IN: End of Life Case Spotlights Difficult Decisions

Last week, following directives in a living will that Paul G. Smith, a retired attorney and former Hamilton County, Ind., court magistrate, signed nearly a decade ago, doctors at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis removed him from a ventilator that helped ease his labored breathing.

The living will restricts actions medical providers can take to keep him alive and hands decisions about artificially supplied nutrients and fluids to daughter Judith Sly. A feeding tube that once provided nourishment also was disconnected, though hospital staff occasionally moisten Smith's lips with a damp sponge.

Those moves infuriate daughter Susan Rissman, exacerbating a long-standing family divide that has only deepened since Smith, whose condition deteriorated rapidly, was hospitalized in December with dehydration.

Even though Smith's attorney tried unsuccessfully in November to name Rissman her father's legal guardian, Sly has authority over his care and legal affairs. And her decisions, according to court records, appear to be backed by another sister and a brother.

Rissman has been her father's primary caregiver for the past several years and is against stopping an active treatment regimen for him. She thinks any decision should be left up to Smith because he is able to talk and answer questions.

It is a sad and controversial end for Smith who is at the middle of a family's fight over control of his care and, ultimately, a significant estate that includes investments and a home valued at $241,000.
But the saga underscores broader issues: The importance of keeping health care plans up-to-date, medical ethics and the gut-wrenching dynamics of end-of-life decisions.

"It's a nice little messy case," said Daniel Callahan, president emeritus of the Hastings Center, a research center in Garrison, N.Y., that focuses on topics such as end-of-life care.

Family conflict is not unusual, Callahan and other experts say, because cases are seldom easy to sort out and often feature a tangle of competing forces.

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Ind: End of Life Case Spotlights Difficult Decisions

NY: 2 Lawyers Are Disbarred by Second Department

Two attorneys have been disbarred by the Appellate Division, Second Department, in separate matters. One lawyer resigned in the face of a pending grievance committee probe while the other was faulted for his "flagrant noncooperation with the grievance committee."

In the case of Colvin C. Goddard of Far Rockaway, the committee served an April 2011 petition with four charges of professional misconduct—three having to do with failure to cooperate with the committee's probe and a fourth alleging conversion of guardianship funds entrusted to him as a fiduciary. He was suspended in September 2011. Goddard failed to appear at a hearing before a special referee. His attorney did, but neither called witnesses nor presented evidence.

In the second case, the panel noted that of Thomas J. Bailey of Hicksville is now the subject of a probe of allegations including neglect of legal matters, failure to keep clients reasonably apprised and misappropriation of client funds.
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2 Lawyers are Disbarred by Second Department

See Also:
Matter of Colvin C. Goddard, admitted as Colvin Cleon Goddard, a suspended attorney, D36774

CA: Ex Lawyer Ricardo A. Torres Pays Restitution, Placed on Probation

Disbarred Los Angeles attorney Ricardo A. Torres II has been placed on probation for stealing from clients, a district attorney spokesperson said yesterday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli sentenced Torres Friday to five years’ probation, the conditions of which include 300 hours of community service. Torres pled guilty to one count of embezzlement, in violation of Penal Code Sec. 506, in September.

State Bar spokesperson told the MetNews that Torres last month paid over $97,000 in restitution to the State Bar for funds paid out by the Client Security Fund to Lawrence and Rachel Prijoles, plus interest. Torres, whose proffered resignation from the State Bar was rejected by the Supreme Court, agreed in 2011 to be disbarred and to pay restitution to the Prijoleses or the fund.

According to the disbarment stipulation, the Prijoleses were involved in a head-on collision with a drunk driver in San Diego County in 2005, winning a verdict for more than $500,000 in compensatory damages. The driver then agreed to pay $125,000 to settle the punitive damages part of the claim.

Torres received checks totaling nearly $650,000 from the driver and the driver’s. Of that, nearly $560,000 was disbursed to Torres, his co-counsel, expert witnesses, and the clients.

None of the medical providers were paid, and Torres admitted misappropriating the remaining $89,000 in settlement funds.

The Client Security Fund has also paid $27,100 on four other applications filed against Torres, the State Bar spokesperson said'

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Ex-Lawyer Torres Pays Restitution, Placed on Probation

Couple who scammed veterans are headed to prison

The elderly Houston couple responsible for the largest scam ever uncovered in a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' program meant to protect vulnerable veterans will be going to federal prison for 46 months after conspiring to carry out a $2.3 million ripoff of 49 disabled military men.

Houston lawyer Joe B. Phillips, 73, stood in federal court Wednesday to receive an identical punishment to that of his legal assistant and wife of four decades, Dorothy, who has claimed a casino gambling addiction first compelled her to siphon funds from veterans' bank accounts years before a VA audit finally detected the losses.

"I did not personally do it myself, but I accept responsibility because it happened in my office. It happened on my watch," Phillips told the court.

He asked to serve out his sentence in a cell near his 72-year-old spouse.

Government prosecutors unsuccessfully urged U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal to give a longer sentence to Joe Phillips, who was legally responsible for safeguarding disabled veterans' funds as a VA-approved fiduciary and as a guardian appointed by Texas probate judges. They pointed out that on Phillips' watch, 46 different fraudulent bank accounts were concocted to conceal long-term and ongoing thefts from veterans' accounts.

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Couple who scammed veterans are headed to prison

Hearing Loss Linked to Dementia

The presence of dementia is believed to double every 20 years due to the world’s aging population, making it important to identify the factors that lead to cognitive decline and dementia in older adults. A new study shows that hearing loss appears to be associated with accelerated cognitive decline.

The study enrolled 1,984 older adults with an average age of 77 in an observational study that began in 1997-1998. A total of 1,162 patients with baseline hearing loss had annual rates of decline in test scores that measured global and executive function that were 41% and 32% greater than those among individuals with normal hearing.

Compared to patients with normal hearing, individuals with hearing loss at baseline had a 24% increased risk for incident cognitive impairment.

"Our results demonstrate that hearing loss is independently associated with accelerated cognitive decline and incident cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older adults. The magnitude of these associations is clinically significant, with individuals having hearing loss demonstrating a 30 percent to 40 percent accelerated rate of cognitive decline and a 24 percent increased risk for incident cognitive impairment during a six-year period compared with individuals having normal hearing,” Frank Lin, MD, PhD, at the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, Baltimore, and authors were quoted as saying.

"In conclusion, our results suggest that hearing loss is associated with accelerated cognitive decline and incident cognitive impairment in older adults. Further research is needed to investigate what the mechanistic basis of this observed association is and whether such pathways would be amendable to hearing rehabilitative interventions," Dr. Lin and authors concluded.

 

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Hearing Loss Linked to Dementia

Ex-Lakewood broker gets 5 years for theft from an elderly client

A former Lakewood stockbroker who federal prosecutors called “arrogant and shameless” was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to five years in prison for bilking an elderly client out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Michael D. Montgomery, 44, also must pay yet-to-be-determined restitution to the estate of the man he defrauded. That man died in 2006 at age 90.

Prosecutors said Montgomery, who now calls Colorado home, served as the man’s financial adviser and then became trustee of the man’s revocable living trust. He used his positions to make loans to himself from the man’s accounts, many of which he failed to repay.

They also said he billed the estate for hours he never worked.

Prosecutors said Montgomery purloined $1.2 million from the man and his estate. His defense attorney, Emily Gause of Seattle, claims the loss was less than $900,000.

He pleaded guilty in June to wire fraud and filing a false tax return for failing to report the income.

Prosecutors said Montgomery used the stolen money to finance a high-flying lifestyle in Aspen, Colo., where he trained to be an elite triathlete. The victim’s heirs were left with nearly nothing.

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Ex-Lakewood broker gets 5 years for theft from an elderly client

Lawless America: Rosanna Miller

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YouTube: Lawless America: Rosanna Miller

After Criticism, DSM Committee Changes Course

Experts behind the new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders didn’t back down on major changes to the definition of autism, but appear to have made an about-face when it comes to intellectual disability.

Initial plans to revise the diagnosis of “mental retardation” in the forthcoming fifth edition of the psychiatric manual called for the condition to be renamed “intellectual developmental disorder.” Critics blasted the proposal because it was inconsistent with the more commonly accepted term “intellectual disability” which has already been adopted in many federal and state laws.

Now it appears that the American Psychiatric Association heard the complaints. In newly-released documents, officials from the psychiatrists’ group stopped short of revealing the final text for the manual, but now say the version slated for publication in May will replace “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability.” The move is an effort to align with the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, the U.S. Department of Education and other groups, the psychiatric association said.

The new term with be appended with a notation about “intellectual developmental disorder” in order to be congruent with language expected in an upcoming revision of the International Classification of Diseases, or ICD, a guide to diseases and disorders published by the World Health Organization.

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After Criticism, DSM Committee Changes Course

MO: Police: Man Exploited Elderly Man With Dementia

A St. Peters man is behind bars, accused of scamming an elderly woman out of thousands of dollars. Jeremy McClellan, 38, is charged with financial exploitation of the elderly or disabled.
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Police: Man Exploited Elderly Woman With Dementia