Elderly Woman Evicted From Home Ruled Incompetent

Eleonore Berg was scheduled to be in court Wednesday morning for a competency hearing in front of Judge Frances King. But the 85-year-old woman only made it as far as the security checkpoint at the courthouse.

Thinking the guards might confiscate her purse, Berg declined to hand it over to be checked.

Apparently, since her longtime home at On Top of the World had been taken away, and most of her belongings had been put in storage, she was fearful of giving security personnel one of her last items of value.

Berg’s guardian, Olivia Baird, had to return the elderly woman to her assisted living facility, then come back to King’s courtroom to hear the verdict.

Not long after the 9:30 a.m. hearing in Courtroom 4B, King ruled that Berg is incapacitated, and appointed Baird as her permanent guardian.

Berg initially had been under court guardianship, but when it was discovered she did not meet one of three criteria, her case was turned over to private guardianship.

That is when Baird stepped in, along with others, to try and help Berg retain her two-bedroom, two-bath home in the retirement community off State Road 200. The home had gone into foreclosure after Berg ceased paying monthly homeowner’s association fees of $397 per month, for about two years.

Full Article and Source:
Elderly Woman Evicted From OTOW Home Rules Incompetent

Medical Whistleblower to Present at US Social Forum 2010

Medical Whistleblower is proud to be a presenter to the US Social Forum 2010.

Come see us on June 24 and 25 at 10 AM-Noon

Cobo Hall – Detroit, MI

If you can’t join us in person – please join us by radio talk show.

My Blog Talk Radio show can be heard three different ways:

1) Call in by any phone – here in the USA or abroad

2) Streaming audio from the website
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/medicalwhistleblower

3) Download archive mp3 file from the website after the broadcast.

US Social Forum – Medical Whistleblower Advocacy Network

Date / Time: 6/23/2010, 9:00 PM -10 PM and also 6/24/10, at 9 PM -10PM

Call-in Number: (347) 857-4599

Source: Medical Whistleblower

Teens Benefit from Helping Ailing Grandparents

When we consider the care of a family member with memory impairment, we often think of adult children and elderly spouses as the key players in the caregiving. Younger family members often go unrecognized for their role in this journey.

Including younger family members in the caregiving journey creates lasting memories and teaches life lessons about the value of life, health and family ties.
Intergenerational projects help shed light on this sensitive topic of educating young people about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

The scholarship program offered by the Dubin Alzheimer’s Resource Center and Magnolia Court is one way our community reaches out to young family members. The stories high school seniors write in their applications are full of inspiring lessons learned through their experiences in caring about an older family member with memory impairment.

On May 25, the Dubin Alzheimer’s Resource Center awarded scholarships to Kelsi Coffman and Rachel Lundgren, graduates of the class of 2010. Each wrote a touching narrative about her family’s experiences caring for a grandmother with dementia.

Full Article and Source:
Teens Benefit From Helping Ailing Grandparents

Michigan: Bills Would Help Keep Golden Years Golden

We’ve all heard the stories.

Greedy relatives or covetous “friends,” who claim to be caring for an older loved one, stripping bank accounts and using a lifetime of savings to their own personal advantage.

According to a study published in “Clinical Geriatrics,” the clinical journal of the American Geriatrics Society, persons over 50 control at least 70 percent of the nation’s household net worth and they are frequent targets for exploiters.

Victims are typically female, frail and mentally impaired; 75 percent are between the ages of 70 and 89.

Michigan Legislature currently has before it a package of bills that would protect Michigan’s 1.7 million older adults from financial abuse.

The four bills would:

• Require training for financial institution staff on financial exploitation, how to spot suspicious activity and how to report suspicious activity when detected.

• Expand the definition of abuse of vulnerable adults to include financial exploitation.

• Require financial institutions to inform account holders and provide written disclosure of the rights of joint account holders, so that those allowing access to their funds understand that joint account holders have the legal right to use the account and funds contained in it as if it is their own money.

• Require courts to consider appointment of a conservator if a person under a guardianship has assets of more than a certain limit ($10,000). This is to prevent potential financial exploitation through a guardianship.

Full Article and Source;
Bills Would Help Keep Golden Years Golden

Locked Away in a Facility, Isolated

Robert is a strapping young man, 6’5″ tall, dark, and handsome. But Robert was alone in Missouri – and being bi-polar- soon found himself a victim of the system. We were not told of the original guardianship hearing. Now I am trying to free my brother from the Missouri system of guardianship by a public administrator and the nursing home they have imprisoned him in. The guardian would not allow my brother to have contact with his family or friends.

For seven long years, no one was allowed to know were Robert was or how his health was. This grieved our mother for five years to the point of a complete break-down. Our mother went into a Mississippi hospital with a mental break-down, and they killed her. Because the guardian wanted half our mother’s money, we finally got to know where in Missouri my brother Robert is located.

However, I am not being allowed to visit Robert or help him in any way. The guardian has imprisoned him in a nursing home since he was around 40 years old. Shortly after he graduated the Missouri University in Columbia with a Master’s Degree in Business, Robert began an internship at NAMI-National Alliance on Mental Illness. Then Robert just disappeared from his apartment and job.

Robert has been locked away in a facility where the care is inadequate and abusive. Robert is now going to be 47 years old. I know that his mental and physical health have been compromised by both the guardian and the nursing home. It has been nearly three years since I found my brother. Alarmingly, the corruption in Missouri is so overwhelming prevalent, I have not been able to help my brother. And to prevent me from even giving Robert hope, he is denied visitors, mail, and phone calls are restricted both incoming and out going.

Robert is a kind and gentle man and is very concerned with others and their happiness. Robert has something he can offer to society and humanity; we all lose because he is hidden away left to stagnate and rot.

Source:
Robert Sanders

Another Caution About Psychotropic Drugs and the Elderly

Older patients (>=70 years) who are on antidepressants or antipsychotics have an increased risk of mortality, according to an analysis of deaths during the tragic August 2003 European heat wave, researchers said here at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

“We believe this study suggests that during heat waves doctors should carefully assess the risk/benefit ratio of psychotropic drug use in older people,” said Clementine Norden, MD, Sainte Ann Hospital Center, Paris, France, during a poster presentation on May 24.

“Our findings suggest that a causal relationship may exist between psychotropic drug use during a heat wave and increased risk of death in older people,” she said.

Full Article and Source:
Older Patients on Psychotropic Medications at Increased Risk of Death During Heat Waves: Presented at APA

Danny Tate Court Hearing Video

Source:
YouTube

Danny Tate Tagged With ‘Freedom Tax’

The degree to which appearances can be deceiving seemed apparent June 11 in a Nashville courtroom when the 32-month “temporary” conservatorship (guardianship) of musician Danny Tate was once again the topic with Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Randy Kennedy presiding and the costs associated with Tate’s “freedom” at issue.

On May 24, before a courtroom full of Danny Tate supporters and a television news team, Kennedy appeared to terminate a temporary conservatorship in place since October 2007 that gave David Tate control over his brother’s person and property. In the court record, Judge Kennedy stated that David Tate was to “immediately return any and all property of Mr. Tate which is in the Temporary Conservator’s possession or under his control.” Kennedy’s ruling was designated nunc pro tunc allowing David Tate the capacity for corrective action pertaining to any transactions he conducted while acting as conservator during a 60-day period in which he has to prepare and submit an accounting.

While appearing a victory for 54-year-old Danny Tate, the “devil” truly is in the details. A proposed final order along with a series of other filings by David Tate and attorney, Paul T. Housch, within days of the proceeding seemingly contradicted the provisions and spirit of the May 24 ruling to the point of portending that all might not be as it seemed.

Despite Tate attorney Michael Hoskins promptly preparing and submitting for Judge Kennedy’s signature a final order reflecting the “immediate” nature of the ruling so publicly pronounced on May 24, Danny Tate learned late June 10 that the judge instead appeared to have quietly signed and filed an alternate final order prepared by Housch, the attorney hired in October 2007 by David Tate and involuntarily financed for 32 months by Danny Tate. In contrast to the May 24 ruling, the order called for the former temporary conservator to maintain functional financial control for 60 days past the “termination” date to “wind down the affairs of the Conservatorship.”

Full Article and Source:

Nashville Probate Court Tags Musician Danny Tate With Conservatorship ‘Freedom Tax’

See Also:
NashvilleCriminals.info

Free Danny Tate!!!

Man Embezzles From Family, Gets Prison

A man who stole his siblings’ inheritance was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison earlier this week.

Stephen Beal Berg must also pay his family $297,000 in restitution, a Napa County Superior Court judge ordered.

In April, Berg pleaded no contest to embezzlement and forgery after he used loans to siphon money from his mother’s estate following her death in August 2006.

He faced up to five years and eight months in prison. Attorneys agreed to the nearly three-year sentence.

Full Article and Source:
Man Embezzles From Family, Gets Prison

Federal Charges Against Man Accused of Defrauding His Grandparents

A New York man was charged in federal court with defrauding his elderly grandparent in Greenfield of more than $250,000.

Michael Ostrowski, 41, of East Patchogue, N.Y., was charged in an indictment with conspiracy to commit mail fraud; mail fraud; interstate transportation of stolen property; receipt, possession, concealment and disposition of stolen property that crossed a state boundary; engaging in a monetary transaction in property derived from unlawful activity; and failure to file an income tax return, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Boston office of the Internal Revenue Service.

The indictment alleges that Ostrowski’s grandparent lived in Greenfield until June 2006. After that, the grandparent, who was identified in a Department of Justice press release only as S.O., lived primarily in hospitals or nursing homes in Massachusetts.

According to the press release, Ostrowski faces the following maximum penalties: five years imprisonment on the conspiracy charge; 20 years imprisonment on the mail fraud charges; 10 years imprisonment on the stolen property charges and the monetary transaction charge; and one year imprisonment on the tax charge. There would also be hefty fines for each conviction.

Full Article and Source:
Officials: Grandparents Defrauded