Elderly Pinellas Man Freed From Alzheimer's Unit After I-Team Looks at His Case

On a Sunday morning last month, a spry 99-year-old Pinellas County retiree got his first taste of freedom in weeks.

William Berchau says he doesn't get out of an assisted living facility much anymore. "No, I'm not allowed," Berchau told the ABC Action News I-Team. "My court-appointed guardian doesn't allow me to leave the premises."

A month before his Sunday visit to church in August, Berchau was placed in a locked Alzheimer's unit at the Grand Villa of Pinellas Park. Berchau and his pastor contend Florida's guardianship system has let him down and their complaints about his guardian have been ignored by the Pinellas judiciary.
"He seems to be very mentally sharp and alert," Berchau's pastor, David Priebe, said of his church member. "I just can't believe that somebody would think he's incompetent mentally."

The I-Team pointed out to the clergyman that the Pinellas probate court has ruled Berchau to be incapacitated three times since 2010. Priebe just shook his head. "Wow," the pastor said.

"There's nobody that's more vulnerable than a ward who has assets and can't keep track of where they're going or what's happening with them," said Robert W. Melton, who retired in 2009 as inspector general for the Pinellas circuit court clerk. "The ward basically has no rights."

During his nine years as the Pinellas clerk's internal watchdog, Melton was a critic of the county guardianship system's lack of transparency. "It's a very closed process and, in many cases, the public is not aware of the things that have gone on or are going on in guardianships," Melton said.

Pinellas Circuit Judge Jack St. Arnold, who presides over the Berchau guardianship and hundreds of others, says he doesn't believe the secrecy surrounding guardianships is a problem. "I think our professional guardians do a wonderful job," St. Arnold told the I-Team. "I'm really pleased with them."

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Elderly Pinellas Man Freed From Alzheimer's Unit After I-Team Looks at His Case

See Also:
I-Team: Court disregards preneed plan, appoints professional guardian

Trial begins for Utah chiropractor accused of bilking the elderly

In a flurry of papers, instructions, medical advice and fleeting hope, several elderly patients said the West Jordan chiropractor they trusted to take care of them instead collected their financial information and defrauded them of hundreds and thousands of dollars.

Their stories were all similar: Elderly patients suffering from diabetes or thyroid conditions who wanted a cure, who wanted to believe that Brandon Babcock, 38, could help.

"When you’re old and you’re poor and you’re desperate, you’ll do anything if you think it might help," said Elsie Breault, 77. "I saw [Babcock’s] ad on television. It said he could stop diabetes. That he would talk things over with you and it would be free."

Babcock’s five-day trial began Monday.

He is charged in 3rd District Court with 10 counts of exploitation of a vulnerable adult, a third-degree felony, along with communications fraud, a second-degree felony. He faces prison time if he’s found guilty of any of the charges.

Babcock appeared in court wearing a white collared shirt and pink tie and sat quietly as his former patients — who ranged in age from 61 to 84 — took the stand to testify.

Consistent in their testimony was the hope, confusion and fear they felt in turning to Babcock to help with their medical maladies.

According to charging documents, potential patients were initially treated to a free gourmet dinner where they were shown video testimonials and given information about the chiropractor’s "diabetes breakthrough."

When they expressed interest in the program, some said, Babcock and his staff duped them into signing up for credit without their knowledge or consent. Others said Babcock refused to refund their money despite a 30-day opt-out guarantee and a promise for 100 percent satisfaction.

"How much did that free consultation end up costing you?" the prosecutor asked Breault.

      
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Trial begins for Utah chiropractor accused of bilking the elderly

West Orange Woman Admitted to Bilking Nearly $100K From Elderly Woman

A 47-year-old West Orange woman admitted Monday to stealing nearly $100,000 from an elderly woman to pay for hotel rooms, dinners, shopping sprees and bills, authorities said.

Shawn Craig pleaded guilty Monday in a Trenton federal court today to mail fraud and filing a false personal federal income tax return, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.
Nearly three years ago, Craig bilked an elderly woman's finances when she was given power of attorney over the East Orange woman, Fishman said.

Craig used the power of attorney to divert a portion of the elderly woman's funds —mainly socials security — to pay her automobile insurance, purchase a bar and bar stools, make a tuition payment and other expenses, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office.

In December of 2010, Craig submitted a reverse mortgage forging the woman's signature on her East Orange home, the office said.

According to Fishman, Craig used the money from the reverse mortgage to purchase items at retail, such as Gucci, Coach and Nike, as well as food and travel expenses in Atlantic City, California and Florida. She also used to money to pay her bills.

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West Orange Woman Admitted to Bilking Nearly $100K From Elderly Woman

Swindled Seniors: Former California Judge to Be Sentenced, Florida Lawsuit Continues

Fort Myers, FL:
An elderly woman who earned just $1,800 in monthly income between her Social Security check and her pension was somehow persuaded to take out a life insurance policy worth $7.5 million. According to her son’s financial elder abuse attorney, the woman was saddled with a trust and allegedly persuaded to take out a loan valued at $1.1 million in order to satisfy premiums of $742,000. The woman’s son, who carries on with a Financial Elder Abuse lawsuit on behalf of his now-deceased mother, notes that such alleged deception of vulnerable individuals should serve as a rallying cry for advocates concerned about financial exploitation of seniors.

I was beside myself,” said her 55-year-old son Michael Sterling, in comments published in The News-Press of Fort Myers (9/8/13). “After I read through that policy, it was like, here’s the one guy that she and her late husband had entrusted...and then [her financial adviser] could do this to them?”

The alleged elder abuse financial issue has its roots in 2006, when Gloria J. Emmert was 79 years of age and living modestly in a manufactured home located in North Fort Myers, Florida. The widow suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Elder financial abuse is not just a problem in Florida, which is a haven for snowbirds and retirees. It happens right across the country, prompting inclusion, in 2010, of the Elder Care Justice Act as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In California, Governor Jerry Brown signed into state law Assembly Bill (AB) 381 - legislation that allows courts of law to award attorney’s fees and costs to seniors victimized by powers of attorney acting in bad faith and apart from the best interests of the senior entrusted to them.

This point was driven home by a recent case in California that saw a former Alameda County Superior Court judge plead no contest to relieving a 97-year-old neighbor of her life savings while serving as her power of attorney. According to The San Francisco Chronicle (8/2/13), Paul Seeman befriended Anne Nutting and her late husband (who died in 1999), obtaining powers of attorney for the couple. Seeman, according to charges filed in California last year, gained control of Nutting’s finances and barred her from her home from 1999 - the year her husband died - through 2007. Forcing her to take a room in a hotel for those eight years, Seeman is said to have sold off her art collection.

According to The Chronicle, Seeman stepped down from the bench in March and is barred from seeking judicial office in the state. He has also been disbarred from practicing law in the state of California and pled no contest to the charges. In a plea deal, Seeman will avoid jail time and is expected to face five years of probation when his sentencing takes place October 22. Anne Nutting passed away in 2010.

In Florida, Michael Sterling is carrying the legal torch for his late mother. According to his elderly financial abuse lawsuit, the $7.5 million life insurance policy was based on an application using fraudulent information pertaining to Emmert’s finances. Premiums on the policy were $742,000. In order to fund the premiums, a loan amortized over 30 months was arranged at an interest rate of 17.95 percent. With interest factored in, total cost of the loan ballooned to $1.1 million which, according to the lawsuit, “far exceeded the entirety” of Emmert’s assets.

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Swindled Seniors: Former California Judge to Be Sentenced, Florida Lawsuit Continues

See Also:
Ex-judge avoids jail for fleecing woman

Alzheimer’s Cure on the Horizon

 

In a recent interview with Ira Flow at NPR, Stephen Strittmatter explained his new research published in the journal Neuron.  He is Vincent Coates Professor of Neurology at Yale University’s School of Medicine and cofounder of Axerion Therapeutics, a private biotechnology company specializing in the research and development of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.  His new study offers key insights into Alzheimer’s disease and gives hope that a cure might be on the horizon.

Since we have not proven what actually causes the disease, Strittmatter worked off the theory that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by abnormally folded proteins called amyloid oligomers.  It is believed that these toxic oligomers are the primary cause of all amyloid-related degenerative diseases.   They interact with neurons in the brain to damage synaptic function, creating memory deficits.  According to this theory, amyloid plaques build up in the brains of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s as a result of these protein interactions.  Strittmatter focused his study on figuring out exactly how these irregularly folded proteins interact with the neurons.  They already knew that the bad proteins interact with prion proteins on the neuron’s surface, but they didn’t know how the interaction was communicated to the inside of the cell.

The study’s main discovery was the protein called mGlur5 or Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Five.  It is the protein responsible for the communication between the abnormally folded proteins and the inside of the neurons in the brain, triggering the internal chemistry that changes the synapses causing the neuron to lose synaptic function.  In essence, the protein mGlur5 crosses the cell membrane of the neuron and activates changes on the inside of the cell triggered by the bad, misfolded proteins causing the damage to the synapse.  Additionally, Strittmater found that blocking the mGlur5 protein using a drug called MTEP not only prevents the damage to the neuron, but may even reverse the loss of synaptic function, bringing back the lost memory.  This new knowledge of Alzheimer’s means a cure could be on the horizon.

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Alzheimer’s Cure on the Horizon

Aging AIDS population causes new challenges for health care system

WASHINGTON --
Half of the HIV/AIDS population in the United States will be 50 or older by 2015, a pivotal development that brings new challenges to the treatment and prevention of the disease, experts told a congressional panel Wednesday.

Drug resistance, other diseases, high rates of depression and a lack of prevention, screening and early diagnosis could all pose significant problems as the population of Americans with HIV or AIDS ages, they said during a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

As research for a cure for AIDS continues, there is a vital need to examine the aging AIDS population, since any drug or vaccine must now work on an older population, said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., the committee’s chairman.

“The so-called graying of the population comes with the need to refocus our work on these new challenges,” Nelson said.

Older Americans tend to take fewer precautions against HIV, get diagnosed later and respond less to antiretroviral therapy, said Dr. Ronald O. Valdiserri, a top infectious diseases official with the Department of Health and Human Services.

Older people with HIV are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, cancer, and liver and kidney disease, as well as depression, the experts said.

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Aging AIDS population causes new challenges for health care system

TBI case against Franklin County attorney appointed to conservatorship results in theft indictment

CHATTANOOGA - The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s case into a Franklin County attorney assigned by a court to be a conservator over the estate of a woman in failing health resulted in an indictment by the Franklin County grand jury. He surrendered to authorities this afternoon.

Joseph Bean Jr., 41, of Winchester, was indicted on one count of theft or property over $10,000. Between October of 2009 and March of 2012, Bean, who was the court appointed conservator over the estate of the victim, stole more than $42,000 from her conservatorship account. Bean made payments from the victim’s conservatorship account to his American Express account, Bank of America mortgage account, a Community Bank loan account and his Toyota Motors account. Bean was appointed the conservatorship of the victim’s estate due to her failing health. He was the sole party with authorized access to her account to pay her bills and other financial obligations. The victim of the theft is now deceased.

In May of 2013, the 12^th Judicial District Attorney General’s office requested TBI to investigate the theft after the attorney over the victim’s estate reported it to him. Bean was booked today into the Franklin County Jail on $7,500 bond.

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TBI case against Franklin County attorney appointed to conservatorship results in theft indictment

Petition: Mandatory Liability Insurance for California's Assisted Living Facilities

The State of California does not require an assisted living facility (also known as a residential care facility for the elderly (RCFE) to carry liability insurance, either at the time the facility is licensed or any time during the life of the business. Whether a licensee (RCFE owner) carries liability insurance is entirely at the discretion of the licensee.

YET, California allows RCFEs to care for increasing numbers of hospice, bedridden, and other medically needy residents, but does not require any skilled medical professionals to be employed by the facilities. Simply put – this is a recipe for neglect and abuse. And worse, there is no reasonable mechanism for residents and their families to obtain meaningful accountability from these facilities when the resident is injured, made sick or dies at the hand of the licensee.

A judgment against an uninsured facility sued for wrongful death due to the neglect or abuse of a resident, is useless if the facility does not carry liability insurance. The facility receives a monetary judgment, but because there is no liability insurance to pay the judgment to the aggrieved family, the facility owner unable to pay the judgment - files bankruptcy. Few civil litigators will take a contingency case against an RCFE if the RCFE is uninsured. In either case, the family is left holding an empty bag.

CARR’s findings are that 87% of facilities in its database do not carry liability insurance at the time they are licensed. The odds are high that most residents in California live in facilities that do not carry liability insurance at all.

California must do a better job of protecting the frail, elderly, and medically needy residents living in assisted living. The decision to protect the elderly and their families can no longer be left to the licensee.

Mandatory Liability Insurance for RCFEs is both NECESSARY and OVERDUE! for three reasons: Moral Imperative, Accountability and Fairness.
• Moral Imperative: Elders and their families are at the mercy of uninsured RCFEs when the elder is injured, made ill, or suffers death at the hand of the licensee.
• Accountability: Current state regulations afford limited avenues for the family to hold the licensee accountable for harm suffered.
• Fairness: Why are frail elders not protected against ‘defective’ care delivered by RCFE owners?

Every licensed driver in California must carry liability insurance. Yet, over 8,000 assisted living facilities in California, carrying for 200,000 frail and medically needy residents, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without benefit of skilled medical professionals being on the staff of these facilities are exempt from carrying liability insurance.

CARR says, ENOUGH. The time for accountability is now.

For the older adult in each of us, please join CARR in demanding this common sense consumer protection for all: Require that all California residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs) carry mandatory liability insurance.

CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS - SIGN THE PETITION!

Care giver charged with financial exploitation

HARRISBURG   — Harrisburg woman has been charged with stealing over $10,000 from an elderly person, according to a bill of information released by Saline County State’s Attorney Mike Henshaw.

Saline County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Kimberly Jean Ital, 45, 23 E. Rose St., Harrisburg, 5 p.m. Sept. 18 on charges of financial exploitation of the elderly, theft over $10,000 and three counts of aggravated identity theft. She remains held at the Saline County Detention Center on $15,000 cash bond.

Ital was a paid care giver to Karen Phelps who is over 70 years of age. According to the bill of information the charges of financial exploitation and theft over $10,000 stemmed from Ital, being in a position of trust and confidence, obtaining through deception $25,675 from Phelps.

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Care giver charged with financial exploitation