative services that would benefit his condition.”
A court date is set for Jan. 30.

Schindler is the executive director of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, an organization that works to protect the rights of the medically vulnerable.

Like Gary Harvey, Schiavo did not have a living will when she fell into a persistent vegetative state in 1990. Her guardian, husband Michael Schiavo, eventually decided to have her feeding tube removed, but Terri Schiavo’s parents and brother strongly opposed.

After years of bitter legal battles, Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed. She died March 31, 2005, in Florida.

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Schiavo's brother seeks guardianship in local case

Sites Sharing Press Release: Deacon John's Space
See Also:
Case continues involving guardianship of brain-injured man
Schindler's list: Terri's brother now saving others
Terri Schiavo's Brother, Bobby Schindler, Petitions Court to Intervene in Guardianship Case
Bobby Schindler Files Petition Requesting to be Gary Harvey’s Guardian
The Dictators of Non-Compassion: Gary Harvey Case and the Unexpected Twist

NY Bill Would Make Lawyer Discipline Process More Public

Law360, New York (January 10, 2013, 5:29 PM ET) -- Empire State authorities would have to explain decisions not to pursue disciplinary proceedings against New York-admitted lawyers if legislation introduced Thursday in Albany that is designed to shed light on the process were signed into law.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. George S. Latimer, a Democrat from Port Chester, N.Y., would add a new section to the state's law governing allegations of professional misconduct against attorneys, which are handled by grievance committees overseen by the Empire State's mid-level appeals courts.

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NY Bill Would Make Lawyer Discipline Process More Public

Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband extended as conservator

LOS ANGELES --

Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband will remain the ailing actress' conservator until at least August and will have to account for her assets, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Fredric von Anhalt has served as his wife's conservator since July after the actress' daughter questioned whether he was providing proper medical care and appropriately managing her finances.

An attorney appointed to represent Gabor's interests wrote in a report that von Anhalt has generally been a good steward of his wife and has complied with terms of a settlement that required strict financial oversight. The report by attorney LeAnne Maillian states it appears von Anhalt had used some of his wife's money to pay his own expenses, but that he has already repaid it.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/09/5103071/zsa-zsa-gabors-husband-extended.html#storylink=cpy

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Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband extended as conservator

See Also:
Petition Filed to Conserve Zsa Zsa Gabor

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/09/5103071/zsa-zsa-gabors-husband-extended.html#storylink=cpy

Tonite on T.S. Radio: Nancy Vallone on Saving Daniellle Murphy

Danielle Murphy is a mildly autistic disabled adult. She lived with her aunt, Nancy Vallone, in Arizona. Nancy provided the best of care and medical treatment for Danielle and even moved to Ohio so Danielle could receive treatment from a the Cleveland Clinic Medical Center in Cleveland, OH. Shortly after the move, the Ohio’s Advocacy and Protective Services Agency (APSI) took control of Danielle’s case. They placed Danielle in a group home where she has been physically and sexually abused. APSI denies Danielle the treatment that Nancy moved to Ohio to receive.

Worst of all, APSI isolates Danielle from receiving any visitors, including her Aunt Nancy.

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NASGA:  Danielle Rene Murphy, OH Victim

Brain-Injured in Nursing Homes Without the Care Giffords Had

Larry Boswell sat slumped in a wheelchair. His sweatpants were soiled, his T-shirt soaked in saliva. Flies buzzed around his head.

He was able to walk when he arrived at Illinois'Cobden Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in 2008, government records show, something he can’t manage now. Speech therapy for the 57- year-old ended shortly after he was admitted, according to a lawyer trying to persuade Medicaid to transfer him.

While much of what Boswell says is incomprehensible, he managed a clear “no” when asked if he wanted to stay where he was. Cobden officials didn’t respond to telephone calls.

Boswell is one of nearly 244,000 brain-injured people consigned to nursing homes, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from U.S. Medicare and Medicaid statistics. He’s also on the front line in a national battle to get people like him out of facilities that aren’t equipped to care for them.

“People used to be put away in state hospitals and state developmental centers,” said Steven Schwartz,  a lawyer who filed a class-action lawsuit to force Massachusetts to provide alternatives to nursing homes for the brain-injured, and won a settlement that’s still being implemented. “Now people with brain injuries are warehoused and put away in nursing homes.”

Over 4 million brain-injured Americans -- including victims of car accidents, assaults, strokes and falls -- suffer from long-term disabilities that require specialized therapies. They are sometimes neglected in institutions designed for geriatric care, not for the treatment they need. In some cases, they’re in facilities with low scores from a U.S. agency that grades nursing homes on quality, cleanliness and other measures.

Full Article and Source:
Brain-Injured in Nursing Homes Without the Care Giffords Had

FINR Brain Injury Center Seeks Bankruptcy as Bank Sees Default

Florida regulators are demanding that a brain-injury treatment center with patients from across the U.S. prove that it’s financially viable, as the facility seeks bankruptcy protection.

The Chapter 11 filing by the Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation Inc. followed Bloomberg News stories about the alleged abuse and neglect of patients by their caregivers at the 200-bed residential facility southeast of Tampa. It’s one of the largest in the country treating people with long-term disabilities brought on by brain trauma.
The filing came hours after Regions Bank sued the institute, known as FINR, in U.S. District Court in Tampa, claiming it’s in default on $31 million in real-estate loans. The lawsuit by the Birmingham, Alabama-based unit of Regions Financial Corp. (RF) says FINR stopped paying on the debt in August.

FINR’s owner, Joseph Brennick, said in a statement yesterday that he was “confident” the facility could properly care for the people living there while it undertakes a financial restructuring. Media coverage led to “a significant decline in revenue making FINR unable to meet is financial obligations,”Brennick said in the statement.

Negotiations with Regions Bank are “ongoing and we are making strides to resolve this successfully as we look for a long-term solution,” he said.

After the bank sent FINR a default letter in September, Brennick withdrew at least $466,000 from center coffers, the suit alleges. In addition, FINR has failed to give the government the payroll taxes withheld from employees’ wages and hasn’t paid real estate taxes and routine operating expenses, Regions Bank says in the suit.

Full Article and Source:
Brain Injury Center Seeks Bankruptcy as Bank Sees Default

See Also:
Caregivers Bloodied Patients as Complaints Drew Laughter

Former Banker, 98, Testifies Against Secretary Accused of Stealing $1.3 Million From His Checks

Ninety-eight-year-old William Salomon climbed gingerly from his wheelchair into the witness stand in federal court in Newark today. As he struggled to reach the raised seat, the concerned-looking judge asked the frail man whether he would be able to make it up to the stand.

"Ooooh yes," Salomon quickly called out.

Moments later, Salomon — who’d traveled from his home on Park Avenue to be at the first day of a bank and wire fraud trial — began answering questions from Prosecutor Evan Weitz.
Yes, he’d started working in 1933 at the Salomon Brothers bond-trading house in New York, a firm that would later become a highly profitable investment bank of world renown. And, yes, his father was one of its founders a century ago.

From the witness stand, Salomon also identified the woman seated at the defense table as Karen Febles, his former secretary from 2000 to 2011. Febles, a tall, blond 48-year-old, is accused of stealing about $1.3 million from Salomon, over the course of five years, through brazenly depositing into her own accounts the cash from checks he’d entrusted to her.

"There’s no reason to have a personal secretary if you can’t trust her," Salomon testified today, when asked by Weitz whether he was careful in overseeing Febles’ check writing. Then, asked directly whether he trusted Febles, he also said, "I certainly did, implicitly."

Former Banker, 98, Testifies Against Secretary Accused of Stealing $1.3 Million From His Checks

NJ Doctor Accused of Unauthorized Medical Research on Disabled is Fired

The doctor accused of performing unauthorized medical research on intellectually disabled residents at a state institution in Union Township has been fired, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services said today.
The doctor, Philip May, was let go last month after he refused to participate in an internal hearing on charges that he abused clients at the Hunterdon Developmental Center, engaged in inappropriate physical contact and falsified documents, the spokeswoman, Nicole Brossoie, said.

May’s lawyer, John A. Azzarello of Chatham, said in an e-mail message last night his client chose instead to challenge the dismissal by seeking a ruling before "a neutral arbiter."

The department placed May on paid leave in December 2011, but did not bring administrative charges against him until last July 27 after an article in The Star-Ledger cited five sources who said they had direct knowledge of the investigation.

Full Article and Source:
N.J. Doctor Accused of Unauthorized Medical Research on Disabled is Fired

See Also:
Nurse Sues NJ Over Hunterdon Deverlopmental Center Investigation

Hunterdon Developmental Center Doctor Suspended Without Pay in Research Study Scandal

Three Hunderdon Developmental Center Managers Face Administrative Charges Over Bone Research Study

State Files Charges Against Hunderdon County Physician, Nurse

Hunderton Deverlopmental Center Pair Allegedly Performed Dangerous Tests on Disabled Residents