Linda Kincaid Reports: Elder Abuse: California Assisted Living Citations Online

Community Care Licensing (CCL), the agency responsible for overseeing California’s assisted living facilities, received intense criticism in past years. Allegations included negligence, incompetence, and corruption.

On February 11, 2014, California’s Human Services Committee held a joint hearing on deficiencies in assisted living facilities and lack of oversight by CCL. Department of Social Services Director Will Lightbourne acknowledged many shortcomings in his department. Elder rights advocates remember Lightbourne for his opposition to a resident’s personal rights in 2012.

A Licensing Program Analyst (LPA) in San Diego County admitted taking bribes from a Ambassador Senior Retreat.

An LPA in San Bernardino County cited Wildwood Canyon Villa for violating a resident’s right to visitation, an offense that constitutes criminal elder abuse. Then the LPA cleared the citation without requiring a correction. Wildwood unlawfully isolated the victim for another year after the citation. The LPA ignored subsequent complaints to CCL.

The San Bernardino County LPA reviewed facility records that substantiated Wildwood Canyon Villa violated a resident’s right to phone calls, another offense that constitutes criminal elder abuse. The LPA stated that she did not issue a citation because her manager had not instructed her to investigate that particular violation.

The same LPA reported in early 2010 that Wildwood Canyon Villa placed some residents’ mattresses directly on the floor, which is a violation of licensing regulations. The LPA did not cite the violation until late 2011, after CCL received a number of complaints about the ongoing violation.

Until recently, the only way to obtain information on facilities with numerous violations was to go in person to the local CCL office and review the paper files. In some cases, CCL offices required the public to make appointments up to a week in advance.

An outcome of the February 2014 hearing is a searchable online database of facility citations.

Searching on Wildwood Canyon Villa returns a list of complaints filed against the facility since 2010.

Click on the Complaints tab to see dates of facility visits in response to complaints.

Full Article and Source:
Elder Abuse: California Assisted Living Citations Online

Ohio: Three Cases Certified to Attorney Discipline Board

The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline today announced three cases recently certified to the board by a probable cause panel.

In each case, a certified complaint has been sent to the respondent, and the respondent has been asked to file an answer to the allegations contained in the complaint. Once an answer is received, the case will be assigned to a three-member hearing panel of the board, and the hearing panel will conduct further proceedings in the case.

Typically, a public hearing is scheduled within four to six months after the case is assigned to a hearing panel. Please consult the Upcoming Hearings schedule for a monthly schedule of board hearings. Contact the board’s office at 614.387.9370 to confirm that a hearing will be held as scheduled or for more information about a case. Case documents can be obtained via e-mail upon request.

If the board finds that a lawyer or judge has engaged in professional misconduct, the board will file a report with the Supreme Court that includes a recommended sanction. The Supreme Court is responsible for reviewing the case record and imposing discipline.

Trumbull County Bar Association, Relator v. Timothy Eric Bellew, Respondent
Case No.2014-057
Respondent’s address: 1 South State Street, Girard
Respondent’s counsel: None
Disciplinary Counsel, Relator v. Henry Roosevelt Freeman, Respondent
Case No.2014-058
Respondent’s address: 786 Premiera Drive, Tallmadge
Respondent’s counsel: None
Disciplinary Counsel, Relator v. Gregory Keith Klima, Respondent
Case No.2014-059
Respondent’s address: State Route 716, Ashland, Kentucky
Respondent’s counsel: Kevin E. McDermott

Source:
Court News Ohio:  Three Cases Certified to Attorney Discipline Board

Undercover Senior Helped Bust Four Alleged Medicaid Scammers

A senior citizen working undercover on a nursing-home investigation for the state attorney general helped bust four workers who allegedly scammed Medicaid out of $6.5 million, authorities said Tuesday.

“The investigation, which included several undercover visits by a healthy and vibrant senior working on behalf of the Attorney General’s Office, revealed that Northern Manor ADHC in Brooklyn was not providing services as represented in its claims for payment to Medicaid,” the AG’s Office said in a press release.

The undercover elder helped probe the suspects by saying he did his own laundry and slept peacefully through the night — but allegedly wrote on medical forms that he was in worse shape so they could bill Medicaid for his care.

The four women busted in the scam — who range in age from 35 to 58 and include a registered nurse — were hit with charges of falsifying business records and could each face four years behind bars if convicted.

Source:
Undercover Senior Helped Bust Four Alleged Medicaid Scammers

Saving Susie - An Elder Abuse Horror Story

This book is an eye opening expose of Elder Abuse in America today, by Nancy Richmond.

READ the book free online

Florida Woman Arrested for Financially Exploiting Elderly and Disabled Mother Using PoA

Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), the Florida Department of Corrections Probation Division and the Tampa Police Department today arrested Rosalinda Rivera for exploitation of an elderly person. Rivera allegedly abused her authorization as power of attorney for her elderly and disabled mother to exploit more than $65,000. According to the investigation, Rivera had taken money meant for her mother’s nursing home care and misappropriated more than $65,000 for personal use. Rivera also allegedly stopped paying the out-of-pocket share of her mother’s nursing home care.

Rivera is facing one count of exploitation of an elderly person, a second degree felony, and one count of grand theft from a person aged 65 years or older, a third degree felony. If convicted, Rivera could face up to 20 years in prison and $15,000 in fines. Rivera’s case will be prosecuted by the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office.

The Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates and prosecutes fraud involving providers that intentionally defraud the state's Medicaid program through fraudulent billing practices. Medicaid fraud essentially steals from Florida's taxpayers. From January 2011 to April 2014, Attorney General Bondi’s MFCU has obtained more than $450 million in settlements and judgment.

Source:
Hillsborough County Woman Arrested for Exploitation of an Elderly Person

T.S. Radio Tonight: Reporter Kelly O'Meara on the Forced Use of Psychotropic Drugs

Kelly O'Meara joins us at 7:30 pm CST

What happens in CPS is quickly adapted to APS

CCHR Applauds Judge for Upholding Detroit Mother Maryanne Godboldo’s Right to Protect Daughter from Forced Drugging

It is a case of misdiagnosis, misinformation and unrestrained persecution. Parents need to understand this is not an isolated case and it is happening across the nation far too often.”

Despite prosecutors’ second attempt this year to bring criminal charges against Detroit mother Maryanne Godboldo, who underwent a 10 hour stand-off with police for refusing to administer a powerful antipsychotic drug to her daughter, Wayne County District Judge Gregory Bill has become the second judge this year to dismiss the charges.

BIO:
Kelly O’Meara is an award-winning investigative reporter whose coverage of the adverse effects of psychiatric mind-altering drugs is virtually unmatched in the United States. After 16 successful years as a Congressional staff member, Kelly joined Washington’s Insight Magazine where she published numerous hard-hitting articles examining prescription psychiatric drugs and the increasing number of school shootings.

After six years at Insight, Kelly became an independent author with the publication of Psyched Out: How Psychiatry Sells Mental Illness and Pushes Pills That Kill, an in-depth investigation into the fraud of psychiatric diagnosing and the dangerous, potentially life-threatening adverse reactions connected to the prescription mind-altering drugs used as “treatment.” She continues to publish powerful reports of the use of psychiatric drugs with children, members of the military and our wider society.

LISTEN LIVE or listen to the archive later

Few would argue that people suffer from mental illness, mental breakdowns, depression or any number of adjectives that describe behaviors that adversely, even severely, affect people's lives. In law it is said that "it doesn't matter what one believes, only what one can prove" The same can be said for psychiatric diagnosing. It matters little what anyone in the medical/psychiatric community "believe" is the cause(s) of mental illness. The question that has not been answered is whether tens of millions of Americans who have been diagnosed with any one or number of psychiatric mental disorders suffer from a mental "disease" - an objective, confirmable abnormality of the brain. What is known is that neither the American Psychiatric Association nor the National Institute of Mental Health, nor any other medical organization, is capable today of making available scientific evidence to prove that any psychiatric disorder is an objective, confirmable abnormality of the brain.

Psyched Out is available through Amazon

Elder Abuse Systemic Failure in San Bernardino County, CA

A woman with Alzheimer’s disease was taken from her home and hidden from family. She was isolated in an assisted living facility for 15 months. She was forced to sleep on a mattress on the floor for 18 months. She was denied routine medical care for nearly three years. 

In loving memory of Carol Hahn, December 12, 1935 - August 17, 2013

Carol Hahn's legacy is her daughter, advocate Linda Kincaid. 



Source:
YouTube:  Elder Abuse Systemic Failure in San Bernadino County

See Also:
NASGA:  Carol Hahn, California Victim

Attorney James Kincheloe Jr Gets Six Years for Embezzling From Elderly Woman

A Fairfax County attorney was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday for embezzling nearly $500,000 while he was entrusted to care for an elderly woman and her estate, according to the Virginia attorney general’s office.

James G. Kincheloe, Jr., 67, who lives in Fauquier County, was convicted of a single count of embezzlement in the case in Fairfax County Circuit court in July. Kincheloe entered an Alford plea, meaning he did not admit guilt but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction.

Fairfax County Judge Jane M. Roush ruled that Kincheloe will have to repay more than $483,000 to the estate of Pearl Buckley, a Fairfax City resident who died in 2009 at the age of 90. A separate civil suit by the family claimed almost $900,000 was taken from Buckley.

Kincheloe served as the executor of Buckley’s will and that of her deceased husband, Edward. He also had power of attorney over her. At the time of her death, Buckley was suffering from dementia and was legally blind.

Before she died, prosecutors said Kincheloe entered into an agreement with her to manage her personal affairs at a rate of more than $9,700 a month — three times Buckley’s income. They also said his now-wife, Heidi Pender Kincheloe, entered a separate agreement to serve as Buckley’s personal assistant for $35 an hour.

Prosecutors say Pender Kincheloe only worked a fraction of the hours she billed for and she has been charged with six counts of receiving stolen property in Prince William County. She denies the charges.

Source:
Attorney James Kincheloe Jr. gets six years for embezzling from elderly woman

See Also:
Elderly Woman in Virginia Cheated Out of Savings By Lawyer She Trusted, Family Alleges

CA: More Inspections of Medicare Hospice Programs Demanded by New House Bill

Just before the House of Representatives slammed the door shut to go on their August recess, a bi-partisan bill was introduced that will require “more timely” surveys of Medicare-certified hospice care programs, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).

The legislation - the Hospice Opportunities for Supporting Patients with Integrity and Care Evaluations (HOSPICE) Act, HR 5393 - was introduced on August 1 by Congressmen Tom Reed (R-NY) and Mike Thompson (D-CA).

 

The NHPCO says in a news release that  it “enthusiastically supports this new legislation.”

 

The HOSPICE Act would require that hospices be surveyed no less frequently than every three years and authorizes funding for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to contract for the additional oversight.

 

Full Article and Source:
More Inspections of Medicare Hospice Programs Demanded by New House Bill

See Also:
HospicePatientsAlliance