Former Public Guardian Rita Hunter Lawsuits Update

Court rulings will come later after Judge Michael Dawson on Tuesday heard a raft of motions in lawsuits involving Rita Hunter, former Jasper County public administrator.

Dawson, of Osceola, has been assigned to hear a number of the cases in Jasper County Circuit Court naming Hunter in her former role as a guardian of county residents who are unable to care for themselves.

Tuesday’s hearings focused primarily on actions that led to Emma France, an elderly Carthage woman, being made a ward of the administrator’s office in May 2007, and the expenditure of money from France’s estate.

Jasper County Probate Judge David Mouton later voided rulings that had made France a ward, citing missteps including France not being allowed to attend the hearing and relatives not being notified of the session, both requirements of state law.

France is suing McKinney, contending that the attorney did not represent her wishes in the hearing that led to her being named a county ward. Mitchell on Tuesday argued that McKinney acted properly as a court-appointed guardian, and that such guardians are immune from lawsuits. He said McKinney had spoken before the hearing with France, “who was not interested in having this ‘kid’ represent her.”

“She (McKinney) told the court she (France) wanted to be there, but she didn’t think it was in her interest,” Mitchell said. “She acted based on the doctor’s certificate and all the available information. Guardians are supposed to be an independent voice. They’re not there to do whatever the ward says, and they must have the right to report to the court without fear of being sued.”

Full Article and Source:
Court Hears Arguments, Motions in Hunter Suits

See Also:
Rita Hunter's Attorney Fees Appealed

Agency Named Woman's Guardian

Guardianship of a 96-year-old woman removed from the home where police and humane officials found nearly 200 animals in conditions described as deplorable has been given to a Trumbull County agency that specializes in providing those services.

On Monday, Probate Court Judge Thomas Swift appointed Guardianship and Protective Services guardian over the person and estate of Helen DiMarsico, removed from the Gustavus home of her daughter, Kathy Witzman, for evaluation and medical treatment.

The hearings examine the need for a guardian, competency and who should serve as guardian.

Joshua Garris, agency attorney, said the agency will oversee DiMarsico's estate, and social workers there will oversee her medical and personal decisions for an indefinite length of time.

Returning care back to DiMarsico would need court action.

At Monday's hearing, done via Web conference, interim guardian and licensed social worker, Alvin J. Weisberg, testified that DiMarsico has moments of lucidity and confusion and that she worries over her daughter's situation, but has shown no desire to return to the house with Witzman.

He said she suffers from cardiovascular and degenerative joint disease as well as hypertension and dimentia. Guardianship, Weisberg said, would be ''well advised, at least for an indefinite period of time."

Full Article and Source:
Agency Named Woman's Guardian

Ex-Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Stealing From Clients

Facing a trial in which prosecutors vowed to show that her clients' money paid for steak dinners, happy hours and resort vacations, disbarred attorney Jessica Miller avoided the spectacle and pleaded guilty to grand theft charges that could send her to prison.

The plea, which came with no sentencing deal with prosecutors, capped a three-year legal scandal that began with complaints from clients of her Port Richey law firm who said she took their money but did no work. In August 2007, after missing three months of guardianship hearings, she went to jail for 43 days for contempt of court.

The Florida Bar investigated and ultimately kicked her out.

Then came the criminal charges.

Miller, 32, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of second-degree grand theft and two counts of third-degree grand theft. She is accused of taking about $3,900 for legal services she never provided, as well as funneling some $65,000 from the trust funds of two divorce clients into her firm's operating account.

The day she learns her fate is April 6, when she will be sentenced by Circuit Judge Michael Andrews.

Full Article and Source:
Pasco: Ex-Attorney Pleads Guilty to Stealing From Clients

7 1/2 Years and Restitution For Bilking Elderly Man

A Hagerstown man has been given 7 1/2 years in prison for bilking an elderly Boonsboro man out of more than a quarter-million dollars.

Forty-year-old Daniel Meldron was sentenced for obtaining the property of a vulnerable adult with dementia. The victim had given Meldron power of attorney.

Meldron also must make restitution of about $279,00 he drained from one of the victim's accounts.

Full Article and Source:
Western MD Man Gets 7 1/2 Years for Bilking Elderly

What Nerve! Conservator's Attorney Bills Estate for Reading Victim's Blog?

[1/28/10:]





Source:
FreeDannyTate.wordpress.com

See Also:
Danny Tate Sandbagged?

Are Veterans Being Given Deadly Cocktails to Treat PTSD?

Sgt. Eric Layne's death was not pretty. A few months after starting a drug regimen combining the antidepressant Paxil, the mood stabilizer Klonopin and a controversial anti-psychotic drug manufactured by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, Seroquel, the Iraq war veteran was "suffering from incontinence, severe depression [and] continuous headaches," according to his widow, Janette Layne.

Soon he had tremors. " … [H]is breathing was labored [and] he had developed sleep apnea," Layne said.

Janette Layne, who served in the National Guard during Operation Iraqi Freedom along with her husband, told the story of his decline last year, at official FDA hearings on new approvals for Seroquel. On the last day of his life, she testified, Eric stayed in the bathroom nearly all night battling acute urinary retention (an inability to urinate). He died while his family slept.

Full Article and Source:
Are Veterans Being Given Deadly Cocktails to Treat PTSD?

See Also:
NASGA: Veterans Beware!

Nursing Home Drug Use Puts Many at Risk

Nearly 2,500 nursing home residents in Massachusetts were given powerful antipsychotic drugs last year that were not intended or recommended for their medical condition, a practice that is more common here than in most other states, according to a Globe analysis of federal data.

Data collected by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show that 28 percent of Massachusetts nursing home residents were given antipsychotics in 2009. Of that group, 22 percent - or 2,483 - did not have a medical condition that calls for such treatment.

That rate was the 12th highest in the nation, according to the federal data.

The use of such drugs is especially worrisome in nursing homes because a substantial number of residents suffer from dementia, a condition that puts them at greater risk of death when given antipsychotic medications.

The drugs, also known as “‘psychotropics,’’ were developed to treat people with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, not dementia, which is the progressive loss of memory or other intellectual function than can result from aging or Alzheimer’s disease.

Twice in the past five years, federal regulators have issued nationwide alerts about troubling and sometimes fatal side effects when antipsychotics are taken by people with dementia, including increased confusion, sedation, and weight gain.

Full Article and Source:
Nursing Home Drug Use Puts Many at Risk

PA Judicial Conduct Board Admits Never Investigating Complaints Against Judge Michael T. Conahan

A state conduct board has conceded that it never investigated any of the complaints made against a disgraced former Luzerne County Court judge accused of taking kickbacks to place juveniles in for-profit detention centers.

The Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board said it received four complaints about former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan in 2004, 2006, and 2008, but failed to conduct interviews or review any documents related to the complaints.

Full Article and Source:
Board Says It Didn't Probe Complaints About Judge

Mother Held Prisoner by Court-Appointed Guardian

There are many things we are deeply fearful of. The death of a child is one. Being imprisoned for something we’re not guilty of is another. Losing any loved one that you can’t imagine living without is another. Unless you’ve experienced such wretched circumstances, it’s hard to imagine what it might feel like.

Growing old and not being able to care for yourself is another common fear. Large families may wonder how anyone could die alone, unprotected and uncared for. In the USA, unless you have the means to take care of yourself, you’re subjected to laws and an underground of political corruption that literally and unbelievably forces senior citizens to die. Here is just one true story.

Maggie Was a Loving Mother and Grandmother
Maggie Grover is an American 76 year old nursing home patient who is fed baby food and is usually dehydrated. Everything she owns and loved has been taken away. She was assigned a bed and some pills.

Maggie is well enough to try and fight for her right to life. She is worried at the burden this [guardianship] has created for her children. At each attempt to rescue their mother, the Guardian, in retaliation, has threatened to ban the family from visiting their mother in the nursing home, move Maggie out of state or put her into an even less desirable nursing home. In other words, the Guardian is emotionally black mailing the family.

{U}nless a situation such as Maggie’s story happens in your family, you’ll likely believe it doesn’t happen or can’t happen where you live. Research “Guardian Abuse”, “Grannynapping” (kidnapping or when families try to rescue someone), Medicaid fraud, (Maggie’s Guardian has 3 houses and several kids in college. Remember, he takes all his “Ward’s” monies) and exploitation of the elderly.

Full Article and Source:
Mother Held Prisoner by Court-Appointed Guardian